At Home in the World

Claudia Cummins
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  • Health & Fitness
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Movement and stillness practices for vitality and ease, with Claudia Cummins. Learn more at www.ClaudiaCummins.com. claudiacummins.substack.com

  1. 3d ago

    The Subtle Breath

    There is a common misconception in the world of yoga and other somatic disciplines that if we want to harness the true power of the breath we need to huff and puff in huge and aggressive ways. We are taught to sound like Darth Vader as we vault from one yoga pose to the next. We are taught to hold our bodies taut and then gulp big breaths of air… as if bigger is always better and more is always best. Beautifully, there’s another way to breathe that can be even more potent and restorative. Ancient adepts suggested that we relax deeply into a state where the breath can be slow, steady, quiet and nearly imperceptible to the outer eye and ear. Sometimes called the subtle breath or the embryonic breath, this tender-hearted approach can leave us feeling relaxed and also quietly revitalized. It feels like a gentle breeze on a lazy afternoon. This 14-minute practice offers an introduction to this subtle way of breathing and being in the world. What a relief to remember that less is often more. What a relief to shed our need for speed and over-caffeination. What a gift to explore the possibility of letting the body, breath and mind grow deeply calm… simple light, spacious and free. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Sep 26

    Entering the Stream

    Mostly we lead lives of distraction, bouncing from one thought to another. We spend a whole lot of time in our heads - thinking, ruminating, planning. This endless parade of thoughts can easily lead us toward a deep sense of depletion - sometimes even exhaustion. We get so tangled up in our small-minded preoccupations that we lose touch with the greater flow of life. It’s good to have a brain, of course. But it’s also good to remember that we are so much more than simple thought machines. We have bodies that move and breathe and reach out toward one another. We have hands that create and legs that carry us and hearts that keep life flowing into every cell of the body. We have eyes that take in beauty and ears that listen to the sounds that tell us we are here, now, awake and alive. The practices of embodied wisdom - yoga, meditation, qigong and modern somatic disciplines, too - have the power to return us to a wider range of human experience. They remind us how to enter the stream of deep awareness, of heartfulness, of love, so that we can feel awake in each moment and at home in the world. This 32-minute guided practice offers a taste of the ways that embodied presence can cultivate vitality and light. It is slow, quiet and improvisatory. It nudges us, little by little, toward steadiness and calm. Through practice we unearth the deep and life-giving vitality that comes with living fully and attentively in the here-and-now. Something shifts when we climb out of our heads and back into our bodies. Life blooms when we are reunited with the deep and natural intelligence that flows through all creation. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Sep 19

    The Three Heavens

    Taoist sages long ago created beautiful and evocative maps of our inner worlds to help us cultivate deep wakefulness and profound ease. Their imagery was poetic and profound. Their visions offered a path inward, in ways designed to help us find our way back home to wholeness and peace. This 19-minute meditation (with a little bit of movement) explores what Taoist masters called the three heavens within us. These heavens, sometimes called fields of elixir, are said to serve as reservoirs of potent energy and vital essence. By nurturing the energy flowing through these three heavens, Taoist masters taught, we can cultivate strength, peace, longevity and love. Whether or not you believe that heaven is within you (not to mention three heavens!), exploring these three regions of the body can be both soothing and enlivening. Sometimes by simply placing our hands on our bellies we can sense some inner ease or unease, some sense of being settled or a little off. Sometimes when we place our hands on our hearts we can sense warmth or coolness, buoyancy or depletion, lushness or a sense of feeling parched. And when we rest our hands on our brow, we might sense congestion or thickness or deep blue peace. More and more I find myself astounded by the natural intelligence that seems to flow not just within us but through the whole universe. There are ways of knowing and being that are bigger and wiser than our small passing thoughts. We short-change ourselves when we are lulled into believing that our conscious thoughts are the sole source of intelligence. Maybe we would be wise to widen our vision just a bit. Perhaps there’s a good reason that we instinctively place our hands on our bellies when we have a stomach ache. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when we touch our hands to our chests when we are deeply moved. And any parent knows that there is something big going when we rest a cool hand on the warm brow of an ailing child. Maybe those old masters were on to something, after all. Mostly, it seems, we just have to make room for this wise presence in the world to let it flow in fullest form. We need only pause, grow quiet and listen for the song of life to reveal itself to us, note by note. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Sep 12

