At Home in the World

We spend so much of our lives rushing from one event to the next that we forget there is another way to live. We forget that it’s possible to move through our days with steadiness and ease. We forget that we don’t always have to race breathlessly, full-speed ahead.Practice gives us an opportunity to remember what it feels like to slow down, to exhale, to be. Practice helps our sticky habits (like the habit of speed) release their grip and maybe even slip away. Practice lets us explore alternative ways of moving through our lives. And it gives us the skills to shift from fast to slow and then - when necessary - to fast again. What a relief to discover that we have a choice, that there are many ways to live and move and breathe.This 25-minute practice is slow, steady and restful. It is a gentle movement practice with a meditative focus. Or, alternatively, it may be a meditation practice accompanied by gentle movement. Or maybe it is both. Either way, it is an opportunity to downshift our nervous systems and return us to a less frantic and more gentle way of being in the world. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Open awareness meditation is very simple: We rest our attention with the simple experience of being alive in the moment just as it is. We rest quietly and attentively, noticing the shifting sensations within us as life passes by. We draw the mind out of its endless parade of thoughts and judgments and fears and grudges, and we return ourselves to the direct experience of being fully present, right here and right now.This 7-minute practice - recorded outside at Kingwood Center in Mansfield, Ohio - is a short and sweet introduction to the practice. The instructions are simple: rest your mind in the experience of the present moment with a welcoming and curious spirit. Settle your mind on the raw ingredients of life, practicing what the Buddhists call “bare attention.”This practice can be a good friend to call upon whenever the mind feels tangled up or overwhelmed. Resting in pure awareness brings us back to life, waking us up again to simple joy of being fully present, energized and alive - at home in the body, in this breath, in this moment, in this world. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

We spend much of our lives fixated on the past and the future, and this habit has a tendency to perpetuate suffering. We rehash the past. We fret over the future. Our minds spin round and round trying to make sense of the world yesterday and life tomorrow.And yet, the only place we have true agency and power is here. The only time we are able to take action is now. With feet firmly planted, with eyes open wide, we change the world one moment at a time, in acts large and small. We counter hatred with love. We answer deception with truth. We combat disregard with deep care. And no matter what, moment by moment and step by step, we remain committed to our primary mission here on earth: to ease suffering and cultivate love on behalf of all beings everywhere.Sages the world over have taught us that the present moment is the ideal touchstone. Whenever we feel stressed or lost or uncertain, coming back to our senses right here and now can help us find our way. We breathe in and we breathe out. We sense our fingers and our toes. We move our bodies this way and that, paying close attention to the sensations that accompany each stretch.Through these actions, we settle the nervous system and steady the mind. Life comes back into focus and we see more clearly who we are and how we want to move through life. We return to the loving, wise, clear-hearted beings we are always meant to be. We recover the unshakeable peace and unbreakable wellbeing that allow us to live with wisdom and compassion. In being fully present we see most clearly the proper path forward.This 30-minute practice helps us settle into the balm of the present moment. We rest a little, we move a little, and then we settle into stillness some more. We watch what happens as we return our attention to the sensations of life passing through us. Breath by breath, we are returned to ourselves: bright, vital, potent and clear. We shift out of then-time into now-time. We climb out of fear and we return to love. We relinquish small-mindedness and we sense deep communion. We expand our identity, our compassion, our care, out beyond little time-bound mortal me and into the wide open sky of we, of us, of the whole wide world. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

It can be such a relief in the midst of our busy lives to give ourselves permission to set the to-do list aside and slip into resting mode, even for a little while. We settle into our favorite cozy spot - on the ground, in bed or in our favorite chair. We turn our gaze inward and we practice the fine are of letting everything be, just as it is.What a relief! The world will spin on without us and it will be there for us when we return. In the meantime, for just a few moments we soften our clenched fists and release our fierce grip on the reins of life. We return home to a sense of unshakable wellbeing as we remember our deep connection with the greater flow of life.This 12-minute guided relaxation offers an opportunity to practice resting deeply, even amid the busy-ness of our lives. Our bodies soften, our nervous systems settle and our minds grow clear. We remember who we are and how we want to live, in love and connection with the vast flow of life. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Wise souls tell us that time and space are great healers. Slowing down and waiting patiently, they teach, can allow stress to slip away and feelings of wellbeing to re-emerge from deep within. Moving mindfully in slow, simple, steady ways can help us find our way back to these feelings of ease and peace. Little by little and stretch by stretch, our bodies grow calm. And as the body settles, the mind begins to steady, too. It turns out that we don’t need to head to the far ends of the earth - literally or metaphorically - in order to recover feelings of spaciousness and ease. Sweet, slow and simple works! In the moment it may feel like not much is happening. If you are the high achieving type, your brain may even wonder why you aren’t doing more. But there is beautiful magic at work here and when we emerge, we feel restored. Time, space and presence have shaken loose our ill-will and aggression, and have restored our clear-minded, warm-hearted way of being in the world.Those of us who have befriended these gentle, attentive and unhurried practices sometimes wonder how others make it through the day without them. These easy stretches and gentle movements - accompanied by patience and presence - become good friends that help us reclaim our steadiness and ease, each and every day. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Meditation teacher Ram Dass was famous for saying, “Be here now,” an instruction that lies at the heart of all mindfulness practices. If we want to shine brightly, if we want to show up for our lives, we need to keep our awareness tethered in the present moment. This is easier said than done, of course. The mind tends to get tangled up in distraction and delusion remarkably easily. Lucky for us, we have many beautiful practices that help us find our way back to the here-and-now, the only place where life can be truly lived. We move, we breathe, we contemplate, we see. We train our minds to spend less time trolling in the past or skipping into the future. We remember what it feels like to be here now - fully embodied and fully present. This 11-minute guided relaxation practice is designed to help us shift into a quieter, clearer state of being that settles us into the moment, just as it is. Little by little, we nudge our minds toward the simple delight of resting quietly and paying attention to life as it passes in and through and beyond our beings. What a relief! Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

