About Yoga

Welcome to Yoga With Brain Trimmer. I'm Brain Trimmer today we have a beautiful meditation for mental balance and grounding. So grab something to sit on if you like.  We're going to begin, surprise, our practice today in a comfortable seat. So take your time. Just notice if you're kind of rushing right now here and let's start to slow it down as you come into a nice cross-legged seat. And I will encourage you, particularly if you're new to sitting in meditation to lift your hips up either on a couch pillow or if you have a bolster, great. You can fold up some blankets or some towels are just fine too. And get to where your hips are a little bit higher than your knees so you can create these two slides of the thighs down. And as you start to get settled in here, just start to tap into that inner smile as much as you're willing.


This is my power tool, my secret weapon that I often talk about so it's not so secret, but just as you settle in you can start to kind of feel the benefits of this time that you're taking for yourself by softening and, yeah, tapping into that inner smile. It can be like, "I'm doing this." Or, "Oh my god, I need this." Whatever it is just tap into a little joy that you're taking this short but valuable time for yourself. Benji's relaxed. If you're not relaxed, we'll get you there or we'll try. Hopefully, by now you're in your seat. Getting settled in. And if you are working with your back right now, we'll say that feel free to sit up against a wall or you can even do this in a chair. 

When you will feel the existence of Chakra?

You just want to make sure that your spine is nice and long. And on that note, let's take a moment here to gently tuck the chin. And bring more awareness to the spine. So that could be sitting up tall. It could just be noticing your pattern. Again, just gently tucking the chin. Feeling that length as you do so through the back of the neck. And best you can bring more awareness to your spine. And if you haven't already, allow your hands to soften, fingertips to soften just wherever feels good and then as I often invite you to do in practice the same thing here. Just notice what feels good today. Whether you need a more grounding palm. Right? Energetically, I'm here. (exhales) "I'm doing this.I need to breathe. "I need this time for myself." 
Or maybe you're feeling pretty good and this is more preventative care today. So open those palms up, baby. Allow yourself to be a little more vulnerable, open. So, both are vulnerable, but you get to decide. And really we're connecting the brain to the body here. So there's so much that goes into these little gestures and making decisions for yourself. If you know a mudra you want to take it now, please do. And then if you haven't already, close your eyes. Allow your eyelids to get heavy here. And if for whatever reason you're not comfortable with the eyelids closed, just soften your gaze gently down past your nose. (light music) Alrighty, and we've begun. Chin slightly tucked. Neck long. Hands, arms, carefully placed. Fingers soft. Let's start by noticing any sounds around us. Wherever you maybe today. Or maybe you're relishing, silence. As we start to settle in and ground down, allow any extra movement, patterns, just fidgeting, see if you can allow them to soften as you build a little structure for your mediation here. In time finding stillness with more ease and being kind if you're noticing a lot of fidgeting or patterns.


Mental Fitness


 No worries. That's why we're here. To observe. With kindness. To welcome balance and clarity to both the mental and emotional self. Now, most of you have already likely begun to notice your breath but if not allow me to roll out the red carpet, bring fresh-picked flowers to your doorstep, and welcome you to just notice with a loving-kindness your natural breath. And as you begin to notice the rhythm of your natural breath today, see if you can take it one step further. Inviting the mind to also notice what the breath does to the body. As you breathe in and out. Notice, if you can, what parts of the body move as you breathe in. And see if you can notice how gravity tends to take over as you breathe out. So we have this sense of a rise and a fall, nice and easy, nothing forced. Just noticing what moves as you breathe in. And embracing the gravity as you breathe out. Now you can keep going just as is or I'll bring another fresh bouquet to your door and invite you to deepen the breath just a bit. Bringing more consciousness, more loving awareness to that inhale, and watching the ripple effect as you breathe in. 

 And using that exhale to ground down. Relax the shoulders. Relax your jaw. Allowing your inhale perhaps to be a little deeper, more full. And perhaps, when you're ready, allowing your exhale to be longer. Think of it as a beautiful extension. Breathing out as you ground down, down, down. Now go ahead and let your nice conscious deep breaths rest. See if you can reestablish this awareness in your spine by maybe lifting your heart, gently sitting up a little bit taller. And you might feel if you're doing this with your eyes closed, as though you grow a little bit longer and taller in the spine. And as you rest easy here in your seat, soften the skin of the forehead, relax the jaw and again use a gentle exhale to relax the shoulders down. You're more than halfway through your mediation.