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Expand and Contract Activities Embody the feeling of growing and the experience of guarding with this simple act: • Look at your hand. • Now watch and feel your hand open and close. • Squeeze your hand shut, and then throw it open. • Make a clenching fist, and then slowly unfurl each finger. • Do this several times while playing with speed and intensity. • Now get curious, and notice what feels familiar about this movement. • Consider what feels comfortable. What does this activity remind you of? Notice what happens to your breath. • Now, add the sound of wonder, "Hmm?" If you like, let your whole body get involved. • Contract and expand your spine. • Open and close your mouth. • Move toward and away from something. Continue to fill the space with questions and answers, but favor the questions. We don't always have or need the answers. But, by getting curious about what we want to learn and discover, we can reframe a crisis as an opportunity to grow. Calm Me Down Meditation Based on Taoist qigong, sometimes referred to as the Circulation of Light or the Microcosmic Orbit, this meditation combines visualization, affirmation, and subtle muscular contraction. To practice this technique: • Ask your body how you want to practice this meditation (sitting, standing, or lying down). • Get comfortable. • Enjoy a few deep clearing breaths, as you begin to establish your awareness in the present moment. • Visualize a glowing orb of light at the base of your pelvis. • Imagine different colors until you find a color that resonates with you. • With your next in-breath, visualize inhaling this light from your tailbone up your spine all the way to your brain. • As you exhale, imagine and feel this light cascading down your brain and spine until it returns to the pelvic floor. • Repeat until you feel comfortable linking your breath, attention, and visualization. Now let's add some more layers. Begin again with your colorful light at the base of your spine, and then: • Inhale up as you inwardly say the word "calm." • As you exhale (and visualize the light flowing down your brain to your tailbone) affirm the word "down." • Repeat several times. One additional variation: • Inhale up with the word "calm," and then hold your breath at the top. • As you hold your breath, lift up your pelvic floor muscles (engage your perineum), and say the word "me." • Exhale as you release the pelvic floor lift, and repeat the word "down" as you see the light descend. Repeat any of these variations for at least nine repetitions or three minutes, and you will immediately feel your mind and body soften into a relaxed and calm state of being. F o r t h e l a t e s t i n f o r m a t i o n v i s i t w w w. a b m p . c o m / c o v i d - u p d a t e s . 29