As I write this, we are settling into the heart of fall. The world is growing quieter - and, perhaps, so are we. We sense a stilling within, a settling of our energies inward.And yet, we’re not quite ready for hibernation. We still feel life stirring and we still feel a need to move and stretch ourselves out into the world. In this lovely space we are invited to inhabit the middle ground, the place where movement and stillness meet, where doing settles into being, and then being rises back into movement. And on and on and on.This 15-minute reclined movement practice explores these various energies, along with the possibility of saying yes to them all. We explore possibility of settling in and down, while still maintaining a sense of inner agency and freedom. We say yes with one way of being without saying no to the other. We affirm the possibility of simply enjoying the sensations of being alive, right here and now. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Hatha yoga classes traditionally end with a guided relaxation called savasana, or corpse pose. After having moved the body and freed the breath, we rest in stillness. Within this quiet space, we cultivate a steady, rich awareness that helps us feel deeply alive in the moment and utterly at home in the world.In many ways, the entire session leading up to the last few minutes of yoga class is preparation for savasana. In the more active portion of class, we move and breathe and release tension, so that when we come to stillness at the end of class, we are primed to open to the clarity and tenderness deep within.This 10-minute guided relaxation is, in fact, a savasana from one of the yoga classes I offer each week. (It even includes a little birdsong and a gentle rain shower.) I hope it gives you a taste of contentment, even if you haven’t enjoyed a session of mindful movement beforehand. Or, better yet, stand up and move gently for a few moments, and then settle onto the ground for what I hope will be a tasty dessert.A few quiet moments feel like a balm and a gift, especially amid the din of our busy world. Just a few moments of rest nestled into the folds of our lives can reset our bodies and our minds, helping us cultivate steadiness and light even amid the challenges of life. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

We begin the process of settling into a state of calm by bringing the body and mind right back to the present moment. This simple act of cultivating embodied presence changes everything.Adding gentle movement to this quiet presence helps us release even deeper tension held within our muscles, tendons, bones and breath. Moment by moment and movement by movement, we are returned to a profound sense of wholeness in our bodies, our minds and in the world.In this 36-minute gentle movement session, we turn away from the busy events of the day and remember that right here is where life happens. We rest, we move quietly, we watch and we listen. After a little while, we return to to the world feeling calmer, brighter and more like the person we were meant to be. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One of the great gifts of contemplative practice is the ability to drop into the experience of the moment without demanding that it be anything other than it is. With this open-hearted attitude, we rest in the greater flow of life and savor the experience of simply being present in the moment to enjoy the passing show. This experience can be deeply restorative, as we let go of habits of grasping and micromanaging and insisting that life play out a certain way. It can also help us connect to something far larger than our own small lives, reminding us that we are bit players in the vast story of the world.This 18-minute practice offers a taste of this experience. We settle into the moment and savor the invitation to rest deeply in the sensations of being alive. We let the quiet vitality we sense within soothe and revitalize our spirits. And then we return to our lives feeling brighter, clearer and once again at home in the world. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Gravity is our friend, yet we spend so much of our lives fighting its primordial pull. In the struggle we miss the opportunity to cultivate deep connection, soul-satisfying rest, and an unshakeable sense of vitality and ease.In this 22-minute practice we’ll explore the possibility of befriending the earth in ways that release tension and cultivate renewed energy. This gentle movement practice can help nurture feelings of balance, well-being and ease.The earth receives us and holds us. It offers us a place of deep rest and steadiness. By settling into its arms we are invited to let tension melt off our bodies so that we may soften and settle into ease.The earth also has the power to gently energize us, to offer us a bright vitality that can buoy us upward and outward into the world. And somehow, magically, with just a little nudging from us, the earth knows just what we need in order to slip toward a more balanced way of being in the world. Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe

Meditation can be a good friend as we navigate the ups and downs of life. The practice is simple: We train our mind to behave in wholesome and supportive ways. Refining the practice can be a lifetime’s journey.In this 19-minute guided meditation, we explore the fundamentals of mindfulness meditation. We settle into the body, steady the mind, and then spread our awareness outward into the world around us. We watch what happens when we rest with loving awareness in the embodied experience of being alive.There are lots of ways to meditate and it’s worth exploring a range of approaches until you find one that works well for you. Typically, I begin with an anchoring practice - a deep focus on just one thing - until I sense my mind growing calmer and steadier. When and if that happens, I relinquish my hold on my chosen anchor and allow my awareness to spread outward in all directions, awash in the vitality and vibrancy of the here-and-now.A meditation anchor can be any object of awareness that holds the mind’s attention: the breath, sounds, a mantra, an image, and more. Your chosen mental anchor is like a chew toy for the restless puppy dog of the mind, keeping it occupied with a more wholesome activity than habitual thoughts and worries. After a while, the anchor coaxes the mind to grow quiet enough that we can see clearly and rest with ease among the lovely vicissitudes of life.You may hear some rhythmic rumbling sounds toward the end of the practice. That’s when my cat - a meditation master for sure - settles onto my lap and begins purring. Feel free to purr right along! Get full access to At Home in the World at claudiacummins.substack.com/subscribe