The Moon and Tides of the Breath

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Lie on your mat in constructive rest; with the knees bent and the feet hip width apart, the heels away from your sit bones.

Let the bones of your body rest back into the earth. Feel the imprint that the body makes.  Notice your body's weight and length.  Become aware of your breathing. Where do you notice it in the body?

Feel it flow in and out of your nostrils. Follow it from your nostrils down your throat and into the belly, feel it warmed by your body. Follow your breath back out through your nostrils.  Can you sense a change in temperature?  Cool air coming in through the nostrils, warm air going out? Listen to the soft sound that the breath makes as it moves in and out and hear it as the soft sound of the ocean, the waves lapping gently at the shore. In and out. Back and forth. 

Now place your hands on your low belly and feel the rise and feel of the belly beneath your hands. Feel the navel rise and fall. Breathe softly and slowly at about half your capacity and notice the soothing effect on your nervous system as you breathe into the belly and the low lobes of your lungs. Here in the low lobes of the lungs is the element of earth and water. 

Allow your breath to move down into your pelvis;  filling the pelvis with breath. Softening and widening across the low belly. Imagine you could breathe the bones of the pelvis slightly apart. Can you notice a slight change to the curve of your lumbar spine as you breathe in and a lengthening of the tail along the mat as you breathe out. Imagine the breath as a tide that is gently rocking the pelvis as it flows in and flows out. 

Visualise a full moon that hovers just above your navel, the soft reflected light of the moon shining down upon the belly and pelvis. Sense the tide of the breath moving in and out pulled by the magnetism of the moon. Feel the fluid nature of your pelvis and whole body as you continue to let the tide of the breath gently rock the pelvis. 

When you are ready, come back to stillness and feel the soft, feminine energy of the moon move throughout your whole body, moved by the tide of your breath.  Rest deeply and feel the breath move in and out, back and forth like waves upon a shore.