Rooted in Connection

(water flowing) Hi. Welcome to your practice. I'm happy to be here. We're gonna start with a bit of a grounding meditation. I use this to come into my body, to welcome myself to my mat to my practice, to connect to my roots, to Earth, to the mother, to connect to my body, my human experience, and to connect to my spirit wind, that what I am ever evolving into.

So, come into a comfortable seat, you can sit on a blanket, a bolster, a pillow, you can lay down, be in a chair. Just make sure that you're comfortable. Bring your hands to your heart space, one on top of the other, and let the eyes close or have a gentle soft gaze, and apply a little bit of gentle pressure there. Notice your breath. Feel the inhale press into your hand.

As you exhale, the hands press back into the heart. You may even feel your own heartbeat. And starting there. Just noticing not having to change anything. Just watching.

And taking your awareness to your seat to the base. Notice the points of contact where they meet the ground. The sitting bones, the ankles, sides of the calves. Imagine their heaviness creating a sense of grounding stable foundation. I like to imagine that from those points that there's an actual rooting, like branches coming out, moving past the mat, past the ground, into the actual dirt of the Earth, moving into the mother.

It roots deep, it's heavy. Tether your roots to something strong and stable. Let it hold you. And then from the base of the belly, the bottom of the pelvis, we're maintaining that sense of rootedness. Imagine movement upward.

I use the visual of light moving from the base to the pelvis, passes the fire or the belly, upward the chamber of the heart. The throat. The third eye. All the way out through the crown of the head. And from there it expands up and out.

So maintaining this sense of rooted deep connected foundation, and then rising upward in us here in this middle human experience connected to both aspects. Ever expanding, ever rising. And steady Earth. And keeping one hand pressed into the heart space. And take the other hand and find the ground.

Just allow just the fingertips to touch. Steady foundation. Felt sense heart. Rising upward, crown of the head expansive possibility. All of these owned experiences.

All of them ours, all of them yours. Breathing here. And you bring the hand back to the heart space. Take a big full breath in through the nose. (inhales) Let the exhale fall and out through the mouth.

(exhales) We'll do it a few more times. Allow the shoulders to even shrug up as you inhale. (inhales) And exhale letting go. (exhales) Last one. (inhales) (exhales) And we'll practice a little bit of mantra together.

(speaks in foreign language) It all means shiva. It's all for the fire. It's all for transformation. From the heart, through the heart, beyond the heart. (sings in foreign language) Hands together, Anjali mudra, head bowing in.

(breathes deeply) Sweet and glorious. Namaste.