Welcome to a guided mudra meditation and breath practice.
I'm Ash.
Happy to be here with you today.
So let's begin by finding a seat of your choice.
I'm on the mat today with a folded blanket under the hips.
You might be on your mat in a chair or even seated at the edge of your bed if you just woke up in the morning.
So wherever you are,
Find a seat that is supportive.
If you're in a chair or other piece of furniture feet firmly planted to the ground is great if you're on the floor supporting the hips with a prop of your choice can be helpful When you're ready,
Close the eyes or soften the gaze and let's begin to notice the breath as it's naturally arising today.
You might notice that once you bring any attention to the breath,
It begins to shift.
That's natural.
You might begin to direct that shift.
By breathing both in and out of the nose.
If that is comfortable for you today.
Knowing you can always take the breath a different style as you choose.
With the next inyo.
Lengthen through the spine find yourself sitting a little bit taller Exhale,
Relax,
The shoulders down and back.
Let's take that whole movement again.
Inhale,
Lengthening through the spine.
Exhale,
Release the shoulders down and back.
And then notice the position of the head.
Is the chins jutting forward a little bit see if you can retract that let the chins point ever so slightly down to feel length in the back of the neck to support the natural curves of the spine.
Take a few slow steady breaths here.
Next breath or two.
Option two,
Open the eyes to check this out.
I'm going to invite you to bring the two hands to the side ribs.
So we're just,
It's a light touch here.
You can close the eyes once again once you have that contact if that's comfortable.
Inhale,
Lengthen through the spine.
Exhale relax the shoulders even as you keep the fingertips touching the body And we're making that contact in order to look at attempting to breathe really evenly into the two sides.
So see if you can notice with the next several inhales Is one side inflating more than the other?
Very normal.
We often switch sides in the body kind of all the time,
Which lung is getting more inflated.
But this is a practice of trying to inflate both together.
At the same rate if possible.
So take some breaths to practice this.
Take one or two more slow,
Steady breaths.
To cultivate that evenness between the left and right side Lovely work.
As you're ready you can let the hands come back down.
Let the breath return to a more natural rhythm.
And maybe notice any shifts.
That have occurred.
The mind body energy next we will take a look at hakini mudra so this is a mudra or special hand position that looks like this and i'll talk you through it a little bit more specifically but this is the basic shape so hakani mudra is associated with words like integration and clarity.
It's also about getting energy flowing evenly between the two sides,
The left and right channels.
So that even breath on the two sides that we were looking at kind of building us up towards this feeling of whole body integration,
Whole body wellness.
So if you want to take any little movements,
I always like to invite that.
So if there's some side to side,
Some shakeouts,
Some circles,
Maybe switching the cross of the legs if you're on the mat,
Get a different experience.
Anything you want to do before we settle in for a few minutes with this mudra.
So get out those last movements as you're ready.
And to create Hakkani Mudra,
We'll take both hands and we're gonna gently touch each fingertip to its opposite.
So thumb to thumb,
Pinky to pinky,
Et cetera.
Once you have this touching of each fingertip to its pair.
We're going to.
.
.
Let it be gentle,
Almost like you're holding a ball inside that space you've created.
Then from here,
Inhale,
Lengthen through the spine.
Exhale,
Relax the shoulders down and back.
You might feel the forearms sort of resting against the body.
That's great.
That can be a helpful way to help support the mudra.
If in the shape of your body,
You're kind of more towards the lap,
That's fine too.
Works for you.
Once you have all of that in place,
You can once again close the eyes or soften the gaze.
First,
Let's take some slow,
Steady breaths.
Just noticing how.
.
.
Holding this mudra might affect the breath.
Send your awareness to the points of contact between each fingertip Notice how those points of contact create a sense of integration.
And wholeness within you.
If an affirmation is helpful.
You might repeat after me.
From my integrated self.
I move with clarity as you're ready You can begin to slowly.
Let that mudra go.
Option to gently open the eyes Take a few rounds of breath to simply notice how you're feeling.
Option to bring the two hands now to press together at the palms for heart center for anjali mudra Let's send gratitude to the people and cultures who created and sustained these practices.
Take a deep breath of gratitude for yourself.
For taking time for this.
And my gratitude to you.
Thank you.
