Tag: gratitude

As I look outside my window, and unroll my practice blanket, I can’t help but feel immense gratitude for our natural world.  The sun streaming through my window as I plant my feet solidly on the ground.  I notice through the familiarity of my personal practice, a natural ease occurs in my breath, I just need to be willing to take these few moments.

I wonder where we’re going to go today.

If you work with a journal for your practice,  I encourage you to grab it before you settle in for your practice today, and take a bit of time to reconnect with your breath, breathing into sensations and connecting a little deeper with whatever arises inside of you – in this moment.

Today feels like a good day to take a brief exploration of the landscape of our hips and our pelvic girdle.  Did you know that sometimes restrictions through our pelvic girdle can create a distraction for the whole body and mind, which prevents us from recognizing the gifts in our lives – or the places we experience ease.

We have so many intricate structures that cross over the pelvic girdle, which have a ripple effect.  As we release these restrictions through our breath, through movement, or with the help of a trained therapist, we can actually begin to feel more easeful through our whole body, and as a positive consequence, more aware of the beauty that exists around us and often right in front of us. We also often begin to experience a greater sensitivity to the lived experience of gratitude.

Our pelvic girdle, not only encompasses some pretty important and critical anatomical considerations (This whole post could be a dissection of the anatomy of the pelvis – but that is not my intention for today – so to simply name a few of our internal ihabitants; like our organs of elimination, our sexual organs, various nerves, the cross junction for our hip flexors, posterior musculature and our abdominal muscles, as well as a multitude of ligaments and joints), but it also emcompasses alot of our emotional holding patterns related to; our foundation, our sense of security in the world, our fears, our internal bridges in relationship to our external relationships, and our ability to express our creativity and authentic selves in the world.

Phew, that’s a lot to consider.

If you feel inspired to explore some physical movements, a few super simple movements I recommend for beginning are:

Pelvic tilts, while resting on your back with your knees bent and keeping your hips in contact with the ground – slowly allow a rocking movement through your pelvis – inhaling tipping the pelvis forward and exhaling tipping it back.

Still resting on your back, you may want to keep one leg bent and explore movement while raising the opposite leg up towards the sky and making circles through the hip.

Or perhaps from this position, with your knees bent, (feet together and/or apart) simply allowing your knees to fall from side to side like windshield wipers – moving slowly and listening to the guidance in your breath and through sensations.

Another wonderful posture to explore our pelvic girdle and to support us to release postureal patterns in the front of the body is half bridge.  To view a bonus practice video click here. I created this mini video last fall, when I did my last 30 day challenge, so you’ll understand why I say welcome to day 18!  The wind was also blowing that day, so when it blows a little harder, allow that wind to take with it any stress or tension you may be feeling today.  Just a light little practice to hopefully inspire a smile, and offer you some seeds in your own exploration.

Reflect on the bridges in your own life; through your body, in how you spend your time, and in your relationships.

When you express yourself, are you able to bridge your own inner wisdom and truth – with what you share with the world around you?

Are you taking time to nuture your own soil as we start to contemplate our gardens?

There are so many different ways of exploring through the hips and pelvic girdle, hmmm perhaps some shapes we’ll explore a little deeper over the next few weeks in our classes.

Whichever iterations of movement you explore (and this may be simply free dancing movement), again, allow your breath and your body sensations to be your guide.  Give yourself this simple gift – listen to what you need, from the wisdom that bubbles up from inside of YOU, not always that easy.  As we begin to listen and respond to ourselves with kindness and compassion, we also begin to experience a greater sensitivity to what we truly need to thrive, and gratitude starts to flow through us a little more easefully.

Gratitude shifts our focus from what  life lacks to the abundance that is already present.  Allowing gratitude to flow through your thoughts, also gives your brain something else to focus on – rather than the stream of worries that many of us find as constant companions.

Make sure you take some time to integrate your practice, sometimes as we explore our bodies through compassionate movement, we wake sleeping parts of us up.  Take some time to sit and breath, talk about your experience with a trusted friend, and be gentle with yourself as you integrate your practice.

What do you feel most grateful for today?  

I am grateful for the trees, and their incredible wisdom, such an inspiration for me on this journey – the Spruce, the Cedars, the Maples, the Poplars and the White Pines, just to acknowledge a few.

I am grateful for all the leaves and needles on the trees, offering us a gift for our senses in the beautiful canvas of colour and the sensory exploration as they consider the slow unfurling of warmer weather.  Are you feeling ready to begin your own spring unfurling?

and I am grateful for YOU!

‘Till next time,

With love, Amber

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