    Finding Flow

    We spend so much of our lives thinking, planning, replaying, figuring things out. Sometimes we even begin to feel like one big brain with a body whose job is simply to carry around all of our thoughts. We are so much more than our puny thoughts and it can be such a relief to remember this from time to time. Embodiment brings us back to life - to real life in its full range of experience and feeling and sensation. Embodiment tethers us to the here-and-now, to the feeling of being awake in this moment, connected to all of the other lives that are also living right here and right now. We know how to be fully present in the world when we are babies and small children. But often as we grow up we lose touch with this sense of being alive in not just our brains but our bodies, too. We sense that something vital is missing from our lives. And then we do crazy things like sign up for yoga classes (or even listen to guided audios!) to help us find our way back home to a deeper sense of presence in the world. This 30-minute guided practice offers an invitation to return to our sensing, feeling, breathing and perceiving way of being. Through gentle organic movement, we remember the sheer delight of being able to move through space. We explore the possibility of riding the waves of life as they pulse through us. We remember how to trust our deeper intelligence, how to climb out of habits and ruts of own making. We remember how to shine. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Sep 5

    Between Earth and Sky

    Befriending the earth is a beautiful practice. We lie down, close to the ground, resting in stillness and perhaps even gliding through a few quiet, earthy movements. In the midst of so many challenges in the greater world, settling back into the arms of Mother Earth can be such a relief. We reconnect with the greater flow of life and remember how good it feels to invite equanimity and ease into our beings. And, beautifully, as we hand ourselves over to the embrace of gravity, the earth not only holds us close, but she also somehow magically buoys us upward again into the arms of the great blue sky. Earth and sky… they are good friends and they are good teachers, too. This 13-minute guided meditation explores these possibilities of both grounding and rising. We are invited to melt into the earth, we are invited to bloom into the sky, and then we consider the possibility of embracing both in the very same breath. Lucky for us, we don’t have to choose one over the other. In fact, we can’t really choose one or another. We get to be friends with both. We are invited to be as steady and faithful as the earth beneath us. And, in the very same breath, we are invited to be as clear and spacious as the sky above. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Aug 29

    Returning Home to the Body

    The body is our portal to the present moment. The body only exists in the here-and-now. Any time our thoughts fly back into the past or forward into the future, we leave the body’s sensate experience of the world. We become dis-embodied. Sages teach that if we want to recover our deepest vitality - if we want to truly shine - we need to recover our sense of being alive in our bodies in the here-and-now. We need to return to the intelligence and wakefulness that pulses through every cell within. We can’t just think our way into feelings of wholeness and wellbeing. And so in this gentle movement practice - as in all of our explorations - we use the body as our home base. We return to our senses, to experiencing the world through bone, muscle, breath, sound, sight, skin. We remember how to feel our way into life, in addition to thinking our way through. Not only does this cultivate a quality of wakefulness, but also it brings us back to the deep ease of wholeness and balance. We return home, both in the body and in the greater world. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

    Returning Home to the Body

  7. Aug 22

    Befriending What Is

    Sages teach that the secret to living happily is to rest with ease in each moment, with a sense of openness and freedom. This is easier said than done, of course, but with practice we can nudge our minds in that direction. This 20-minute guided practice offers an opportunity to settle into the moment, to let go of excess tension, and to offer goodwill toward ourselves and the world around us. We learn to befriend what is, in our bodies, our breath, our mind and our world. Just a few moments each day of letting go of our busy-ness and to-do lists can nudge us back toward sanity. We rest our minds and our bodies in the here and now. We remember who we are and what matters most. We reconnect with our truest selves, our deepest loves and the light that shines everywhere. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

    Befriending What Is

  8. Aug 15

    Stretching into Spaciousness

    Many Eastern spiritual traditions embrace and elevate the possibility of tranquil and open-hearted spaciousness. Through practice we are nudged toward a place of both uplift and ease. It’s not fancy and it doesn’t draw attention to itself. And yet it feels so open, so free, so right. This possibility is embodied in the comments of one revered monk, when asked what enlightenment felt like. He responded, “Lots of space, nothing holy.” In Japanese, this possibility is called yutori, or tranquil spaciousness. Yutori invites us to slow down, to listen deeply and to be fully present in our lives. We are gently led in the direction of openness and freedom, even as we are nudged to release the constriction and smallness that we so often carry within. In this 27-minute movement practice, we explore the possibility of stretching our way into spaciousness and freedom, both in our bodies and in our lives. This exploration is done lying down on our backs, resting on the ground or another supportive surface. As always, let my suggestions be invitations rather than instructions. Stay within your comfort zone and avoid movements that cause discomfort. Feel free to move in any way you like, carrying the practice into new, interesting and spacious ways that feel just right for you. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

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About

Movement and stillness practices for vitality and ease, with Claudia Cummins. Learn more at www.ClaudiaCummins.com. claudiacummins.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Claudia Cummins
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    56
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Claudia Cummins
  • Show Website
    At Home in the World