Jessica Stover 0:00 (music plays) This recording is an offering of Networks for Training and Development's Online University. Jeremy Duke 0:23 Welcome everyone to the Networks' Healing Circle for May 3 of 2021. Hard to believe, already into May. So, welcome from wherever you're at today. My name is Jeremy Duke. I'll be your host for this evening. And I don't know what kind of day you've had or what the weather's been like, wherever you're at. But for me where I'm at, it's been a pretty dreary day, I actually took my dog out for a walk here, right around sundown and maybe raining a little bit harder than a sprinkle. So I'm still feeling just a little bit bedraggled. But that's okay, I'll I'll dry off pretty quick here. I'm not the Wicked Witch. So I went out, thankfully. But just kind of having a dreary day after having so many nice days recently here that is really brought on spring fever for me, just reminded me to stay in acceptance of whatever's going on in the day, whatever I'm seeing outside in the world, whenever and seeing from other people. And most, especially whatever I'm seeing inside myself, you know, it's so important to actually feel whatever we're feeling in any given situation. And as hard as it could be to believe every feeling every emotion can actually serve a purpose. When they tend to be, I guess a problem for us as when they get stuck, when we won't allow ourselves to feel what's there for any reason. Maybe it's unpleasant. Maybe it doesn't feel good. Maybe it causes us to act in a way that we don't want to act, I think we've all experienced that at some point. Jeremy Duke 2:41 So the important thing is to allow that energy, that emotion to move up and through us without getting stuck. And hopefully, our practice tonight will help us to, number one, be able to feel what we're feeling. And number two, to be able to notice it, sense it in a space of acceptance, rather than, oh, no, here comes a feeling that maybe I don't like or I'm just going to do anything other than feel that by getting away from it by putting on a TV show or, or something like that. So that's where I'm at on this rainy day here accepting the fact that it wasn't as nice as the last couple of days. But you know, this too will pass. And same with our moods. Same with lousy days, whether it's a tough day at work or we were disappointed or even if it was just a bad hair day or woke up on the wrong side of the bed. This too shall pass. The weather always changes. The season always changes. Our mood always changes. And even things that may seem like they've been a part of us for a long time, like long standing physical pain, or emotional pain. Even those things change over time, if we allow them. It just takes a little bit longer if it's been there for a while. Jeremy Duke 4:24 So let's begin our practices here tonight with a little bit of breath work and see what we can sense just by tuning into the breath. Wherever you're sitting, sitting upright, aligning your spine, maybe just reaching your head ever so slightly towards the ceiling. You may notice that helps your chin to come in just a little bit. Allowing your shoulders to drop with that. Sensing the sitbones balanced on wherever you're seated and your feet flat upon the floor or the floorboards, tuning into the breath. Jeremy Duke 5:18 As we take our next breath in, just notice only the rim of the nose, not even the whole nose, just the tip of it, just the nostrils where the air comes through. Just notice the feeling of the breath whistling in past the nostrils and then back out through the nostrils. Jeremy Duke 5:51 Notice how it's cool on the way in and much warmer as it goes out. Jeremy Duke 6:11 Next, feel it inside your head, inside the sinuses. Just see what it feels like as the breath goes in through your head and back out through your back. Jeremy Duke 6:36 May be a little bit harder than the nose, but that's just because it's an area that you're not as used to feeling into. And that's okay. Jeremy Duke 6:47 Next, feel it in your throat, the way it travels down your throat specifically, nice, soft, gentle breath in. See if you can follow its movement down through the chest and even into the belly. And then going back out from the belly out through the chest. See if you can get a sense of that down and then upward movement. Jeremy Duke 7:33 Okay, we're doing great so far. On your next in breath, follow it all the way on the nose, through the head, down through the throat into the belly. And then just continue feeling into the belly. Feel downward a little bit more into the sit bones. The way they feel pressing against the seat and the seat pressing against that. The way your body balances on the sitbones, the way they support you. Jeremy Duke 8:20 Continue feeling down into the thigh both on the front of the leg and back of the leg, into the knee, down the shin, into the feet and through the feet, even to the toe. And even the tips of the toe. We don't normally give our toes much attention unless we're trimming toenails. They're so important for our balance and gait. Okay. All right, nice job with that breathing exercise. Jeremy Duke 9:11 Now we'll move into a little bit of a different sort of feeling exercise. I want you to hold out one of your hands, hold it palm up. Doesn't matter which one. What I'd like you to do is to