Hello dear one and welcome or welcome back to this new practice.
Today we have a pranayama breathwork and a kriya for immunity.
So this is a beautiful practice to really create that sense of aliveness,
To boost your immunity,
To boost your energy and also increase your lungs capacity.
This practice can be quite demanding in theory.
So please listen to your body at all times.
If at some point there's lightheadedness or dizziness or discomfort,
Feel free to slow down,
Slow the pace down.
You can open the eyes or you can stop the practice altogether.
The most important here is to listen to your body's signal and just go at your own pace and just tune into whatever feels comfortable for you today.
Whenever you are ready,
Come onto your mat.
You will just need two blocks.
If you don't have any blocks,
Perhaps using a bolster or a firm pillow so that you can lay down,
Recline onto that bolster or that pillow.
Let's get ready for the practice.
All right,
So making your way onto your mat and grabbing any props that you may have handy.
So either those two blocks or if you don't have any blocks,
You may grab a bolster or that firm pillow I was talking about in the introduction.
Placing the blocks onto the mat so that one will come at the back of the heart,
So usually where the bra is,
And the other one under the back of the head,
The back of the skull.
Coming into that reclined position,
Just adjusting the blocks accordingly so that they feel supportive.
And you can either keep the legs extended here,
But I would recommend just bringing the soles of the feet together,
Coming into a reclined butterfly shape.
We will keep the arms extended alongside the body,
Just slightly away from the body,
So keeping the chest fairly open.
Letting the knees drop gently to the side,
Be heavy.
Just giving yourself a little bit of time here and space to arrive onto your mat.
To let the body arrive in this shape.
We'll just take here a few clearing breaths.
Drawing a big breath in through the nose,
And then sigh it out through the mouth.
And again a deep breath in all the way up,
And let it go.
Letting the body just release and melt even more into those blocks and into the earth beneath you.
Just letting go of the mundane,
Of the outside world for a moment,
And releasing whatever you don't need for this practice.
And if you wish,
Now is also a good time to set an intention for your practice.
Whatever this might be,
Perhaps simply giving yourself permission to take a moment for yourself and only yourself.
Take this moment for self-care,
To bring more vitality,
More energy,
More resilience.
We'll slowly start adding some gentle movements here,
Linking the breath with the movement.
So perhaps just bring a little wiggle of the fingers and the toes first.
Becoming aware of your limbs and extremities again.
And as you breathe in,
Extend the arms overhead all the way behind you.
And as you exhale,
Bring the arms back down alongside your body.
And we'll just keep going for a few more of those deep breath in,
Arms come all the way behind you,
Overhead.
And then exhale to slowly release back down.
This is a breath-led movement,
So really let the breath lead here.
The breath starts and the movement follows.
And take your time to go through this,
Moving slowly and steadily.
We'll just take a couple more here,
Taking your deepest inhale,
Fullest inhale,
And then gently release.
Find your last one here.
And then taking all the time that you need to slowly remove the block from under your spine and the back of the head.
We'll remain in the reclined position,
But just getting the blocks out of the way.
Laying down onto your back,
Completely flat,
Just for a moment.
And arms can be alongside your body,
Or perhaps hands on the floor.
Or hands onto your body,
If you want to establish some connection here.
And expand and fit flat to the floor,
Just taking a few deep breath in,
And a side out through the mouth.
And then drawing the knees in towards the chest,
Giving yourself a big squeeze and rocking from side to side.
And taking your time here to come into a seated position,
Establishing a comfortable seat,
Using any props that you may need under your hips,
Perhaps a blanket or a block.
And coming into your seat with the eyes closed or a soft gaze,
Releasing the hands onto your knees.
And for our first Kriya,
We'll explore Kapalbhati.
This is a gently activating breath,
Which requires a forceful exhalation through the nose and a pumping action of the navel towards the spine.
So we inhale through the nose,
And pump the navel in towards the spine as we exhale through the nose.
Keeping the spine long and the shoulders relaxed here,
And really just focusing on the exhalation.
The inhalation will happen on its own,
So we fully pay attention to that forceful exhale,
That rhythmic exhale.
Just going at your own pace,
You can start slow and steadily,
And slowly pick the rhythm up once you are comfortable.
We are here just for a few more seconds.
Remaining completely present with the breath,
Sensing that gentle activation,
That fire we are creating in the body.
Take a full exhale now,
And then a deep breath in through the nose,
And hold the breath at the top of the inhale.
Keep holding the breath,
Just for as long as it's comfortable for you,
Without straining the breath.
Once you can no longer hold the breath,
Very slowly and steadily release,
And exhale through the mouth,
Empty the breath completely.
And just take a moment here to pose,
And simply observe whatever is happening in the body.
Taking this time of in-between,
To check in with the body,
Notice the sensations,
Notice your body's response,
Whatever it might be.
There is no right or wrong.
And for our next practice,
We'll explore Ida and Pingala Pranayama.
