Exploration Breathing Session: Journey Through Breathwork

Enjoy this 20-minute Exploration Breathing Session, thoughtfully crafted for individuals at all levels—from beginners to advanced practitioners. This session offers a profound exploration of powerful breathing techniques.

This is the breathwork session I practice every morning; a routine that brings more energy, focus, clarity, and better rest to my day. By incorporating this practice into your daily life, over time you will discover the profound power and versatility of your breath and the positive impact on the health of body and mind.

This session is structured to guide you through a series of different breathwork practices, each designed to tap into the potential of your breath, some techniques include Breath Holds, Box Breathing, Physiological Sigh, and more. Taking you into a thoroughly peaceful and rejuvenated state by the end. Enjoy incorporating this breathwork into your daily routine.

Background music provided by Healing Meditation Music

Transcript

This is an exploration breathing session.

I want you to be able to feel some of the sensations that we can create using our breath and to see just how powerful the breath really is.

We call it exploration breathing as it's designed for you to explore the different techniques and limits of breath work.

I'm taking you on a journey of breath work here with a number of different methods so that you can explore the different sensations and all the different things we can do with our breath.

So now,

Take a moment to find a comfortable breathing position.

You can choose to be sitting upright with your spine nice and tall.

You can do that with your legs crossed.

However,

It's preferable and best if you are lying on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.

That's the best breathing position where we have our spine nice and supported,

Full access to the lungs,

And we're nice and relaxed.

So if you do feel any sensations of dizziness or lightheadedness,

You don't have to worry about falling over.

You're nice and supported with the ground.

You may feel some sensations as we go through this breathing session.

Just notice those sensations and explore and honor your personal limits.

Please remember,

If at any point you feel like you're struggling to stay with me or you feel like you don't like the sensations that you're feeling,

You can always return to light breathing through the nose.

Anytime you return to light breathing through the nose,

It will help to balance out your blood gases and bring you back to a nice baseline.

It'll bring you back to a nice calm state,

And you can always join back in whenever you want.

So if at any point you need to do that or you just feel like you lose track,

Just take a couple of light breaths through the nose and join back in as soon as you're ready.

So we're in a nice,

Comfortable breathing position.

Let's start off with just some nice,

Comfortable,

Easy,

Gentle breaths in and out of the nose.

And just start paying attention to how the breath feels.

I want you to start thinking about the mechanics of breath.

All I want you focused on now is as you inhale,

Feel the belly expanding on the inhale.

And as you exhale,

Feel the belly gently falling.

And you can place one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly button if you want,

So you can really feel the sensations of the belly rising and falling.

But it shouldn't be moving too much right now.

Just taking nice,

Gentle breaths in and out through the nose.

Just starting to get to a nice,

Calm state.

Now I want you to slow it down a little bit more now,

But focus on taking full breaths.

So nice and slow,

Filling up through the nose.

I want you to feel the belly filling first,

Then the ribs,

The lower back,

Filling up into the chest,

The mid-back,

And eventually up into the upper chest.

Fill all the way up,

Then just briefly pause at the top.

And then you're going to exhale all the way out,

All through the nose.

Nice and slow and controlled.

And just add a gentle pause at the bottom.

Keep it nice and controlled.

Long,

Slow inhale.

And a nice,

Controlled,

Long,

Slow exhale.

Now go ahead and exhale all the way out,

And you're going to begin following my count.

We're going to take an inhale for five seconds.

Go ahead,

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

And hold at the top.

And exhale for five,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

And hold.

Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale.

Hold.

Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale.

Slow it down even more.

Inhale for seven.

And hold.

Exhale for ten,

Nine,

Ten.

And hold.

Inhale for ten.

Slow it down even more.

I want you all the way full when I get to ten,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

And hold.

Exhale.

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

And inhale.

Nice,

Big,

Full inhale now.

Slow,

Filling all the way up.

All the way full now.

And I want you to sip a little bit more air and try and pack it in.

