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Do you take a fatalistic attitude toward pleasure, thinking of it as something that depends on external stimuli that happens to you from the outside? Do you feel victimized by your aging process, which may be accompanied by physical pain, stiffness and awkwardness, shrinking of your social identity through loss of significant others and diminishing of the “juiciness” of your body tissues? Rather than giving in, as many do, to anger, depression, or denial, would you like to have a means to help yourself?

One possibility is to reduce pain, renew your flexibility and re enliven yourself with a gentle rhythmic movement. While reducing stress, improving your breathing and posture, loosening your hips, back and neck, you may be able to evoke an overall feeling of bodily integration and harmony. Being able to generate the experience of pleasure and well being from inside your own body can be a powerful antidote to challenging emotional states and dependence on others. By supporting yourself in this way, you give yourself something even deeper and more enduring than pleasure: satisfaction.

Orientation: rather than a compulsory “exercise” to be gotten over with quickly, envision a soft, gentle, pleasure movement to be relished and enjoyed. Allow it to become a movement exploration or somatic meditation, a ritual of self-contact. Please do only what is easy, reducing your effort if you encounter pain or discomfort, stopping if it continues. You could devote from 10 to 30 minutes to this movement as often as once daily.

Caution: although this movement is a deep and natural part of our human animal heritage, it may be confusing or difficult physically or emotionally for some people. This is particularly true of relaxing the neck to allow the head to move and coordinating the breathing rhythm with the movement. Of course, it may touch on issues of sexuality and loneliness. Please be gentle with yourself.

Settling in: lie on your back on a firm bed or padded floor surface. Bend your knees, placing your feet a comfortable distance apart, and a thin pillow under your head. Can you begin to slow down your thoughts and settle into yourself and the support of the floor? Take a few minutes.

Breathing: with your hands resting on your belly, fell how follow the movement of your belly rising and sinking with each breath. Feel the air flowing through your nose or mouth. Take a few minutes to allow your rhythm to emerge.

Flattening the back: as you exhale, gently press your feet into the floor until your pelvis begins to curl under your torso. Your pubic bone will move toward your head and your lower back will move closer to the floor. Continue until your lumbar region rests flat on the floor but do not go farther and actually lift the pelvis. Slowly release the pressure and repeat with the next exhalation.

Arching the back: as you inhale, gently move your tailbone in the direction of you feet, producing an arch in your back. (Do this while resting, not pressing, your feet on the floor.) After a few seconds, release the arch and repeat for several minutes.

The wave: now that you have practiced each phase of the movement, you are ready to combine them into the complete wave. Slowly alternate between arching and flattening your back, seeing if your breathing rhythm can guide you when to move and if you can permit your head to be “waved” by the pelvic movement. Do not pause in the middle, simply alternate slowly between flattening and arching your back. The head should tilt up as the back flattens and down toward the chest as the back arches, if it is difficult to synchronize this movement with your breathing, just breathe however you wish.