take a hold of the pinky finger. With the other hand, just pinch it between the thumb and the index finger. When you've got that tip of the pinky finger, move it slowly in a circle. And as you do so, notice the way the finger feels. And then notice the way the hand feels and that's the movement of the finger moves the bones in the hand Jeremy Duke 10:08 and then give it a little wiggle as if you were rubbing a coin. Okay, good. Now, same thing with the ring finger, take a hold of the tip of the ring finger with the other hand and gently move it in a circle. Again, which way doesn't matter, just looking to feel into the sensation of the finger being guided by the other hand, then the feeling inside the hand created by the movement of the finger. Jeremy Duke 10:52 Same thing with the middle finger. Move the middle finger in a circle. And here we're actually stimulating some acupoints on the finger and the hand as well as working on our sensitivity. As you're moving this bigger finger, see if maybe you can even feel into the wrist where things are moving and changing. Give it a little wiggle and on to the index finger, moving it in circles,feeling into the hand feeling the way it affects your thumb. Even a little wiggle and move on to the thumb. Now with the opposable thumb, this should feel a little bit different, moving it in a circle and giving it a wiggle compared to the other fingers. Jeremy Duke 12:08 And a little wiggle and release. Good. Now we're going to use the sensitivity we just built up in our hand, the increased energy flow and blood flow. And we're going to channel that into an acupoint. If you take the wrist crease, if you look at the line that is below your hand where it meets the wrist, especially when you bend it towards you a little bit. Take two thumb widths beneath that or about two inches beneath that wrist crease line. And gently press right in the middle of the arm right between the tendons that are there. Gently press into that a little bit with the thumb of the other hand. And make counter clockwise circles with it. So in other words, the opposite way that the clock goes. You can probably feel the tendons moving a little bit beneath your thumb. This is an acupoint called pericardium six, or Nei Guan, which means inner gate. And it's a fantastic point to use if you ever need to calm down, relax a little bit or come into a greater acceptance of whatever is happening right now. Also a great point for motion sickness. If you've ever seen accupoint bands that places sell for that that's the point that they're stimulating. Jeremy Duke 14:04 Take a deep breath. Let it go. And as you continue making little circles, very gently, don't press too hard. Feel into your belly area. keep circling but put your attention into your belly. Just notice whatever you notice there. Let your mind roam through the area to be through the muscles, fascia, organs like the stomach, your spine, feel into everything in that area without needing to change anything. Just noticing what you notice. And if you feel something uncomfortable just say, okay, smile. And be grateful that you hold this sensation, acceptance. Jeremy Duke 15:16 Still circling on the wrist, feel into the chest area, Jeremy Duke 15:26 into the lungs into the heart. Jeremy Duke 15:34 Feel the skin on the chest and the upper back, feel the muscles under the skin. Jeremy Duke 15:45 Just noticing whatever you notice. Jeremy Duke 15:53 And one more time feeling into the head. Still circling. Just noticing whatever you feel in the head, in the neck, on your scalp. See if you can feel the hair in your head. And as you feel into your face, let a smile break open on it. Feel how different it feels to feel a smile on your face, what it does to the rest of your head, the way it pulls in your skin and your muscles. The way it tells the rest of your body that you're in a safe place. And everything is okay. Jeremy Duke 16:44 And releasing the wrist, you can relax your hands and close up we're going to feel into the feet. Just to ground us from this experience. Go ahead and feel the way your feet connect with the ground. The way the heel touches the ground, outer edge of the foot touches the ground, the ball of the foot and the toes. And just let your mind rest there for a few moments as you flex your feet and your toes. Jeremy Duke 17:39 Okay. I hope this gave you just a taste of what it can be like to feel into parts of yourself that you're not used to feeling into. How much is actually going on inside you at any given time that you can tune into if you learn how to do that and take the time. And ultimately, that connecting with ourselves in this way allows us to accept more of what's going on with us, allows us to drop resistance iwf we're experienced experiencing that to be in a more comfortable place be in a more comfortable state of state of mind, no matter what's going on in the world or with us. And that's all the time that we have for tonight. But I truly thank you for spending some time with us tonight. I hope you have a great rest of the evening. And may you be blessed. Take care everyone. Bye bye. Jessica Stover 18:56 (music plays) Thank you for listening. We hope the information provided was helpful. Don't forget to stop by our website and take advantage of all we have to offer. Transcribed by https://otter.ai