Breathe, Move, Feel. Become The Mountain. Become The Cosmos.
42m
You are a man who wants to learn how to create healthy containers for the expression of your feminine. You may have even heard the term “husband your own feminine” from John and want to learn how to hold the fullness of your feminine energy, but you are not sure where to start.
This is a feminine intuitive movement practice that John originally led for men of his 2020 Embodied Men's Leadership Training during a private live Intensive in Mount Shasta. This practice is particularly recommended for men and masculine-identified beings who want to connect more deeply to their own feminine and experience how to move pleasure through their masculine body, but it is also accessible for all practitioners.
The practice is a guided journey through opening your body, unclenching from the habitual shape your body often takes, moving with Biological Breathing - a practice inspired by the work of Cass Phelps, expressing the truth of your heart, filling your body with nourishment to let go of burdens, becoming one with the cosmos, becoming a mountain holding all of the energy you cultivate in the practice, and offering eternal love to the world.
If you want to hold and express your own feminine energy, this 43-minute comprehensive practice will create a solid and powerful container.
Begin lying down on your back on a rug, mat or sheepskin in a comfortable and private practice space. Take the first few moments of the practice to relax, settle and dissolve onto the ground. Allow your ribs to spread out and become heavy. Allow the back of your head, the back of your heart, and your sacrum to be heavy and connected to the earth. Then find a full breath that takes no effort; a breath that is your body's nervous system organically doing what it was made to do.
See if you can let go of everything. Can you come to this moment with absolutely no history and no agenda?
Then be with whatever is most true for you right now in your heart. It takes focus and determination to be with whatever is true, whether it is exhaustion, relief, or excitement. If thoughts come up, let them pass and return back to the truth of your heart.
For the next minute, on your exhales, start to allow some sounds to come out that are the cleanest expression of the truth of your heart, without any thought or story. Connect your voice and sound current to your heart. Move with both relaxation and aliveness in your body at the same time.
With your eyes closed, let your face unclench, so your exhales bring a scrunching, opening, noshing, and widening of your jaw. So much of your tension and stress is held in your face and jaw. Break up the face that you wear all day long; the persona that you show the world—i.e. the smile that you paste on your face, even when you're not feeling great. Let your face become an expression of your desire to open, especially if you think that you can't. Bring your neck and throat into it, so your jaw separates from your neck, your neck opens, and maybe even your head moves as well. Open your cervical spine, the back of your neck, and the base of your skull.
Allow your body to unclench from the habitual shape that you spend so much time cultivating. Break up the crust.
Then allow that to relax and notice the impact on your body—notice if there is more space in your jaw, your tongue, and your eyes.
Now you will begin to move with your breath in a Biological Breathing practice. Your inhale will initiate an opening in a part of your body and your exhale will be the expression of your body's truth moving in some direction.
Breathe in an area where your body wants to be opened, widened and enlivened—maybe your heart, maybe your shoulder, maybe your belly, maybe your groin—and from that place, with the exhale, follow the truth of your body into some flow or movement that is not directed by your thought, but rather, directed by your body's desire to move.
Think about this as widening everything and creating space from the inside of your body. Keep breathing. Keep moving. Keep your eyes closed. Find a part of your body that wants a breath and then let your body open. Maybe your shoulders get wider, maybe your ribs create space in your sternum, or maybe the tendons in your fingers, elbows, hips, and knees stretch and get wide. Imagine that your body could expand open in every direction, like a tree rooting and spreading its branches and leaves at the same time.
Let it feel good. Breathe in the nutrients that you need and then let your body move in the way that it wants. Imagine that you could open a clench that you've been holding onto for years—jealousy about your brother, resentment toward your husband or wife, fear of not being good enough. Allow these things to open as your body and breath move.
You can change positions at any time, and move onto your side or hands & knees, for example. If you have the impulse to do so, follow it. If you want to stay where you are, that's fine too.
Set the intention to be nourished and opened from the inside as you move. Keep moving and let it feel good. What if you could separate your vertebrae on your exhales and give them more space? What if you could create more space in your hips? What if you had a tail, and wagging that tail would make your hips wider and fuller? Try not to drop into anything that is a habitual routine or stretch.
The intention is nourishment. The intention is joy. The intention is pleasure. Let your burdens go with every moment. Imagine that you could open past them—your investments, your business, your family.
Imagine that, as your body widens, everything widens and the whole world expands. It's as if the universe is already expanding and you are just aligning yourself with the universe. With every exhale, feel how your expansion is perfectly aligned with the universe.
Let your inhales find the part of your body that wants more space. Let the exhales initiate that into deeper movement. If emotions come through, keep breathing and opening. Imagine your heart could stretch open like putty. Loosening and widening everything.
Feel how everything wants to nourish you from this space of continual opening. The earth wants to feed you. The breeze wants to feed you. The sun wants to feed you. Feel how the smiles of your partner and children create more openness in your heart. Allow everything to get longer, stronger, and more supple.
