Interior yoga
Starting from the pelvis…
What is the feeling of the body, just at this moment?
The feeling of the legs…
Are the legs set down, or am I holding them?
Feel in the hips, in the knees, in the ankles.
Is there anything holding on,
and is it possible to let go of this holding,
so as to really let the legs go, into the ground
as if they melted into the ground?
Set down the whole pelvic and perineal region.
What is happening in the shoulders?
Am I holding anything in the shoulders,
in the joints of the shoulders?
Can I let go of this holding, let it melt in the inside of the body?
Pay attention to the shoulders, how they are held,
let the holding melt down into the pelvis.
What is happening in the throat area, is the throat tense,
tight, closed?
Open the throat, open the back of the throat.
Let it dilate towards the back.
Now feel, is the whole body more set down on the ground?
Let the feeling sink into the ground,
as if we were on a very soft surface.
The feeling in the face…
is the face breathing quietly,
or is there tension, assertion,
which we can allow to melt
this tension, this assertion,
to leave the face empty, vacant,
without asserting anything.
What is the feeling of the whole body, now?
Feel that the body breathes
without having to do anything.
It breathes in, breathes out.
The body permeated by the in-breath, by the out-breath.
We take our time.
We take the time to breathe out,
we don't push, but we take the time.
And we rest for a short moment, after the out-breath.
We'll let the in-breath happen by itself.
We let it come,
without drawing anything in.
The in-breath unfolds the body.
We feel the movement of the in-breath which unfolds the body…
in all directions, to the front, the sides, the back.
The feeling spreads out with the in-breath
The interior of the body opens…
and the out-breath returns. We let it happen, quietly.
Feel the diaphragm region, what happens on the in-breath,
how the dome of the diaphragm becomes very wide, spreads out,
and with the out-breath, the dome rises
and feel that the perineum
is linked to the movement of the diaphragm.
Just feel it more.
How the out-breath is attracted, absorbed toward the upper body
and how the in-breath spreads and widens.
Be careful not to force the movements,
with the external musculature, for example.
Everything happens inside the body.
It's important to start by feeling.
Later if the feeling is clear enough we can work with the interior muscles,
but everything is very, very gentle.
Nothing is tense in the jaw or the face, or in the shoulders.
The legs remain set down, all the time,
the shoulders easy.
Let the thinking mind sink down and settle inside the pelvis.
For a few minutes, we can keep quiet,
stop commenting and judging, have no opinions,
and very simply be here and present.
We place our thinking down in the pelvis.
Now feel the in-breaths and the out-breaths, especially in the pelvis,
the whole region of the pelvis, all of its volume,
really move into this region, its volume.
We deploy the whole in-breath into the volume of the pelvis,
to the sides, to the front, to the back,
we fill up the pelvis with the in-breath
and on the out-breath we bring ourselves — without tensing — back inside.
We absorb the perineum a bit…
There's a slight movement which happens inside the belly,
as though we wanted to reassemble the belly
around the central axis, toward the center, all very gently.
On the in-breath we fill the whole volume of the pelvis
We can let the sensation expand, no need to limit it to the physical body image.
On the out-breath, we feel how everything returns to the center of the pelvis
like a massage of the interior belly
which we can do with the deep internal muscles.
Gently, of course — without too much force. It takes practice.
So the pelvic region is very alive, very aware.
The legs melt, sink into the ground
The ground is very soft, like thick moss.
We sink into the ground.
We're going to make a movement with the arms.
It's important to be set down, anchored in the pelvis for this.
The arm movement will be carried by this very alive, very aware pelvis.
There's almost no muscle effort needed from the arms.
The movement is carried by the power of the pelvis, a living power,
something which is gentle at the same time.
So now breathe into the pelvis,
and without hurrying, both arms full of life
from the tips of the fingers to the shoulders,
we explore in front, staying well within the pelvis.
The life, the strength in the pelvis is what carries the arms,
with a minimum of effort in the arms.
We set the arms down on the air, parallel to the ground.
The palms turn face to face.
We let the shoulders move back a bit,
while the sternum opens slightly and advances a little.
And the shoulders move back. We keep the arms alive,
arms set down on the air, legs set down on the ground.
We breathe between the arms,
and the in-breath opens the arms.
On the out-breath, we compress the breath without resisting.
We stay in the pelvis all the while,
we don't lose the anchor in the pelvis.
