Feeling Held

So as we've been talking about, this quality being asked of us as we meet the autumn, this request to begin to surrender, exhale, let go. I find that it's almost impossible to let go unless I feel held. So this next very, very simple practice is to tune a quality of relationship between the heart and the hands that might assist in our awareness of what has us. You'll want some things off to lie down on. We're going to start in what we call reclining Buddha.

I'm going to turn with my back to you, which might seem a little strange. Don't take it personally. It's just so that you can actually see what I'm doing with my arm. So lie down on your left or right side. But if you lie down on your left side, you're going to bring your left hand underneath your head with your elbow bent with your hand just above your ear, or your arm can be straight with your head resting on your shoulder.

I prefer to have my hand underneath my head. Knees are slightly bent for balance. And then eventually let your right hand gracefully down over the right side of your body. Okay, now this position, reclining Buddha, big deliberate inhale, exhale everything soft in the belly. And as you're soft in the belly, let the face also relax.

And for a few moments here, just consider the quality of your right hand. Let her feel more graceful. Nice. Let your right arm release up towards the sky, soften the elbow a little bit. Floss the shoulder a few times, rotate the right shoulder forward, and then rotate the right shoulder back.

And then rotate the right shoulder forward, and then rotate the right shoulder back. Okay, now next time you rotate the right shoulder forward, round that shoulder forward, let the elbow bend, let the hand come behind you, palm facing away from you, either down by the sacrum, okay, or slightly higher, depress the shoulder a little bit, send the elbow forward. Okay, now I'm just going to adjust my mic pack. So find that hand where she belongs, shoulder depressed, elbow slightly forward, once you feel ready, roll back onto your mat and gently pin this hand underneath you. Now once you have this hand pinned underneath you, shift your hips a little left.

I like to have my knees bent, soles of the feet on the floor. Some people like to have their legs straight. Deliberate inhale here and exhale everything. And most likely you have an opportunity of sensation around your right shoulder. This is much harder if you don't feel anything.

Deliberate inhale and exhale, soft in the heart, open in the upper palate and kind in the eyes. If it's too much, you'll know because your face is gripping, it wants to be just enough so that it's an interesting project and helping so much that it's causing unnecessary grip. I realize I'm talking with my left hand, making it like a little sock puppet on the other side of me. I'm just going to drop that, okay, so kind in the eyes, letting that right shoulder be letting her get heavy, letting her rest, yeah. So we're offering ourselves to this opportunity for approximately two minutes.

They used to think it took 10 minutes to affect the connective tissue. Now they know, they know it only takes about 90 seconds. Just a few more beats, okay. When you're ready to come out, you're going to roll just enough to the left to free your right arm and your rest on your back, arms down along your sides, palms turn up. Just pause, okay, and be aware of the quality available, down through the arm, into the hand, soft in the upper palate, nice, okay.

When you feel ready, okay, we're going to come to the other side, reclining Buddha. Now lying on your right side, or just make sure it's the opposite one. Knees slightly bent, again, maybe that right hand is bent, just supporting just above the ear, or maybe that arm is straight and you're resting on your shoulder. So when we look at images of the Buddha, there are a few things that most of them have in common. So with awareness in your face, gently relax your belly and be aware of the effect on your face, okay, soft belly, soft face.

And be aware of the quality of your hands, so it's unusual to see an image representation of the Buddha where the hands are not really considered, so tender in the fingers, graceful. Okay, when you feel ready, let your left arm release up towards the sky, okay, soften the elbow a little bit, inhale here, and as you exhale, rotate your left shoulder forward so you can feel that, the joint flossing, rotate the shoulder back, okay, rotate the shoulder forward, and rotate the shoulder back. When you're ready, rotate the shoulder forward, let the elbow bend, bring the hand behind you, palm facing away from you, down by the sacrum, depress the shoulder a little bit, elbow comes forward. This could be the perfect spot, some of you are going to snuggle it a little higher. Once you've found the right spot for you, gently roll onto your back, okay, and pin that hand underneath you, shift your hips a little bit to the right, I like to keep my knees bent, soles of the feet on the floor.

You might have a different plan, this right hand can do whatever works for you, okay, deliberate inhale here, exhale everything, soften, the play here is to allow the left shoulder to be as she is, okay, kinder in the eyes, more open in the upper palate, just letting that shoulder get heavy, just the unusualness of the positioning of the shoulder in this way, of the hand in this way, from the daily life changes everything. We spend most of our day with our arms out in front of us, which can communicate physiologically that we need to get what we want, that we need to go after it, okay, softer in the upper palate, kinder in the eyes, for these last few moments, letting the shoulder get just a little heavier, and when you feel ready, you're going to roll just enough to the right to free that left arm, and then the request is to rest here, maybe widen the feet, let the knees fall together, both arms down along the side, palms soft, and be aware of which knuckle is resting on the earth, our friend Richard Rosen helped us understand this, like just be aware that they're the same, so if it's the middle knuckle or the index knuckle, be aware that they're the same, and we're going to rest here and let some awareness come into the hands, and so let your awareness now really come into that left hand, and as you become aware of your left hand, the center point, can you become aware of the context in which the hand sits? So can you become aware of the space in between the fingers, yes, and as you become aware of the space in between the fingers, soften the back of your heart, soften the upper palate, and can you allow your hand to feel held, sweet, only as you feel ready, let your awareness come over to the right hand, be aware of the center part of the right hand, the center point, the middle, let her feel wide and spacious, and because the hand does not exist outside of her context, so be aware of the relationship the hand is by being aware of the space in between the fingers. As you feel the space in between the fingers soften the back of the heart, and can you allow your hand to feel held, resting here, easy behind the heart, receptive in the hands, open in the eyes, open in the upper palate, yes, beautiful, you might choose to continue to rest here, you might even let your legs straighten or widen, when you feel cooked let your knees come into your chest and wobble, let yourself roll to a side and pause, and then eventually perhaps press your way back up, find a seat, delivered inhale and exhale everything, soft behind the heart, open in the upper palate, and as you find your hands can you feel this quality, can you allow yourself to be received, our friend Devon was here recently and the way she put it was, you gotta give your weight to feel supported, so can you soften the grip, feel the context, fall in. Thank you for being with us, thank you to my friends Alana and Brenda for joining me and offering some of these practices, Namaste.