Go within and find the dance.
We are polyrhythmic beings.
Breath. Heartbeat. Circulation. Tides. Internal and external rotations. Digestion. Circadian rhythms. Fluid motion. Cellular activity. Neuronal activity. Lymph flow. And so much more.
To become still in body and mind is to begin to sense the magnificent dance occurring within each of us.
L’chaim!
Continue readingYears ago, a Zen teacher gave me a koan, a topic of inquiry: whole body awareness.
I started exploring this, and when I reported a discovery, she’d say, “That’s one way.”
That inquiry changed my life, and it’s ongoing.
In Biodynamic Meditation, the quality of our attention matters.
There’s the object of our attention. Is it small, large, near, far, internal, external? Known or unknown? Whole or a part?
Continue readingThe three most basic skills of meditation are posture, internal awareness, and returning to internal awareness when the mind wanders.
Many meditation practices begin with breathwork to bring awareness into the body and to cultivate a state of calm.
In Biodynamic Meditation, the next step is awareness of sensations, without any judgment or story, just simple awareness, nerves transmitting sensations to the brain.
Some people are internally oriented, and it will take less practice to maintain awareness of their sensations.
Others, like me, have worked at it for a long time. It does get easier with practice.
Continue readingI’m switching to another type of breathwork when I start my daily Biodynamic Meditation.
Brand new research published in the prestigious journal Cell shows that 5 minutes of cyclic sighing is more effective at improving mood and reducing anxiety than 20 minutes of mindfulness meditation.
Cyclic sighing, also called the physiological sigh, was first brought to public attention by the Huberman Lab podcast from the Stanford University neurobiology lab.
To do cyclic sighing, you inhale quickly and then inhale quickly again to fill your lungs, and then exhale slowly. Repeat.
It’s like this: Sniff. Sniff. Ahhhhhhhh.
Continue readingThis morning I woke with a twinge in my sacrum. It’s the area affected by multiple old injuries.
I did some movement that helped.
After I started my Biodynamic Meditation session, I sensed a couple of sweeps of the Tide, and then it settled into a sacral stillpoint.
I’m not sure exactly when that stillpoint became swirliness, because the swirliness only made small swirls with lots of pauses in the tissues on the back of my sacrum for the rest of my 30-minute session.
Old injuries are often complex. They can affect muscles, fascia, ligaments, tendons, nerves, blood flow, bones, etc.
Continue reading“We are exploring what we’re exploring with.” ~ Gabrielle Roth
I’ve been looking for an image showing the central energy channel through which the Tide flows in Biodynamic Meditation (and Craniosacral Biodynamics). (This post is one in a series of posts on practicing Biodynamic Meditation, on Instagram, this blog, and Facebook.)
This one is closer to what I experience than most of the images.
There are maps…and then there’s the territory, conceptual information and felt experience.
IMO, we need maps to show us where we’re going. The territory is what we’re exploring.
In yoga anatomy, the sushumna nadi is the channel that connects the crown of the head to the pelvic floor.
Continue readingMy Biodynamic Meditation today was to the point and sweet: 10 bhastrikas, Tide, pelvic stillpoint, then swirliness of healing energy.
This after about 5 hours sleep, but not feeling tired, so far. Did a sleepover with a friend and stayed up really late watching two movies about men that I’d never seen before, Die Hard and Godfather II, a fantasy of a hero and a character study of a tragic life.
Much to ponder about humanity today.
And now, off to a waiting hot tub.
Art by http://www.lupiart.com
My Biodynamic Meditation this morning started with 7 Bhastrikas, sukhasana, and radiance at my face.
Then, sensing the Tide, mixed with monkey mind, until stillness prevailed.
The Tide seems to be a fundamental part of our well-being.
It’s so close, yet most of us don’t know about it until someone tells us, and even then it takes motivation to deepen our perception and discover it in ourselves.
There’s no science on it (yet), but it seems obvious that something so regular is actually regulating something.
Continue readingThis morning in my Biodynamic Meditation, the Tide was elusive.
I did 12 Bhastrikas, settled into sukhasana, and tuned into my body.
I sensed my midline, seeking the rising and falling sensation of tidal motion.
Nothing.
Was I in a stillpoint? I couldn’t tell! I didn’t feel a pooling of energy at either my cranial or sacral areas.
I remember when I first started getting acquainted with Biodynamics 10 years ago, seeking the tide and not finding it.
Then, one day I found it, or part of it, in my abdomen along my midline or central channel.
Continue readingThis morning’s Biodynamic Meditation went like this: 5 Bhastrika breaths. Settling into sitting posture, propped up in bed with a pillow at my back, legs crossed in sukhasana (sweet pose).
Monkey mind. Stillness. Monkey mind. Stillness. Until stillness (mostly) prevails.
Radiance at my face.
Not feeling tide. Oh, am I in a stillpoint? Stillness.
Tide.
Stillpoint.
Tide.
Stillpoint.
At some point I sense that my energy body is bigger than my physical body.
Continue reading
The Well: bodymindheartspirit 