Feel free to update with your own preferred somatic and/or meditative routines.

This exercise brings awareness of the way we are made to feel about the earth and its attributes of solidity, consistency, balance, harmony, nurturing, and the ability to be comfortable in the present, to be able to feel at the right place, at the right time, and doing the right thing with the right people.

Mentally, we might feel good about the idea, but witnessing how our physical body reacts during the exercise and the difficulty we might experience in following the instructions will put us in touch with the unconscious way we feel about the relationship we really have with the elemental entity of earth.

<aside> <img src="/icons/compass_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/compass_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> Earth Relationship Chi-Kung (from Five Elements, Six Conditions by Gilles Marin)

1. Calmly and rhythmically shake your body, becoming aware of your bones differentiated from your muscles. Sink as you inhale, and push your feet into the ground as you exhale and rise. Be aware of how strange and unnatural this feels. The natural tendency in our modern culture is to do the reverse: to lift off during inhale and stay afloat as long as possible during exhale, with the net result of losing the feeling of connection with the earth.
2. Keep shaking and sinking as you inhale and keep pushing your feet into the ground as you exhale, as if you want to leave deep footprints in the ground. Do it intentionally and energetically for a few times until it becomes automatic. Then let your body relax, and witness how, as you exhale, you can relax more of your body weight into the ground. Try to get rid of tensions you don't need in order to remain standing.
3. As you keep shaking and sinking your body weight as you inhale and pushing your body weight into the ground as you exhale, be aware of the "pushing back" from the ground. This pushing back is actually the resistance to your push and represents how solidly the earth supports you. Take that feeling of support deep within you and relax more of your body into it. Be aware of the unconditional nature of this support and relax into it completely. Feel it in your feet and relax them completely. Feel the earth support inside your legs and pelvis, in the whole length of your spine, and even in your ribs, your sternum, your shoulders, your jaws, and your neck. Progressively, let the entire weight of your body sink into that unconditional support from the earth.
4. Smile in your feet. Soften your feet and smile there. Smiling is contagious. Soon you will experience the softening of the ground under your feet. This is the earth smiling back at you. Take that softness deep within you.

Be aware of the difficulty of the exercise.

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