Sip through the mouth as much air as you can.

Really fill up and hold it.

You should feel a lot of tension.

Really feel like the lungs are expanding,

The ribcage,

The chest,

The upper back,

Opening up that ribcage.

And then we're just going to let it go out the mouth.

In through the nose,

Fill all the way up.

Sip a little bit more air.

And exhale out the mouth.

We're going to start to speed it up a little now.

In through the nose,

Out the mouth.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

Keep it going.

Just like that.

In through the nose,

Out through the mouth.

Making sure that the belly is driving the breath so you're filling the belly on the inhale and just letting it fall on the exhale.

Just keep driving the breath with the belly.

If you feel like you're struggling to bring in air through the nose,

Take two fingers and you can put them on either side of the bridge of your nose,

Right underneath your eyes,

And just press gently up and back,

Pressing away from the nose,

Almost like you're trying to poke yourself in the eye or pull your nose apart.

That's just going to help you open up the nasal passages so you can really move a lot more air.

In the nose and out the mouth.

Keep it going now.

You might start to feel some sensations here,

All perfectly normal as we change around our blood gases and our blood chemistry.

Take a big full inhale now through the nose.

Full out the mouth.

And hold your breath on the exhale here.

And just check in with your body.

See if there's any tension anywhere in your face,

Your neck,

Your shoulders.

Let all that tension go and just be nice and relaxed on this breath hold here.

Start to pay attention to maybe some sensations you're feeling.

You may feel a little tingliness in the fingers,

The face,

The feet,

Maybe a little lightheadedness or warmth.

You might even feel some euphoria,

All perfectly normal.

Just take a moment to lean into those sensations.

Just relax on this breath hold.

And inhale through the nose.

Hold it.

When we let go of this inhale,

We're going to do the same pattern in the nose,

Out the mouth,

But this time it's going to be a little more forceful.

We're really going to force the air in the nose and we're going to force it out the mouth.

So instead of letting it fall,

We're going to push it out.

So it's going to be,

And begin.

Keep it going.

Keep forcing that air in and out,

In the nose,

Out the mouth.

Really put some force to it now.

We're putting the respiratory muscles to work here,

Bringing the air into the belly and forcing it out.

Think about driving that belly button in towards your spine as you drive the air out.

Keep it going.

Keep it going.

Keep it going.

And inhale.

Hold it.

Hold just briefly.

When we let go of this hold,

We're going to keep the same thing,

But this time just focusing on the sharp exhale.

So really think about driving the belly button into the spine and push the air out.

So it's going to sound like this.

We're going to be inhaling in and out of the mouth,

But the inhale is just going to be a natural rebound.

Begin.

Sharp exhales out the mouth.

Keep driving them out,

Really focusing on the belly here.

Drive the belly button to the spine.

Short sharp exhales and then just let that inhale rebound.

Let it be a natural rebound back in.

Keep it going.

Keep it going.

Keep it going.

Inhale and hold.

We're going to do that same thing.

This time close the mouth all through the nose.

Short sharp exhales out the nose.

Really focus on driving the belly button to the spine.

Exhale and begin.

Everything is in and out of the nose again.

Short sharp exhales.

Let that inhale naturally rebound back in.

And you may be experiencing a lot of sensations here.

You might feel a little fatigue in the abdominals,

The respiratory muscles.

That's okay.

We're putting them to work here.

Keep working a little bit longer.

And inhale in.

Hold.

When we exhale,

We're going to let go of all of the tension.

Go ahead and exhale out the mouth.

And hold it.

Still holding here on the exhale,

Nice and relaxed.

And inhale through the nose.

Hold.

We're going to do one more round of fast breathing.

This time all through the mouth.

We're really going to disturb blood gases here.

So it's going to be big full inhales through the mouth,

And we're going to let the exhales just fall.

It's going to be like this.

Exhale and begin.

Inhale,

Exhale nice and fast,

All driven with the belly.

