Thank you for joining me for another guided practice session with Claudia Cummins. This week’s offering dives into the body’s core, exploring gentle movements that help us cultivate a long and spacious spine.

Our inner bodies need space in order to move optimally and support us as we move out into the world around us. Alas, sometimes life conspires to leave us feeling constricted, as if there’s not enough room for the rivers of life to flow freely within us. Gentle and mindful movement can help!

This 21-minute session is practiced on the ground or some other supportive surface. We begin in “constructive rest” position, with the knees bent and the feet on the floor. Tuck a pillow under your head if you like, and adjust in any way that feels appropriate for you. As always, please stay within your comfort zone throughout our practice. If any movement causes strain or discomfort, please stop, and then move in a happier way.

Please visit my home website - claudiacummins.com - to explore additional offerings. If you’d like to learn more about back health, my site includes this article offering some of my favorite resources. Enjoy!

Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Years ago I created a guided yoga CD called Mindful Breathing. This one-hour audio offers a quiet introduction to the breath's mysterious ability to nurture wellbeing in body, mind and spirit. The CD includes four guided breathing sessions, all of which are now available here on At Home in the World.

The CD’s four breathing practices are the mindful breath, the calming breath, the centering breath and this offering, the healing breath. There are many, many more ways of breathing, of course, but these practices offer a guided tour of the power of the breath to keep us steady, strong and spacious, even in the face of life’s many challenges.

The healing breath is an 18-minute practice that can be practiced in any comfortable upright or reclined position. It shines the spotlight on the deeper flow of life within us, and on the ways we can ally ourself with that vitality so that we feel ever more at ease and at home in every cell of our body.

My favorite definition of healing is restoration of a sense of wholeness through our entire being. And my favorite definition of wholeness is a sense of communion with all that is, both within and beyond us. Or, as some sages say, “no part left out.” How does settling into the breath reveal this sense of wholeness? It remains a beautiful mystery to me, but I sense the connection each time I practice. I hope you do, too.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Life has a way of throwing us off our mark, of keeping us a little off balance. We need practices to guide us back to the wholeness of the here-and-now, to the place deep within from which our lives flow most freely. Each day, we need to spend a little time shaving off the rougher edges of our lives and returning to the circle of simplicity and ease.

This 14-minute practice - first recorded for my long-ago CD Mindful Breathing - explores the power of smoothing out the breath. As we nudge the breath into a clean, clear and even pattern, we will likely find our brains growing a little clearer and smoother, too. It’s a little bit like filing our nails so that we run into fewer snags as we move about our days.

This centering practice can be explored in any quiet position, so take your pick. As always when working with the breath, if any suggestions cause unrest or feel inappropriate, then skip them altogether or modify the practice in any way that brings a smile to your face.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you for joining me for another session of At Home in the World. In this guided movement practice, we explore the possibility of stretching our way into spaciousness and freedom, both in our bodies and in our lives.

This 27-minute exploration is done on the back, resting on the ground or another supportive surface, with a pillow or cushion for your head. 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 and interesting ways that feel just right for you.

This practice introduces the Japanese concept of yutori, or tranquil spaciousness. By embracing this way of being, we make room for little pockets of quiet to nestle into the folds of our busy days. Yutori invites us to slow down, to listen deeply and to be fully present in our lives. My hope is that this entire guided practice will feel like one deep dive into the freedom and lightness of being evoked by the possibilities of yutori.

The movements in this practice have evolved out of the Feldenkrais method, an approach that fosters profound ease and clarity of movement. I’m especially grateful to yoga teacher Tias Little, who has synthesized his explorations of Feldenkrais and other somatic systems into a movement practice he calls Sensory Awareness Training for Yoga Attunement, or SATYA. I highly recommend it.

Please visit my home website - claudiacummins.com - to explore additional offerings, including this essay I wrote when my kids were young about discovering little pockets of peace amid the beautiful chaos of life. Enjoy!

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Life has a way of robbing us of our natural and organic breath. The stress and speed of our busy world can leave us tight and tough and breathless. Over time, we get so used to half-breathing that we don’t even recognize how far we’ve strayed from wholeness and ease. As the poet Mary Oliver asks us, “Are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”

This 16-minute practice - first recorded for my long-ago CD Mindful Breathing - offers one more survival strategy to help steady frazzled nerves and calm the nervous system. In this practice, we use the breath to ground and soothe us, bringing us right back down to earth. We gently recover our natural exhalation, letting it grow just as long and steady as it needs to be in order to bring relief. This breathing pattern typically calms and quiets the nervous system. Just a few moments of long, smooth exhalations can, quite literally, change our minds.

