Narrator (00:09):
This recording is an offering of Networks For Training and Development's online university.

Jeremy Duke (00:23):
Okay. Hello, everyone to the Network's healing circle for October 4th, 2021.

Jeremy Duke (00:32):
Now a few days into October here already, and I don't know about you, but it seems to me like time just has such an interesting quality to it with all the disruptions and excitement and change in our rituals and everything we've been through in this last year and a half of very interesting happenings that just seem to keep on rolling.

Jeremy Duke (01:02):
So to me, it seems like an interesting intersection, if you will, of where we're at as a culture and a society with the time of year that we are at, the place in the seasons. So to go into my Chinese medicine wheelhouse, we are heading, well, we're into the fall season. So the fall is, as it was with so many traditional cultures, associated with the harvest. So where do we find ourself here in this season that is normally associated with taking in what we need and then also letting go of all the things that we don't need? Where does that leave us?

Jeremy Duke (02:02):
So many of us have had, oh, I don't know, some issues I guess you could say. over this last year and a half. Anxiety, depression, loneliness, hopelessness, all these things have just gone through the roof. And that's by the numbers that we can measure through surveys and the data available to us, but just think about yourself, all the roller coaster of emotions that you've had through all the events in this past year. I don't know about you, but I have had some rough days, shall we say. Some days where I even had trouble, I guess you would say, digesting everything that's going on. Like I see it and I hear it, even with what I can understand sometimes it's hard to take in everything that I'm seeing and really makes sense of it and fit it into a way of looking at the world that feels good, that makes sense to me, that keeps me settled.

Jeremy Duke (03:16):
So going back to the Chinese model of the wu xing, the five phases, or the five elements. The fall element is metal. In the generative cycle the element that feeds our metal is earth. So here we are in the season of metal, the season of lungs. We should be able to breathe a little bit easier with the humidity going down and the temperature getting a little bit more crisp. We should be able to slow down a little bit and be able to let go of maybe some of the activities that aren't serving us. But in order to properly do that, in order to really feed and honor and nourish our metal element, we have to make sure that the earth element is in order for the metal element or the lung organ be getting all of the good stuff that it needs in order to operate at its best at this high tide time of fall.

Jeremy Duke (04:37):
So considering that earth element that we need to help our metal element, I think that's something that a lot of us have really struggled with or had some issues with in this past year and a half where we wonder, "Where is our center? Where is our ground? What is the solid ground for us to stand on to be able to make sense of our lives in the world as a whole?" So what I would like for us to work on a little bit here is to find our center and some simple ways that we can do that so that as we continue to move forward into and through this fall season, we're ready for this season, our bodies are ready for the season, and our energy is ready for the season, even with everything we've been through and continue to go through.

Jeremy Duke (05:41):
So letting go of any feelings of unease, just for now, and we've got plenty of reasons for it and that's okay. Just for now, give yourself permission to put that down, listen to my voice, and just follow some of these simple directions that I'm giving. And we're going to start with the breath, finding our center and our ground through the breath.

Jeremy Duke (06:11):
So before we begin this take note of how you're sitting. If you're lying down, that's okay too. You can just make sure that you're comfortable. But if you're sitting, feel your feet flat on the ground or on the floorboards. Just notice your feet, see if you can get them to be even, notice the feeling from the back to the front, the heel to the toes. See if it feels even to you.

Jeremy Duke (06:50):
Notice the balance from the inside of the foot, the arch to the outer edge of the foot. And you make that part of the foot feel even, both sides of the foot together. And then just feel the bottom of the foot, the contact it makes with the ground or with the floorboard. And if you can't feel your feet for any reason, that's okay too. Notice the feeling of your legs as they come down from your hips to make contact with the ground through your feet.

Jeremy Duke (07:35):
Let's get yourselves, ourselves, aligned just by noticing the way our sit bones are feeling on the chair. Let the chest be roughly centered over top of the sit bones and then the head centered over top of the chest. Doesn't have to be perfect. We don't want perfect here. All we want is relaxed and open and ready to move into a breath practice.

Jeremy Duke (08:10):
First, we're going to do embryonic breathing. This just means breathing as we would've naturally when we were children, before we accumulated so many restrictions and tension spots and trigger points and all these kinds of things. So first we're going to slow the breath. And don't force it, please. Be gentle with yourself. Just use a little bit of intention, a little bit of focus, to see if your breath can slow down, just a little bit from wherever it's at. And wherever it's right, wherever it's at is just right for you.

Jeremy Duke (09:03):
Just a little slower. Good.

Jeremy Duke (09:15):
The next instruction is long. Again, just a little bit long. Don't force it. Just use that little bit of intention to make the breath a little bit long, with each in breath and each out breath. Good.

Jeremy Duke (09:48):
The next instruction is deep. Again, just see if you can get the breath to go just a little bit deeper. If you can bring your breath all the way down to the belly, wonderful. If not, that is just fine too. If you can get the breath to go even a half an inch deeper than it normally does, you're going to find some relaxation.

Jeremy Duke (10:29):
And now we've got slow, long, deep, and now using the intention make the breath smooth. Smooth like silk, not like sandpaper. Smooth coming in and smooth going out. Smooth on the turnaround when the out breath turns in and the in breath turns out.

Jeremy Duke (11:19):
Good, very silky. The last part of this set is even. Not that the in breath and out breath need to be exactly the same, but just a sense of evenness about them so that the in and out feels balanced to you.

