In today’s episode of Meditate with Sally we get to talk about a practice called Earth Breathing.

Here’s the link to listen and practice along:

Earth breathing is incredible.

It’s a meditation practice that’s very ancient. People have been doing earth breathing across all different cultures. Not just in ancient India, but also Tibet, Africa, and Native American traditions. When people felt stressed out, they would lay down on the earth. let their body get heavy, and connect to the immense support of the earth below.

So in this guided meditation, in Earth Breathing, you get to meditate on your back.

Which is huge! Because most people think that in order to meditate, they have to sit upright.

But it’s hard to sit upright! It’s hard on our knees, on our back, our neck might hurt, etc.

So the first awesome thing about Earth Breathing is that you can meditate on your back.

The second awesome thing about Earth Breathing is that it helps with all kinds of anxiety.

So that’s the main reason to do it.

If you feel anxious, you can do Earth Breathing and it’s going to help.

Whenever I feel like I don’t have enough time, and I’m anxious because of that (like there’s so much to do and there’s not enough time), if I lay down on my back and I do Earth Breathing, somehow it helps and I feel like there’s an abundance of time, and I can relax.

I also notice that when I feel like I don’t have enough attention, if I feel needy…

In yogic psychology, we would say that’s an imbalance in the Earth Element.

If we don’t feel like we have enough (of anything), we need to connect back to the Earth.

So laying down on my back, feeling the Earth, going through the practice you’ll listen to when you click the link, can make a huge difference if you’re feeling needy.

The third thing that Earth Breathing is really good at is for when we’re in a scarcity mentality.

When we feel like we don’t have enough money.

And again it kind of works by magic, because don’t the practice isn’t going to automatically put money into your bank account.

But what I can say it will do is help you see what you do have.

So I want to encourage you to try this practice if you feel like you don’t have enough time, attention or money.

When you listen to the meditation, you’ll notice that I take you through cues about your breath. I’m gonna ask you to exhale and lower your attention into the earth. And then when you inhale, you’re going to inhale and breathe your attention into your body.

And what this does is create a relationship (a felt embodied relationship) between you and the Earth.

Earth Breathing is extremely grounding. So if you struggle with anxiety, give it a try!

It only takes 10 minutes, you get to lay down on your back, and I’ll talk you through everything you need to know.

And don’t forget to be gentle with yourself.

Just do the best you can.

And I’ll see you next week.

-Sally