Every breath is a fresh moment. Imagine that these movements ripple out into your future. A future of openness. A future of space. A future of possibility. The whole world embracing you.
Feel how your body and the cosmos are one—your internal universe and the external universe moving in a beautiful and organic opening. Let it be messy, non-linear, and non-sensical. Feel your body and the body of the universe completely in synch and moving as one. Your breath is the breath of the cosmos. Your body is opening as stars are opening. Your body is expanding as the universe is expanding. And let that be expressed through your movement. Birth. Death. Growing. Feel all of that through your movements. There is no separation between you and the cosmos. One body. One movement. If the cosmos could make a sound, what would it sound like?
Let this feel powerful and feed your strength. Let it be strong and pleasurable at the same time. Feel your heart at the center of it all—your heart at the center of the universe. The deep, rich, infinite space of your heart. Feel the weight of your heart, the truth of your heart, as you move and widen.
Let your body be the primal expression of the cosmos. The brutal opening of the universe.
Then, about 30 minutes into the practice, slowly make your way into a standing position. Let your body rise like a star rising in the sky. Feel your heart shine like a star.
Once in a standing position, bring your arms by your sides, feet hip width apart, chest lifted, chin tucked, and eyes soft. Let everything get still. Take the energy that you've cultivated and ground it down into the earth. Be the mountain that is filled with energy.
Ground. Feel the flows of energy through your body while your body is absolutely solid, still, and wide. Feel your heart at the center of the mountain. Don't let any thoughts take you away from this. Focus. Come back into your heart. Come back into the ground. Feel your legs rooting you thousands and thousands of feet down into the earth, while you extend up to the sky. Let the mountain nourish you.
Feel how your body supports life. Feel the streams moving through you, trees growing from you, and animals living on you. Feel how your mountain supports your world. Imagine your world—your family, your community, the people you want to touch—and feel them all nourished, supported, and held by the mountain that you are.
Then slowly feel yourself release. From this standing position, inhale and, again, let a movement come through your body. As you exhale, reconnect to the entire cosmos and let your body begin to move with the flow of the universe. Let your body be an expression of pleasure, flow, and opening. Let go of the solid and the need to hold. Feel the energy of the cosmos as it pulses, opens, and flows.
Feel the mystery of it all. How did life even happen? How did we even get here? Don't let your mind drift. Breathe. Move. Feel. That's it.
What's the expression of the cosmos that is moving through you? Let your fingertips feel it. Let your hips feel it. Let your shoulders feel it. Let your heart feel it.
Imagine that this aligned movement of you and the cosmos is an expression of love that you want to bring to the world and the people you care about. Let your body be an expression of love. Let your body caress the world and the moment. Feel your heart at the center of the universe and how deep & infinite it goes. Is there an end to the amount of love that your body can transmit?
Let your love shine through your body like a star. Let your love flow like a breeze. Let it caress like sunlight. Make your body the expression of the eternal love that you are. Let your body feel the beauty of the eternal love that you are. Let your heart be broken open by the eternal love that you are.
Feel all of the love happening on the planet right now. Let your heart connect to couples making love, children playing, and grandparents with their grandchildren. There is an infinite source of love flowing on the planet right now. Let your body feel it. Let your heart become overflowed with it. It's so beautiful.
Discipline yourself to "be love" for a little bit longer than you're used to.
Can you find the root of your heart, and feel how rich and full the base of your heart is? Let that move you. What are the final expressions of your gift of love? Let your body paint the world with your love.
Then run your fingers over your own body as a gesture of love. Find a place in your body that wants love, perhaps a place that you often reject, and caress it with love. Feel how beautiful your body is—the gift you've been given. This body. This heart. This throat. This mind. Love yourself as much as you've loved any other human.
Then, without losing any of this beauty or grace, slowly make your way to the floor or a cushion, and sit in a cross-legged position. Breathe and connect to the energy flowing through you once again. Then offer a bow, gesture, or full breath to close this practice.
Music:
Chattra Chakkra Varti by White Sun
Ardas Bhaee by White Sun
Ik Ardas Wahe Guru by White Sun
Rakim—Live Remastered by Dead Can Dance
Promentory by Trevor Jones
Chattr Chakkr Vartee by Snatam Kaur
Disclaimer: Although anyone may find this practice to be useful, it is made available with the understanding that we are not engaged in presenting specific medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual advice. Nor is anything in this practice intended to be a diagnosis, prescription, recommendation or cure for any specific kind of medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual problem. Each individual has unique needs and this practice cannot take these individual differences into account. Each person should engage in a program of treatment, prevention, cure, or general health only in consultation with a licensed, qualified physician, therapist or other competent professional. Any person suffering from a sexually transmitted disease or any local illness of his or her sexual organs should consult a medical doctor and a qualified instructor of sexual yoga before practicing the sexual methods described in this practice.