Year of the Rabbit (redux)

Happy Lunar New Year!

I am a Rabbit.  Apparently I am elegant, a little skittish, bright, cute, loveable, able to respond quickly, strategic, family oriented and many other wonderful things. By the next time my Year rolls around, I will be 83 years old.  And I intend to embody all those wonderful attributes when the Year of the Rabbit returns.

My focus in this new year and in MY year is balance and restoration.  Interestingly, “redux” means restoration. Nice.

Here is my New Year’s offering, to get you off to a good start.  It’s a simple movement practice that restores me to myself.  Ten easy steps. No equipment is needed and it can be done seated, standing or even lying down.  It opens my heart, my lungs and my joints.  It takes me 5 minutes, tops, and it feels good the way fresh air feels good. It travels well, yet it feels like home.

1. Wherever I am I feel the ground beneath me.  If I’m standing I wiggle my toes and feel my full foot on the ground. If I’m sitting, I let my sit bones sink down.  If I’m lying down, I feel every part of my body that is in contact with the earth.
2. I breathe – slowly – in through my nose and out through my nose. I sense how the air moves in my nose, throat, chest, belly, back… I sense the air’s temperature, texture and tempo.  As it is. Right now.
3. I move my shoulders.  I raise them slowly, send them backwards, drop them down, curl them forward. Circles.  Slow, slow circles. Everything else is still.
4. I raise and lower my arms.  Lazily.  I let them swing up and down, up and down. Then I swish them a bit from side to side in the air and let them rest.
5. I move my head and neck.  First I nod yes, then I gently move into a “no”. I look up without craning and down, then I look to my left and then to my right. I gently waggle from side to side.
6. I curl up into a ball, then open up.  Yogis call this move Cat and Cow.
7. I twist and swing.  Usually I just stand up, swing my arms alternately back and forth and let them gently rotate my body, but you can do this if you’re sitting too..
8. I sway sideways.  Like a little teapot.  I let the space between my ribs widen.
9. I rise up on my toes, then rock back on my heels.
10. I come to stillness, feel the ground and breathe again. I smile.

Yup.  That’s it.

For more movement ideas and practices, and on upcoming opportunities to work with me, check out my website or email my anytime.  I help people move better and feel better.

May the year ahead be one of health and happiness.

And a bit of easy hippity-hopping along the way.