This session is guided from a belly-down position, which can help foster a long and steady exhalation. If lying prone isn’t your cup of tea, feel free to rest belly up, or to sit in a chair, or even to climb into bed. As always, if any suggestions cause unrest or feel inappropriate, then skip them altogether or modify the practice in any way that brings a smile to your face.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Sometimes we just need a break. The world has had its way with us, perhaps, and we need a little time to rest and recover from the challenges of the day. We need time to calm the nerves, quiet the breath, and warm the heart.

In this session, we’ll take a 15-minute time out. We’ll leave the busy world behind and settle into a quiet space within. We’ll expand our awareness beyond the thinking brain and toward the sensations of life as they pass through us. We’ll downshift the nervous system and rekindle a sense of presence and possibility.

So lie down onto the ground - or perhaps nestle into your favorite cozy chair - and let everything go and let everything be, for at least a little while. After just relaxing for a spell, my hope is that you will return the world’s beautiful chaos with a renewed sense of steadiness and calm.

I share many resources on my website designed to help us find our way back toward our calmer, gentler selves. I even have this short article sharing my favorite stress management strategies. Enjoy!

Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to another guided audio session that I hope will leave us all feeling a little calmer, a litter clearer, and a little bit happier, too. As you have likely experienced in these sessions and in others, the breath holds many secrets to living with ease and peace.

This 14-minute practice - first recorded for my long-ago CD Mindful Breathing - explores the power of smoothing out the breath. As we nudge the breath into a clean, clear and even pattern, we will likely find our brains growing a little clearer and smoother, too. It’s a little bit like filing our nails so that we run into fewer snags as we move about our days.

This centering practice can be explored in any quiet position, so take your pick. As always when working with the breath, if any suggestions cause unrest or feel inappropriate, then skip them altogether or modify the practice in any way that brings a smile to your face.

My website includes many more breathing explorations and quite a few articles that dive into detail about the manifold powers of mindful breathing. This long ago article written for Yoga Journal offers a primer on what relaxed breathing might look and feel like. And this piece shares a few of my favorite breathing practices. If you’ve ever studied with me in person, you likely know them well.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome! In this guided audio session we'll explore the joy of movement - the simple delight of moving the body in a free and easy way, with no agenda other than enjoying the sensations of life as they pass through us. We'll let our bodies out of their cages to roam the landscape with curiosity and freedom, and we'll observe how this exploration affects the mind, the mood, the body and the breath. And then we’ll carry this open and organic movement in a slightly more directed way into a gentle reclined twist.

This 30-minute practice is done while resting on the back - on the ground, on your bed, or even resting in a well-supported easy chair. Tuck a pillow or other support beneath your head if that feels more comfortable. Outstretch your legs so they rest on the ground, or, if you prefer, bend your knees and place the feet on the support several inches away from your hips.

This is a slow journey deep into the heart of movement. Don’t let the mind scare you away from moving at this restful, leisurely pace. Eventually your whole being will smile in relief, as you settle into a quieter, gentler way of being. Slow time is highly restorative!

The Joy of Movement is inspired teachers who dare to slip out of the box of prescriptive movement and into a more organic and joyful way of exploring embodied presence. In particular, my deep thanks to yoga teacher Angela Farmer, who has inspired so many to look inward for their own best teacher, and also to Movingness founder Peter Apfel, whose gentle suggestion that we simply move a hand in a pleasant way launched this whole exploration.

As always, please stay within your comfort zone throughout our practice. If any movement causes strain or discomfort, please stop, and then move in a happier way. Or simply rest for a few breaths. Remember, this is your practice. These explorations are merely suggestions - springboards for your own exploration into the joy of movement.

Please visit my home website - claudiacummins.com - to explore additional offerings. If you’d like to try a different sort of organic movement, enjoy this essay about the power of free-form dance to uplift the soul. Enjoy!

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

The breath has long been considered a potent gateway between our outer and inner worlds. Climbing into its rhythms can help us find our way back to deeper waves of life as they pass through us.

In this 15-minute session, we explore the power of the breath to steady the mind, calm the body, and bring our awareness to the here-and-now. We aren’t trying to change the breath in any way - as we would in yogic pranayama practices. We simply allow the breath to flow naturally and without strain. We use it as an anchor for the mind in a meditation practice. We simply allow the breath to help us feel awake in the moment and at home in the world.

This practice - first shared in my long-ago CD Mindful Breathing - offers a gentle introduction into basic breath awareness. It can be done seated in any comfortable position, or even lying down if you want to rest more deeply.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe