(or whenever I wake up, sitting up in bed)
The moment I decide to do a new routine, it tends to become one more thing I don’t want to do, and then I beat myself up for not doing.
A useful principle for me has been to make sure they’re easier than what I think I could do – remedial, you could even say.
One minute feels like something I can do, even on my craziest days.
And sometimes, I would even say most times, it feels so good I actually want to to do it for longer. So I do.
Why Space?
Of all five natural elements, space is the most subtle. It’s our connection to the part of ourselves that is beyond this body and this life.
If you believe that we are spirit or souls or something behind physical, the element of space is where we connect to it.
Becoming as spacious as we can – starting with the breath, deepening it into the back of our body, and then moving into awareness itself – reminds us that we are bigger than our problems, our limitations, our goals and visions.
We make space for the deepest part of ourselves to come through, so our day is more than tasks and lists. We bring our soul into our day.
Why Bring Our Soul Into Our Day?
Our left brain solves problems, generates ideas, and tells us stories.
It connects us to the part of ourselves that’s logical, linear, and language-based.
Most of the day we’re using this part of ourselves to figure out what to do, and how to do it.
But there’s a whole other part of ourselves that often gets left behind in the chaos of the day.
The right brain turns on when we are curious, open, receptive. Here, we let go of the why’s, what’s, how’s and where’s and empty out: invite spaciousness in.
The right brain connects us to our intuition, our inner wisdom, and a universal intelligence that’s behind logic.
It helps us sense of who we are and what we’re here for.
For me, without this 1 Minute Space Meditation things just don’t seem to flow. I lose my keys, my computer’s slow, and I don’t get everything done.
With it, I feel like I’m in a bigger flow, that’s supporting me forward, and everything has a little sparkle of something bigger than logic: a deeper knowing.
Why First Thing in the Morning?
Almost all spiritual traditions emphasize the power of meditation at dawn.
What is it about the sun coming up that’s so transformative?
According to Ayurveda, there are different energies throughout the day, and 2am to 6am is “vata” time – space and air, the most subtle energy.
When I wake up early and everyone’s asleep and there’s this quiet, there’s a different vibe from let’s say 12pm if I’m the only one up.
Before 6am is the beginning of something, from darkness to light. We are in transition from subconcious to reality.
In these early morning moments, there is an energy of change we can tap into.
It’s been said that if we map our whole lives on top of the 24-hour day, then dawn is our birth.
So we have a window in these moments to shift patterns and limitations we might have had our whole lives – even in the womb.
Why Love It?
I do enjoy this practice, but here I’m using “love” not as a description for an emotion, but as a verb: to love something, to nurture and embrace it and care about it.
When we feel loving toward something and we combine that feeling with presence and focus, we create oxytocin.
Oxytocin is known to increase plasticity even in the adult brain. It opens the brain to new neural pathways – new ways of thinking about ourselves and our lives.
In other words, Love + Focus = Oxytocin.
The “ma” principle is the foundation of it all.
“Ma” means mother in just about every language.
And in Sanskrit, the language of yoga, it also means the highest, most most wise and powerful of any group.
When we learn to mother ourselves – to turn nurturing energy inward that we usually reserve for others – we begin to embody our highest, most powerful and wise “Ma” Self.
Where Do We Want Space Physically?
The moment the day starts going – we run to the shower, get the kids ready, get to work or whatever your morning looks like – we are pushing to the front of our bodies energetically.
This looks like:
- head forward
- shoulders forward
- thighs forward
- belly forward
- ribs forward
- eyes forward
- brain forward
Making space is about expanding the back of the body with each inhale. Keeping the space on the exhale, allow the hips to settle downward.
Literally, the pelvic floor expands back naturally on the inhale. But often, we’re too tight and stressed for this to happen, and so the breath pushes forward for space. The thoracic spine – meant to expand back – flattens or moves forward, creating back pain.
With our head forward, our neck flattens, creating tension.
And with our shoulders forward, our shoulder blades come off the back, creating instability and pain in the shoulders, elbows and wrists.
For all these reason, the back body is a great place to invite spaciousness into.
Imagine you’re driving. Shift your butt back a bit. Breathe your back ribs into the seat. Press your shoulders back and keep looking at the road, and press your head back.
Now you’re no longer in a car but maybe sitting in a beautiful place you love.
Imagine even your eyeballs settling back, and move your awareness to the back of you brain.
Rest back into the cushion of you.
Now breathe, relax and expand in all directions from here.
What Does This Do For Us Spiritually?
Traditionally in yoga the back of the body is related to trust.
It’s a place where we can remember we are part of something bigger.
We don’t have to do this alone.
If you believe we are souls in a body, then it only makes sense that there are others that we are connected to.
And that they’ve got your back.
This sense of our purpose, of why we’re here at all, is hard to find.
But it’s near impossible when we’re in our left-brain, listening to the story of the problems that need fixing.
When we wake up, we are more connected to the dreams and visions of our soul.
And just one minute of inviting it into our body, our mind and our energy can change our whole day – and our lives.
How Does the 1-Minute Space Meditation Affect Real Life?
When we turn inward lovingly, we open the door to guidance from within. It’s like bushwhacking a pathway to our “inner GPS.”
Throughout the day, we find ourselves making slightly more nurturing, wise, and powerful choices.
When we’re in a stressful situation, we might remember to pause and take a breath.
And when we do, we can breathe deeper, because we’ve made space for it.
And it connects us to a calm, grounded place because we’ve been there not too long ago.
Especially when we set an intention at the end, our Space Meditation can infuse our whole day.
Ask yourself: what part of myself do I want to embody today? What quality do I need to take this ordinary day and make it extraordinary?
Whatever quality arises in your awareness, this is what you’ll bring to everyone you talk to, and everything you do.
Setting an intention helps bring a focus and clarity into our day.
But it’s more than that.
When we’re clear with the universe about who we are and what we want, it seems to rise up in support in strange and magical ways.
Try a 1 Minute Space Meditation when you wake up – just sitting in bed – and let me know what changes…🧘🏼♀️
