10/26/2024
Artistic Afternoons: BODY FLOW
Allow yourself to let your breath guide your body movement today.
Take a moment to notice how you feel and how you are breathing.
Notice if you are taking shallow breaths. Stand up and take several deep inhales, raising your arms to touch the sky and dropping them to start again—filling up the lungs and belly as deeply as you are able.
Perhaps you're feeling anxious, and your breath is short and quick. Is your body tense and tight? Breath some deep slow breaths for three minutes, shaking your body after each one. Release any tension as you move.
Maybe your body is energized and wants some flowing movement, matching your breath to your movement. If you are jumping perhaps you will want to take short quick breaths.
Dance for a bit and notice when your body requires more breath.
Is your mind foggy and distracted? As you allow your lungs to fill with breath, lean your head back and breath more deeply. Allow your body to lead the breath. Perhaps take your hands to your rib cage and imagine pulling them open to create more expansiveness, bringing in more oxygen with each breath. Breath in the right nostril for a few minutes, awakening the brain.
[When you are done with this exercise, take some time to write about the experience. What did you notice? How did you sense the Breath of Life, moving in and out of you? Did anything surprise you? Awaken in you that had been unattended previously? How did your body feel at the end of the exercise, as opposed to before you began? Write it all out; record your experience in some way.]
This is our final guest post for the week, from spiritual director and breathwork facilitator, Kim Nielsen Van Natta. If you would like to learn more or experience Sacred Breathwork, please contact Kim at [email protected] or book a 75 minute session at https://calendly.com/kimteltd/30-minute-integrative-breath-clone.
Thanks for sharing your words and wisdom in this space, Kim!
