Bonus Practice: Walking The Edge

What is Rest Practice for Cycle Breakers?

Liberation lives in the body first and then ripples out. This guided rest practice lays the foundations for the depth of awareness and inner stability that is required to unlock that frequency, and offers guidance that helps you cultivate a relationship with your body that allows you to finally know how to truly rest.

This is a bonus practice that I wanted you
to have in your toolkit for moments where

you're feeling more activated, and you're
working with a lot more energy than usual.

Perhaps you have a worry in your mind
that you couldn't quite shake off, or

you've just come out of a challenging
conversation, or you've had a rough day

at work, or you've had a challenging
commute, and you just want to meet

yourself first in that activation and
just slowly explore and make your way

back into your body, back into rest,
and back into your baseline state.

And for this, we will use the same simple
sitting area setup that I've shared with

you for your baseline rest practice.

So you can just go ahead and move into
that spot, preferably somewhere where

there's a marked energy shift from where
you've had your activating experience.

Perhaps if you've had a difficult
conversation in one room, perhaps

doing this in a different room or just
creating some sort of marked difference

and making sure you're able to access
a sense of safe enough, okay enough

in this new spot that you're picking.

Let's begin.

Just go ahead and stand first close
to where you're wanting to sit.

And just start by swaying
your body from side to side.

Doesn't have to be big or wide.

But also

giving yourself a full range of
options if you'd like to make this

subtle or you'd like to make it big.

And for me, it's already
starting to bring some yawns.

And see if that's available for you, too.

Even if it still feels kind of,
"Ugh, ah," and you just don't know

yet what to do with this energy.

Just maybe channel all
of that into a yawn.

And you can even really meet, like,
the friction that you're sensing

in your body with- The quality of
stretch, the quality of movement,

the quality of voice that you bring

into this space.

And you can even match
your movement with it.

Your movement doesn't have to be flowy.

It can be jagged.

It can be more of like staccato
and you feel the breaks and

chops with each movement.

Just feeling the angles of that movement.

And really even trying to capture

what the activation in your body is like.

Is it feeling like it's sparks
of energy, bursts of energy?

And just make your movement match that.

Kind of following that natural
rhythm that rises in your body

and matching your breath, matching
the movement of your feet.

Hmm.

And do that for as long as you'd like
to meet that pressure that has built

up inside with this activation, and
sensing if it's stuck in any one spot,

and just really meeting that with your
awareness and movement and breath.

And just listening.

Once you get all in there, just listening

for that sense of closure again.

Just really sensing into when it
becomes available organically.

If you feel like you need a little
bit more time to stay and meet this

activation, this friction inside of
you, you can pause this recording

and just do a little bit more of that

until you naturally just find that

space of

wrapping up, slowing down.

A space where

access to deeper breath
becomes more available.

Listening for that availability.

And welcoming that in when it feels good.

And letting yourself arrive there.

And you might want to just walk
around in your little space, just

perhaps back and forth from one
side to the other or in circles,

alternating the direction
perhaps if that feels good.

Or you have-- if you have a
larger space to work with,

just using all the space
that's available to you.

Perhaps starting to see
if you gravitate towards

a surface, a wall or a door or

a table

or the back of the
chair, part of the couch

that you've set up for yourself.

And when it feels good, see if there's
some availability for you to place

your hand on that surface as you're
standing up still, and just gently

feel that surface, moving your hand.

You can do one hand, you can do
both, and just really feeling

the texture of the surface.

Receiving the sensation
with open awareness,

releasing any need to label or name
the texture, the shape that you're

sensing, but just really being in that

space of awareness,

of noticing.

And when you find a natural pause
in that exploration of your hand or

your hands, just gently lifting your
hands off of the surface and just

noticing what your hands feel like.

Mine has a little bit of throbbing
from that contact with my wall.

It's a little bit of prickly sensations.

And just notice what
your experience is like.

You can even rest your eyes on your hands.

Rest your gaze there.

I'm finding that my body is naturally
swaying from side to side again, too.

Notice if your body might
want to do that as well.

I'm noticing gentle yawns for me.

And my hips are starting to sway.

Hmm.

Some sound is coming through.

And then when you're ready,
you can just slowly make your

way into a seated position

and really sink into
that surface of choice,

whether it's the ground,
it's a chair, it's

a cushion.

I'm finding that for me, in moments after
an activated state, after activation,

it's very comforting for me to just
feel the steadiness of the ground.

So right now I'm sitting on the bare floor

with my back to a wall.

And if that surface behind your
back is available to you, you can

go ahead and lean there as well.