Think like you're trying to pull water in,

Like you were sipping water through a bowl.

Pulling that air in through the mouth like you're sipping water through a bowl.

Pursing your lips a little bit.

Pay attention and make sure you're driving the breath with the belly.

You don't want to be driving the breath with the neck or the shoulders.

So relax those muscles.

Don't let those muscles take over here.

All driven with the belly.

Feel the belly expand on the inhale and fall on the exhale.

Keep it going now.

Big full breaths.

Keep it up.

Keep it up.

Keep it up.

We're going to really push it here.

Driving a lot of air.

Keep it moving.

Almost there.

A few more breaths now.

Come on.

Keep pushing here.

Keep pushing.

Big full inhales and let the exhales fall.

Keep it going.

Stay with me now.

Just a couple more.

A few breaths and a big full inhale and exhale.

Let it all out and hold your breath here.

This is going to be a nice,

Long,

Relaxed breath hold.

Just make sure you're relaxed here.

We've significantly disturbed your blood gases.

Right now we're just going to relax and check in with our body and see how we feel.

You might be experiencing some pretty extreme sensations here,

All perfectly normal.

Just take a moment during this breath hold,

This nice,

Relaxed moment where we've just spent 15 minutes clearing our mind,

Bringing ourselves into the present moment and being mindful of the breath.

Just take a moment here to set an intention for your day or for the coming week.

Just relax on this breath hold.

Take a moment here and focus your intentions there.

Almost done with this breath hold.

Take advantage of this moment of clarity you've just created.

Stay with me on the breath hold.

If you feel the urge to breathe,

Try swallowing.

It helps disperse that urge to breathe.

Stay with me a little bit longer.

You've got all the oxygen in your system that you need.

If you start to feel that urge to breathe,

You're just starting to build up carbon dioxide.

You've got plenty of oxygen in there.

Still holding.

We're almost done.

Stay with me.

If you have to breathe,

Go back to light breathing through the nose.

If you can stay with me,

Stay with me for just a few seconds longer.

Ten seconds left and we're going to take a nice,

Big,

Full inhale.

It's going to be through the mouth.

And inhale.

And hold it.

Wherever you are,

Big,

Full inhale and hold the breath here.

Now we've just loaded oxygen into the system.

You may really start to feel some tingliness or euphoria.

Just lean into those sensations and see how you feel here.

Allow that oxygen to just release to the brain,

To the tissues.

And this is where I really like to take a moment to practice some gratitude.

If you have a gratitude practice,

Go ahead and take this opportunity of intense mental clarity.

Just think of something.

Bring something to mind that you're grateful for.

And exhale.

Slowing it way down now,

In through the nose and out the mouth.

In the nose,

Out the mouth.

In the nose,

Out the mouth.

Couple more of those on your own.

Keep it going.

Really start to focus on slowing down the inhale and start exhaling like you're blowing out of a straw.

Really slowing that exhale as you blow through that straw.

Nice and slow on the inhale and exhale.

Starting to calm the body and the mind.

Really start to calm it down now.

Go ahead and inhale with me nice and slow for a count of seven.

And hold at the top.

When we let go of this exhale,

We're going to exhale making a hissing sound through our teeth.

Really leaking the air out for 14 seconds.

Go ahead and exhale.

Slow as you can.

Just keep letting it out slower and slower.

Leaking that air out.

Make some noise with it like you've just poked a hole in a bicycle tire and it's leaking air out.

14.

Nice and slow inhale through the nose.

Hold.

And exhale.

Slow exhale through the teeth.

Let it out slow.

And inhale into the belly.

Hold.

And our last long slow exhale through the teeth.

And when you're done,

Just return to light breathing through the nose.

Now just take a moment to check in with yourself and your body.

See how you feel.

And when you're ready,

You can open your eyes and sit back up and take it nice and easy,

Taking your time as you eventually stand up.

And that is a 20 minute exploration breathing session.