Day 8: Cupping
"Attention is the beginning of devotion."
–– Mary Oliver
For the most part, we only pay attention to our genitals when we are in a sexual context or when something is wrong with them. Rarely do we offer them slow attuned holding that has no expectations or goals.
Your practice for today is to spend 10 breaths cupping your genitals with one or both of your hands before you go to sleep, and again before you get out of bed tomorrow morning.
To do this, keep your fingers together and reach the tips to your perineum. Lay your fingers over your vulva, with the palm of your hand resting over your pubic bone.
Play with the pressure – pushing in with your fingers, and/or pushing down onto your pubic bone with the heel of your hand – until you find something that feels good, at least for this moment. Then, simply breathe into the contact, noticing what happens for you.
If you’re in a situation where you feel comfortable, you can cup yourself for a few breaths right now.
This practice can be both activating and calming. You might feel a lot, you might feel nothing at all. Remember, you are not trying to make something happen, you are simply making contact with your genitals and then noticing what happens in you as you do so.