So we'll interlace the fingers behind the head,
Elbows open wide to the side,
Twisting open to the right,
Taking an inhale through the nose,
And then twist open to the left,
Exhaling through the mouth.
So inhale to the right,
And exhale through the left.
And as we exhale,
We exhale through an O-shaped mouth.
Inhale right,
Exhale left,
Making this movement quite dynamic.
Of course,
If you need to slow down,
Slow down whenever you need to.
And really focusing here on the movement of the spine.
Of course,
Also linking the breath with the movement,
Really sensing this movement,
This rotation coming from the spine.
This is such a beautiful breathing practice to open up the energy throughout the body,
And also build the lung capacity.
Soon we will take a double inhale to reverse the motion here.
So inhale,
Inhale,
And then we exhale to the right,
And inhale to the left.
So just reversing what we were doing before.
This time we inhale on the left side,
Exhale through an O-shaped mouth,
To the right.
We will keep going here just for a few more seconds.
Remain present with the breath,
Although the body and the mind might start creating some resistance.
And then gently start slowing this movement down.
Slowing the breath down.
And coming to centre for a deep inhale.
Holding the breath,
Pulling the shoulders back,
Pulling the elbows back,
Holding the breath at the top.
Holding the breath for as long as comfortable,
Before exhaling through the mouth,
And releasing the hands onto your lap.
And just posing here,
Coming back to your natural breath,
And just taking a moment to observe and witness any changes,
Within yourself.
Changes in the body,
In your subtle energy,
And in the mind.
We'll now explore Prana Shakti,
Another activating breathing technique.
On the inhale,
Reaching the arms overhead,
Opening the hands' wide fingertips to the sky,
And as you exhale,
Exhaling through the mouth,
Forceful exhale,
Bringing the hands into fists towards you,
And drawing the elbows in towards the ribcage.
Starting when you are ready,
This is quite a dynamic and powerful practice.
So this is inhale,
Exhale,
Inhale,
Exhale.
And as you breathe in and reach the arms overhead,
Really opening yourself to energy,
As if you were reaching for that prana.
As you exhale,
Drawing this energy,
This prana,
This vitality,
Back towards yourself.
Keep going here,
Remaining present with the breath,
But of course,
If there's any discomfort,
Dizziness,
If this is too much for you today,
Please slow down,
Or stop the practice altogether,
If needed.
We are here for another 30 seconds or so.
Keep pulling the energy in,
Deep breath in through the nose,
Forceful exhale out through the mouth,
And calling in whatever you want to bring into your life,
More vitality,
More space,
More groundedness,
Really moving the energy intentionally here in the body.
With your next inhale,
Hold the breath at the top,
Reach the arms overhead,
Keep holding the breath,
Turning the gaze inward towards the third eye.
Keep holding for as long as it's comfortable for you,
Without any strain.
And when you're ready,
Exhaling all the way down,
Releasing the arms onto your lap,
Feeling this beautiful movement of energies throughout the body.
Again,
Taking this moment of stillness to sense,
Observe,
Notice.
And for our final practice,
We'll do a prana upanakriya,
Using mudras.
So we'll be joining the thumb and the ring and the pinky fingers together for prana mudra.
The two first fingers remain extended outward,
And the back of the hands onto your lap.
This is the inhale.
On the exhale,
Upana mudra,
The thumb joins the ring and the middle finger,
And the index and the ring finger are extending outward.
Inhale prana,
Exhale upana.
Inhale the thumb with the ring and the pinky finger,
And exhale the thumb with the middle and the ring finger.
Prana,
Upana.
Inhale,
Exhale.
It will take a little bit of time for you to find coordination between the breath and the mudras if you've never practiced this before.
So remain gentle with yourself and start over again whenever you need to.
Taking a deep breath in,
Prana mudra.
Thumb joins the pinky and the ring finger.
The two first fingers extend nice and long.
Palms face up.
Exhale,
Upana mudra.
Palms face down,
Thumbs on the middle and the ring finger.
Pinky and index extended outward.
Inhale,
Prana mudra.
Exhale to swap,
Upana mudra.
And keep going with this,
Swapping the position of the hands over.
Inhale,
All the way up.
And exhale,
All the way down.
And as you get more and more comfortable with this,
Start finding a little bit more depth into the breath.
Lengthening the inhales and lengthening the exhales.
Slowing and deepening the breaths.
Just remaining here for a couple more breaths.
And we'll let go of the mudras on your last exhale.
Just remaining into your seat and coming back to your natural rhythm of breathing.
Remaining present with the sensations in your body.
Noticing,
Sensing,
Witnessing.
And we'll close this practice off with one chant of Aum.
So when you're ready,
Bringing the hands in front of your heart.
Taking a deep breath in through the nose and exhale to Aum.
Aum.
Aum,
Shanti,
Shanti,
Shanti.
Thank you so much for sharing this practice with me today.
Have a beautiful rest of your day.
And I hope to see you next time for another practice.
Thank you,
Take care.
