If you’ve been having "Monkey Mind"** a lot lately, try to let things just be for a little while. Come into Shavasana and surrender your body weight into the earth. Let your body get heavy and soft. As you keep softening, see if you can direct your attention away from rumination by coming into your body and feeling the pulse points in different areas. **What's "Monkey Mind"? It's that state of mind in which your unhelpful thoughts are like a monkey jumping wildly and loudly from limb to limb in your mind.
Just Lie Down and Experience your Inner Sunshine
In honor of Winter Solstice - the darkest day of the year. Here in Maine the sun set at 4:06 pm today. Yike! It’s dark out there! You might want to snuggle in, get comfy and learn the Inner Sunshine Pranayama breathing practice. In this, you’ll be guided to find your Inner Sunshine and once you feel it glowing, you might even radiate and expand the warmth and glow...try it! It may be dark, cold and dreary outside, but the sun shines steady in our souls.
Just Lie Down and Be Fully Genuine
In this nine minute recording, you are invited to feel the touch of breath on and in your body, focusing on energy centers. This is a simple practice is an experience that can bring you back to your true self.
This practice was inspired by this delightful quote by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche: “When relaxation develops in us, through letting go of neurosis and experiencing a sense of space that is cool fresh air around us, we begin to feel good about ourselves. We feel that we are not cheating anybody; we are not making anything up on the spot. We begin to feel that we are fully genuine.”
Lie Down and Breathe into Now
The Body is always present, the Mind is often not. In this 10 minute recording, we will use the breath to get into the body and return to the presence we seek. Releasing the past and letting go of the future leads to a direct experience of your true home - the here and now.
This practice is inspired by Nido Qubein who wrote: "Your present circumstances don't determine where you go; they merely determine where you start."
Just Lie Down and feel your Warm Relaxed Body
In this eleven minute recording, you are invited to feel how heavy and warm your body really is - and as you sense that - your mind follows suit. This helps slow down the anxious brain and quell body tension.
This practice was inspired by the words of Fritz Perls, who said: “Fear is excitement without the breath.”
Lie Down and Disappear Into Light
The opportunity to go deep inside the real you - the you that is more than your body - is inside this ten minute recording. As you sense the light inside of you, your tension, troubles and concerns can be transformed into a new awareness.
This practice was inspired by the Sanskrit word, “Namaste,” which means: “The light in me greets the light in you.”
Overwhelmed? Just Lie Down
On this seven minute recording, your feelings of overwhelm are invited to come out, be heard and then contained, leaving you with a clear mind, centered body and a sense of true direction.This practice was inspired by Natalie Goldberg, who wrote in her fabulous book, Writing Down The Bones, “Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Not is that important. Just lie down.”
Just Lie Down and Root Yourself
When you can’t control the mind, you can lightly control the breath....and with that comes so much freedom...because you’ll find yourself rooted in the Here and Now....feeling the breath...not fused with your thoughts/beliefs/stories. You can hang out with The Judger in the mind or you can be with The Breath. So take a break, get comfy, lie down, savor gravity and experience this simple pranayama exercise:
Inhale through your nostrils, and exhale through your nose
Inhale through your mouth, and exhale through your mouth
Inhale through your nostrils, and exhale through your mouth
Inhale through your mouth, and exhale through your nose