Jeremy Duke (11:48):
And with the breath being slow, long, deep, smooth, and even you may find the breath lengthening and deepening all on its own. So here we're helping the metal element just by focusing on the breath itself. Bringing the breath deeper into our body can activate the diaphragm and even the pelvic floor which can help ground, help that connection from the torso through our legs through our feet to the ground. This can also deepen the breath in and of itself creating a nice little cycle.

Jeremy Duke (12:45):
So feel free to return to your natural breath at this point. Just breathe however is comfortable for you and take just a few moments to bring your attention back to your feet, the bottom of your feet, in contact with the ground. Let it feel solid, supportive.

Jeremy Duke (13:24):
Now a bit of a grounding exercise, thinking about our feet as if it were a tree. The base of a tree, a great tree with roots that can emerge from the bottom of the foot, roots that could even emerge from the toes if you wiggle your toes and give just a little extra pressure on those toes into the ground. Imagine a great tap root sinking down, down into the soft earth, seeking support and nourishment. You can even imagine smaller roots emerging from the toe.

Jeremy Duke (14:24):
Just focusing on that sensation of feeling down into the earth. And if you lose focus on this, you can just bring your attention back to the breath or back to your feet on the ground. And practicing this will help you, help give you a tool when things are starting to get overwhelming out there in the big wide world or in your own personal life. If you can get the breath to go down, you can get the feeling of the earth supporting you underneath your feet, you can find that center again, that ground, that allows you to have confidence in yourself, that allows you to think clearly without so many pressured thoughts, without so many worries and concerns. This will allow you to be a better version of yourself, to do the best you can for yourself and the others in your life.

Jeremy Duke (15:46):
Take a nice deep breath and let it out with aah. Aah. Good. Let's do one more, a nice deep breath, such that you can hear it coming in. Aah. The ah sound, especially coming down in pitch, this is also a good sound for the lungs and also to help move you towards grounding and can help bring the energy downwards and find.

Jeremy Duke (16:33):
Maintaining our natural breath, we'll do one more exercise. This is called [foreign language 00:16:41] which is heaven and earth spirit practice. Sounds fancy, but it's actually fairly simple, if you can use your imagination and I'm sure a lot of the listeners here are pretty good with their imagination.

Jeremy Duke (17:02):
So still sitting in that relaxed aligned posture, breath flowing easy, feet flat upon the ground, being supported. Close your eyes and imagine your internal world contains a great mountain. The tip of this mountain reaches up to the heart and the base of the mountain spreads out across your lower torso, your legs, the floor, deep into the earth.

Jeremy Duke (17:47):
And just imagine there's a tiny you, either standing or sitting on this great mountain. Imagine there are fluffy clouds, peaceful clouds, floating just above you in the sky. If it's nighttime, you could imagine a night sky with a great silvery moon giving you its compassionate energy as it provides light. And at the base of this mountain, this verdant, this life filled mountain with trees and beautiful shrubs and flowers and streams that all flow down into a great ocean. And as you look down from the mountain into the ocean, you notice the state of it. How do the waves seem to you? Are they slapping playfully with a lot of energy or are they peaceful as they gently lap against the bottom of the mountain? What sounds can you hear in this nighttime mountain scene? Perhaps sea birds or other animals.

Jeremy Duke (19:20):
And finally just take it all in as a total, just sitting in the mountain, noticing how the scene unfolds before you, behind you, to the left, to the right. How does it feel to have this mountain to yourself, this peaceful nature scene? And then realize you have access to this mountain anytime. All you have to do is get quiet and go within and there can be the retreat. There can be the place to get away. A place inside yourself where you can create and hold peace, even if maybe the weather isn't so great when you first get there, if the clouds and the wind are blowing with anger, with frustration, or if the waves are crashing with anxiety. You know can find that place inside where everything just seems to settle and you can allow things to be as they are.

Jeremy Duke (20:39):
Smile and take a deep breath in gratitude for this scene and say goodbye to your mountain for now. As you rise back up from the mountain, through the clouds, through the moonlight, and come back into your normal consciousness where you feel your body, feel your shoulders, you can feel your hips and feel your feet, your legs. Go ahead and flutter your eyes open and let's do one more deep breath followed by an aah.

Jeremy Duke (21:25):
Aah. And there you go. Some tools that are available to you at any time. Just feeling into the breath, feeling into your feet and legs, going to visit your own private mountain. Exists in your imagination, but you can make it as real as you want to. Studies have shown that we can use our imagination to actually activate the muscles in our body that are doing whatever it is we imagined we were doing.

Jeremy Duke (22:11):
So I hope you enjoyed this. I hope you take something from it. And whether you use these tools we've done tonight, or you have some other techniques or modalities or tips or other things that work for you in your life, I encourage you to remember to use them so that you can maintain your own ground. And if you lose it, if you get overwhelmed, you know you can get it back because you've practiced these tools and you know they work for you because you've experienced it. And let's all do the best we can with that so we can do the best we can for each other because we need it.

Jeremy Duke (22:57):
We need to keep our resolve to make our lives the best we can in the world, the best it can, regardless of what is going on in other places, regardless of what's in, okay? So I appreciate all of you so much for listening and following along with this. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your willingness to do something good for yourself. And also remember that these are recorded and you'll have access to that recording through the Network's website if you ever want to revisit it. So thank you all so much. Infinite blessings to all of you. Take care. Mahalo.

Narrator (23:44):
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