Orienting to HOME, 11/2

Overview:
Arrive & Settle
Gather & Begin

Welcome!
ORIENTATING to Body & Breath, I --
Haptic Touch: touch that senses in both directions (examples of tree bark & fire).
Haptic Touch practice:
Here I Am, "hug" with hands to body, sensing textures - weight - temperature - etc.
Here I Am, "hug" body to hands (fuller breaths can assist with waking these sensations)
Calibrating to the reciprocal meeting place of hands to body & body to hands
Noticing the sensations that awaken in these different perspectives of presence through touch.

ORIENTATING to Body & Breath, II -- body softens, take an inward step deeper
Gentle, Here I Am, hugs along body (begin at feet and move upwards or begin at head and move downwards)
Go at a pace where you can remain present with and grow awareness and capacities of haptic touch.
Finish with hands REST-ing at your Heart. Breathe here, noticing the whole shape of your body breathing.

QUESTIONS for Reflection (Body & Heart) -- body softens, take an inward step deeper
1. What is a quality that you carry within you? -- one that is easy to call on (at least most of the time)? Examples: curiosity, wonder, tenderness, care, stretch, playfulness, compassion...
2. Who or what can easily make you smile? Examples: animal friends! first birdsong in the morning, the muppets, the light at a particular time of day (morning sun! blue hour!), flowers grown from seed & watching them proliferate, tiny flowers discovered along a trail, pre-k kids bursting onto the playground...
3. As you note what comes to mind-body in the above, what sensations/qualities begin to awaken within you?

INTRODUCING -- we've turned towards our body, breath, & heart; now we turn towards one another
Going around the "circle": share name + one of your responses to the above > receiving one another the way we would if we were to meet in person (with a tone of welcoming: the smile, the head nod, hand to heart, a gesture of receiving).

ORIENTING to a Wider World (Body, Breath, & Dimension), III  -- body softens, take an inward step deeper
When we get ourselves in different relationships to gravity, to our bodies, & to the world around us, we interrupt the habitual and give ourselves opportunities for a fresh view/perspective!

Choose a direction and position of body -- seated/standing/child's pose/other -- from which to begin (if you know where East is, begin there) > Feel the pressure of the Here I Am hug as well as the release...allow your breath to expand into the space around you; repeat several times along different parts of body.

You are welcome to fold in the following awarenesses/intentions as you turn your body & attention one quarter turn at a time...
East: Birth, New Beginnings, Welcoming
South: Community, Prosperity, Courage
West: Death, Release/Letting Go, Transformation
North: Wisdom, Ancestors (human & beyond human)/the lineages you belong to
Above: turn your whole body & heart towards the panorama of the spacious Above, its changing light, its rising/falling dark; breathe/be with Above
Below: turn your whole body & heart towards the panorama of the spacious Below, its depths and its breadths; breathe/be with Below
Center: turn your gaze inwards and settle into the depths of your heart (you may see another version of yourself resting there); as your gaze turns towards your heart, allow your heart to turn to meet your gaze. Reciprocal meeting in the space between. Breathe here in the heart.

POEM -- Joy Harjo's "Eagle Poem" (see below)

Closing & Moving into the Week -- see invitations for Outer Landscape, Inner Landscape, & Daily Life prompts (OLs, ILs, & DLs)! 

🎶Listen to Joy Harjo singing-chanting her poem.🎶

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRESENCE HERE!