And just sense into that space
from your feet or, if you're in a

cross-legged position, your lower body
just making contact with the floor,

feeling that ground touch.

And making your way to the
contact of your back, of your head

to the surface behind you.

And just noticing what that's like.

Noticing any shift in the
quality of your breathing.

From when you've started.

Are deeper breaths more
available to you now?

Where do you feel your breath most
present in your body when you breathe?

And as you sense into this, you can keep
your eyes open, or if you're curious or

if it feels good, you can try closing
your eyes and just seeing what comes alive

for you and your senses when you turn
your gaze inward and close your outer

eyes and let your inner eyes awaken.

What kind of sensing comes online for you?

Do you hear more of the sounds that
you weren't able to notice earlier?

Or are you feeling the
contact with your surfaces

more loudly?

Is there any sensation that is

feeling really highlighted for you?

And just starting to
bring your awareness to

kind of the tip of your
nostrils, the edge-- the edges

of your nose, your nostrils,

where the air kind of moves in and out.

And just seeing what's available for
you to notice both with the sensation

of the movement of the air, the movement
of your breath, and also with what

you can access with your inner eyes.

And if at any point it feels like
closing your eyes this way is-

Bringing any discomfort, you can just
gently open your eyes again and just

bring your awareness to your breath.

And you can kind of shift between
eyes open and eyes closed as well,

shifting between your outer eyes and
your inner eyes as it feels good.

Just kind of following from that entry
point in your nostrils, listening

for a part of your body where your
breath feels the most present.

Perhaps somewhere on
your belly or your chest,

or even on your back.

Some place that feels like it's
being highlighted by your breath.

And just sense the shape of that spot
as your breath moves in and out of it.

Almost imagining that there is an aura,
a highlight in that spot that's just

letting you sense, or if you're in your
inner eye, it's just letting you watch

the soft movements of that shape.

And you can stay with that same
spot if that feels good, or you

can try to find a different spot

and just do the same thing.

Mine has just moved
from my belly up into my

right shoulder.

Hmm.

And if there's any set of
movements that feel good from

here, we can just follow that.

I'm feeling like rolling my
shoulders forward a little bit,

and rolling my shoulders back.

Just discharging any energy that might
feel stuck in there after that activation.

Bringing in the yawns, the sounds
to just help move this spot that

usually carries so much for us in

those moments of intensity.

And just finding the natural pause.

Mm.

And listening to the rest of your
body, if there's any other space that

is asking for movement, that might be
a clue that you're holding something

there from this recent activation.

So right now I'm feeling kind of the

middle of my back, my spine kind of
wanting to just make spiral movements.

Just freeing itself from

the rigidity of having
to keep it together,

coming from a challenging moment.

Mm.

And there's that natural
sense of closure, completion.

And you can just keep finding those spots.

You can pause this recording
if you feel like there's more.

You can also explore like a rocking
motion, rocking your body back and forth.

Perhaps giving your body a little embrace
or a big warm embrace as you rock back and

forth, or as you rock from side to side.

Or you can even go in a circular motion
with your rocking, and to the side, to

the front, to the other side, to the
back, and you can go in one direction.

And you can reverse.

And just shaking, shaking
any last few bits off.

Shaking your hands or shaking
your arms, shaking your shoulders.

If you want to shake your legs,
if you have space available to

kind of stretch your legs out
and just shake, shake, shake.

And just making sure you allow
any sound that wants to come

through, through all of this.

And once you find that resting
spot, that natural pause,

getting into a posture

that invites in a sense

of

alertness, awakeness,

a readiness.

Perhaps it's a more upright position.

Our feet more in contact with the ground.

Perhaps that's eyes open.

Orienting yourself to the
room by looking around,

letting your eyes lead with
your head following along.

Or your head just kind
of floats in the space.

And just find

these points in, on your hands.

If you fold your ring finger
down, that spot that the end of

your fingers would meet, you can
press on those spots alternately

As you breathe into
the base of your spine,

just press those points.

As you breathe into the base of
your body, press and breathe, press

and breathe, press and breathe.

Just gently, whenever it feels
complete, just resting your

hands on your heart space,

one hand over the other.

Just taking a few breaths there.

Then you can slowly

just bring your hand back
to your side or to your lap.

As you tune into

where you're at with your body,
with your awareness right now.

And bringing your awareness kind
of just at the back of your eyes.

As you breathe and connect with

your center,

wherever that feels like
in your body right now.

Just noticing any shift.

And in your own time, when you're ready,

just going back into the rest of your day

or moving into

an even deeper place of rest if you decide
to take a nap or if it's your bedtime

right now, and just continue caring for
yourself in whatever way that feels good.