On the next in-breath we open a bit more,
we can also breathe out in the center of the pelvis.
We continue opening.
Let the shoulders fall.
No tension in the jaw or in the arms.
We open completely.
Careful not to raise the shoulders.
The hands very alive...
the sensation of fingers that extend to the walls right and left,
two immensely long arms.
Arms set down on the air, legs set down on the ground.
We can spread the fingers. What changes?
Open the chest, staying anchored in the pelvis,
breathe out into the pelvis.
The palms turn toward the ceiling, the fingers meet again. What changes?
The sensation of the sky in the palms of the hands.
We let the hands come to the shoulders, like two birds to their branches.
Elbows forward, we remain in the feeling of the pelvis, careful not to leave it.
We let the elbows come to meet each other in front.
And they rise. Feel what happens in the shoulders.
We can free up the waist.
Elbows toward the ceiling, to the sides…
easy… feel where there is resistance.
Moving further down…
and the hands cross and come to rest on the collarbones.
We relax the shoulders and arms, if there is any tension.
Take the time to let it empty out, flow into the ground.
We are nicely set down into the pelvis.
The in-breath fills the volume of the pelvis,
the out-breath… in the center of the pelvis.
The diaphragm supple,
moving in harmony with the perineum.
Relax the shoulders…
and a movement from the waist. The lumbar vertebrae stay where they are.
We let the chest turn and face left.
The movement takes place at the waist.
Chest toward the left,
we stay well in the pelvis, we don't try and go too far.
Right hip, right leg, well set down.
Feel the whole body in this position.
What changes, with this torsion to the left?
Feel it from the inside.
What happens? What is the feeling?
And we let ourselves be turned,
as if moved back to the center by a breeze from the left.
A minimum of effort… and the chest goes to the right,
in a torsion from the waist. The sternum and chest face right—we don't go too far.
We take advantage of the movement
and open the left leg, set down the left hip and buttock.
Breathe well into the pelvis, still well seated.
And a breeze from the right brings us back to the centre
The movement continues toward the left
We take advantage of the movement to let the face look to the right.
Feel what happens in the backbone, with this double twist.
Now the breeze from the left returns and moves the torso toward the right
At the same time, the head turns back,
the torso continues and the head turns left.
In one fluid movement, feel it in the vertebrae as it flows.
A breeze from the right, the body returns to the center, the head too, all together.
We let the body react, not blocking anything.
We let the hands slip to the middle of the chest,
and now towards the hips,
and they come back to the ground, or onto the legs.
What is the whole-body sensation?
The in-breath fills the volume of the pelvis
the out-breath returns to the center
we bring ourselves into the center of the pelvis
using the internal muscles, gently and easily,
and we fill the volume with the in-breath.
The legs and pelvis completely relaxed, allowed to sink into the ground.
Now we make a little movement forward, with the torso.
We're going to settle ourselves forward.
Not towards the ground, collapsing downward—no.
We're going to unfold out to the front,
keeping the legs and pelvis well in contact with the ground.
The hands slide delicately on the ground.
We explore a bit forward,
see what is possible without pulling or straining,
as if we were spreading out on the ground, in front.
We stay well aware of the whole-body sensation,
breathing into the pelvis, the head aligned with the backbone,
the shoulders at ease.
We don't try and go too far.
We're just setting ourselves down, without the pelvis and legs' reacting.
We can breathe with the back, the back of the pelvis, the sacrum, the lumbar region.
We can let the in-breath open outward behind us,
and come back with the out-breath.
We slide a little to the left
as though we wanted to set the chest down on the left thigh
—there is no obligation at all to do it.
Let the sensation go a little to the left
while the right hip and leg stay on the right.
We come back to the center.
Now we slide to the right.
The left leg and hip open… feel it,
be careful not to pull. We feel ourselves extend,
we stretch forward, but it's more a feeling,
we don't pull with the shoulders.
We come back to the center,
Now a big beach ball inflates under the chest,
we let it happen.
With a minimum of effort we come back to the vertical,
letting ourselves be pushed up by the inflating ball.
We let the body do what it wants, we let it position itself,
finding the vertical by itself, without making anything happen.
What is the whole-body feeling?
Breathing in the pelvis,
we place the right hand in the left, thumbs gently touching.
Feel the curve of the arms, the easing of the shoulders and the jaw.
For a few minutes, we do nothing at all.
We give ourselves over to the feeling of the moment.