Awaken Your Breath – Day 7 Of 7 | Whole Body Breathing

A 7-day exploratory, workshop-style series designed to help you freshly meet your breath. This is Day 7. Today, we’ll explore how suppleness and movement in our hips can influence the breath. I’ll guide you through gentle hip tilts and rocking movements, with the option to marry these with your breath. We’ll also play with intentional clenching and releasing, noticing the relationship between physical tension and the fluidity - or restriction - of your breathing.

We'll also weave in elements from previous days, noticing how these pieces can come together, with the possibility of breathing with the whole body. The whole body is moving and breathing together.

The movements can be explored in any shape: seated, standing, or lying down.

What learning has been most impactful from the series? I'd love to hear from you.

Transcript

Hello friends, Welcome to our final day of this mini-series where we have explored ways to cultivate this breath that is open and spacious, Full, Expansive and wildly luxurious. And so one of the key ingredients to this luxurious movement of our breath lies in the movement through our hips and pelvis. Often overlooked, But our hips and pelvis want to be in movement, In oscillation, To really cooperate with the body breathing fully and expansively. So wherever you are, Whether you are lying down or whether you're sitting down or even standing, What might it be like to start to rock a little through the pelvis, Maybe arching through the low back, Letting the pelvis rock forwards and then flattening through the low back, Letting the pelvis rock back. This might be a very small and subtle movement, Might be larger and expansive. Feeling and sensing into this arch and flatten, Rocking forwards and back, Choosing your own pace, Own range of motion. And the possibility of noticing here, How familiar is this movement? Do I notice that there is a rigidity, A stickiness, A stiffness to the movement? Does it feel a little jagged or staccato like? And how might it start to shift and change, Embodying a more silky, Fluid, Velvety quality? Knowing you can always take a pause. But if you'd like to synchronize your breath with this movement, As you rock the pelvis forwards and arch through the spine, Breathe in. And as your pelvis tilts back, The low back flattens. Breathe out. Inhale to arch, Exhale to flatten. And then for a few moments, See if you can really exaggerate. Breathing into the front body and exhaling, Rounding through the back body. And I'm not suggesting that we walk around, Breathing in and out with this full body oscillation. However, In practice, Reminding our bodies of this motion, This rhythm. And maybe starting to become more aware and perceptive about when we might be holding through the glutes, The hips, Tightening through the abdomen. And if you'd like to try that, Intentionally clenching through the hips, Pelvis, Glutes. Noticing maybe the abdomen as well, Clenches, The side body gripping. As I'm exploring this, I can feel tension accumulating through the upper body, The shoulders, Through my neck. Seeing as you are holding and gripping through the hips, What happens to the rest of your body, What happens to your breath? Letting that go, If you haven't already. My apologies if I've kept you there longer. You can explore that intentional clenching and releasing. Tuning into what sensations are present, What happens to the expression of your body? What happens to the placement of your tongue? And then flow through some pelvic tilts and rocks. Maybe releasing the breath out with a sigh or a straw breath. Letting some of the past practices sprinkle on into this. Awareness of our body's expression, The placement of our tongue, Ways that we can release a longer breath out. And the option of completing a few more pelvic tilts. Maybe this time your arms want to be involved as well. So whether you are lying down, Knees facing to the ceiling, Feet on the ground, Or whether you are seated in a chair or standing. As you breathe in, You might arch through the spine, Open up through the chest, Widen the arms into the space around you. And then exhale, Bring the hands back towards your centre, Maybe the front of the chest, Rocking the pelvis back, Doming through the upper back. Breath out. Breathing in, Opening, Blossoming, Radiating outwards. Exhale, Curling on in, Flattening through the low back, Rounding through the spine, Hands maybe finding the front of the body. Breath in to open, And breath out to close. Exploring as many rounds as today feels useful. But whenever you have had enough, Whenever your body says that's enough for today, Finding a moment to rest here, In and with yourself, Your body and your breath. Maybe placing the hands over the body somewhere that feels resonant, This gesture of appreciation, Of connection. Thank you so much for breathing together and moving together. I would love to hear about your insights, Your reflections, Anything that's come up in this little mini-series, This loyal, Generous, Luxurious breath.