Oh hello and welcome to the third of this series where we begin to look into the breath in yet another way.
This time we're going to be looking at the breath for soothing and releasing the body.
So welcome,
Welcome and thank you for coming back.
Yeah.
So in our previous episodes we looked at the breath for overall well-being and in the last one we looked at the breath in terms of helping soothe and ease a busy mind.
And today,
You know,
We're going to turn back to this incredible shell we have,
Our bodies and everything that happens within our bodies and how the breath can help us soften and release our physical experience and creating a space,
A natural space of ease.
So as we discussed last week,
Like the mind,
Throughout the day the body consistently and constantly responds to what we experience like a little antennae and it's directed by the mind and the nervous system.
So we sit and move and hold ourselves in certain ways depending on what we are experiencing.
Yeah.
We brace against stress,
Pain,
Discomforts and we're always adapting to these demands and quite often we're carrying like a rucksack of things around with us that we don't even realise.
More tension than we can even contemplate.
So this tension isn't always obvious.
You know,
There's plenty of ways that it can seem obvious like the way that our shoulders can clench and our jaw can be tight and our chest can be heavy.
What else is there?
You know,
When you've got that washing machine stomach,
A sense of holding in the belly maybe,
Or our hips don't want to move,
Or we just get that sense that something's off,
That something's wrong.
What's wrong?
You know,
We can't quite work it out.
That's one that I'm very used to anyway.
Or you might simply find your body is just going,
Oh,
I'm so tired all the time.
It might feel stiff or even disconnected.
That's another one.
You know,
Like,
Oh,
My body.
These reactions are often quite normal.
They're quite standard in our busy and hectic worlds.
You know,
You don't actually think of anything of them because they've become a chronic way,
A habit of holding your body like this,
Bracing.
Yet our extraordinary,
Wonderful,
Incredible breath.
I don't know how many other words I can use to describe the breath,
But offers a gentle way to connect us and bring us back to balance.
So how does this work?
Okay,
Right.
So when we bring attention to our breath,
We naturally start to bring attention to our glorious bodies.
When we begin to notice where there is tension,
Getting aware of that tension and noticing the places where there's ease as opposed to holding,
We begin to be able to make some space in those places.
You know,
Even after years and years and years of practice,
I might have a bit of a day of things and I might feel like I'm actually soft and relaxed.
But I've got to say that even after all these years,
I'm often surprised at what I notice in my own body when I breathe with it.
I can still find places where it's like,
Oh,
My days,
I didn't realize I was working so hard.
Until I take that pause,
Until I take that breath and really listen,
I'm just totally unaware that it's there.
It's just doing it,
Trying to support,
Trying to help me.
Yet it doesn't need to work that hard.
When we give ourselves a little bit of space to notice,
We get that opportunity.
It's just like opening a door.
We get the opportunity to breathe deeper in our bodies,
Anywhere where we could be stuck or tight.
We can notice it and then breathe into it.
And I think I might be repeating myself a bit,
But apologies,
That breath begins to bring in softening,
Not through effort,
But it's through loving kindness,
Through gentleness.
We don't have to do anything special at just allowing the breath to slow slightly as we observe the way it moves through the body.
And maybe saying,
Oh,
Hi,
Oh,
Would you like to ease now?
You know,
Inviting the ease rather than directing the ease,
Just allowing yourself to kind of go,
Oh,
Hi,
And everything to soften.
And you could imagine breathing a little bit more space in the breath.
You may imagine a little bit more letting go on the out-breath.
Not to fix,
Not to change,
Just meet yourself exactly where you are.
And this is crazy,
Amazing thing that happens when you meet yourself.
You really meet yourself with no judgment or shame.
It often begins to soften in its own way.
Your nervous system responds to that softness.
Muscles can begin to release and let go,
And the body no longer needs to stay in that state of readiness,
Readiness for action.
We move from this state of doing next thing,
To-do list,
Tick,
Tick,
Tick,
Tick,
Tick,
Tick,
Rapid fire,
To allowing.
It's such a different,
Different way of being.
And the body remembers how to rest.
So I think I've said before,
Nothing needs to change in the world around you.
You can still have that same amount of crazy noise.
But you're allowing yourself to be in this place where there's nothing to achieve,
And we're just simply offering the body permission to settle and release what it's been carrying.
So over time,
As you do this,
You may begin to,
Well,
It can start immediately,
By the way,
But you may notice small shifts.
You may notice time and time again that you're able to put down some of these heavy weights that you really do not need to carry around.
And you may realize just how much this glorious breath of yours supports your body.
And from this quiet place,
This place of ease,
You know,
Your natural unfolding of everything can begin to start.
You know,
You're from this rested place,
You can begin to heal and restore all the vessels in your body open,
Allowing the energy,
The blood,
All the nutrients to get to where they need to be,
And the waste product to be carried away to where you don't need it.
If you're holding your body,
It's just like you're putting little obstacles in the way.
When we breathe into the body,
We begin to open those out.
So I hope you're beginning to build a relationship with your mind,
Your well-being and now your body.
And beginning to notice the breath as your companion,
Something that is always there,
Like a little pocket of medicine,
Always there,
Always available.
And to start with,
There is the three times a day,
Five breaths as a starting block.
And maybe you've already moved on from this.
I can't direct you how to practice because there's tons of ways to practice and there's no right way.
It's what works for you.
But what matters is that you've started this journey and building this relationship with your own body.
And from there,
You can keep returning.
So there's a few more in this series.
Next week,
I will cover a little bit about the science of what happens with the breath when we become more consciously aware of it.
But for now,
Please keep practicing and thank you for coming back to listen to this talk,
Not just for myself,
But as a gentle taking a hat off to you for taking this precious time.
All right.
Namaste.
Have a good day.
Bye for now.
