And now finding your comfortable meditation position for pranayama practice.
Looking for a seated posture that feels well supported.
So you can be in a chair if you prefer or leaning with your back against the wall,
Whatever is comfortable.
And placing the hands in the mudra of your choice.
Closing the eyes and turning the awareness within.
Becoming aware of the sense of touch as you feel into your posture.
Feeling the contact with the surface beneath.
The contact points where the body is in contact with itself.
The fingers in the mudra.
Checking that the position is balanced and symmetrical.
The spine is lifting up towards the ceiling.
Lift the shoulders,
Roll them back and let them drop to open the chest for breathing.
Then become aware of the natural breath.
Beginning to watch the natural breath,
Witnessing once more as the breath floats in and out of the body.
And becoming aware of the qualities of the breath in this moment.
And taking the breath and the awareness into the belly.
Beginning abdominal breathing.
So on the inhalation,
Feeling the belly expand away from the spine.
And on the exhalation,
Feeling the belly come back towards the spine.
And remembering at the very end of the out breath to draw the navel a little further in towards the spine.
Just to squeeze the last bits of air from the lungs and activate the abdominal muscles.
So inhale belly expands and exhale belly contracts.
And then at the end of the exhalation,
Drawing the navel a little further in towards the spine.
Feeling the lungs opening gently,
There's no rush to the final breath.
Working towards a smooth relaxed practice.
And as the lungs feel ready,
Gently begin expanding into a full yogic breath.
So inhaling belly,
Continue the inhalation up into the chest,
All the way to the top of the chest to the collarbone.
And then on the exhalation,
Emptying from the collarbones down through the chest and emptying the belly last.
And again at the end of the out breath,
Drawing the navel more fully in towards the spine.
Continuing like this.
And then on the exhale,
Feeling the belly open and the belly open.
Continuing like this.
Feeling the wave-like motion as the breath moves up from the belly to the collarbones.
And then leaves the belly from the collarbones down through the chest and leaving from the belly last.
Feel yourself creating a smooth relaxed practice with your full yogic breath.
Practicing five more rounds of the breath in this way.
This practice expands the breathing capacity of the lungs.
Keep maintaining your full yogic breath throughout.
But try not to over breathe during the practice.
And then on completion,
No hurry,
Allow the breath to resume a natural state once again.
Become aware of any effects from that practice.
Remember when we're looking to observe the effects of a practice,
Always look beyond the physical.
At all the layers for any changes and effects.
When you're ready to move,
Begin wriggling fingers and toes.
You might like to have a nice big stretch and open the eyes.
Arre-om Tat Sat.
