My name's Brianna and this is the breathing pattern that I do anytime that I can't sleep.
My best advice is to keep going with the pattern even if you think it's not working and even
if you feel like you still can't sleep.
The breathing pattern is called Valoma and it's a traditional yogic breathing technique.
So before we begin,
Get yourself really comfortable,
Get out any last movements so that once we
begin you don't have to move at all.
Adjust your clothing,
Adjust the sheets and then settle into the softness of your bed
beneath you.
To do Valoma,
We'll be dividing the torso into three sections and introducing a series
of pauses between each.
Take your hands to your belly now and take a deep breath in.
Feel the fingers separate and as you exhale the fingers draw back together.
This is the belly section.
Now place your hands on your ribs and as you breathe in try to expand your ribs out.
As you exhale there's a slight contraction around the ribs as they draw back down the
body.
This is the middle section.
Now place your hands on your chest near your collarbones.
Take another deep breath into the collarbones.
Feel the collarbones lift up towards the chin.
And on your exhale there's a softening.
This is the chest section.
Now place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly and continue breathing normally
as I explain the rest of the practice.
You'll take a breath into each of these three sections,
Belly,
Middle,
Chest for three counts
each and with a pause between each.
The exhalation will be one long smooth breath out.
So you can think of the inhalation as walking up a staircase and the exhalation as going
down a slide.
I'll guide through the first few rounds and then I'll leave you to continue practicing
until you fall asleep.
So exhale your current breath to synchronise.
Breathe into the belly,
Two,
Three,
Pause.
To the ribs,
Two,
Three,
Pause.
Chest,
Two,
Three,
Pause.
And out for eight,
Seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Breath to belly,
Two,
Three,
Pause.
Breath to ribs,
Two,
Three,
Pause.
Breath to chest,
Two,
Three,
Pause.
Out for eight,
Seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Continue like this with your own breath and your own count.
If you lose where you're up to then just simply start again with breath to belly.
Continue with your practice even if you feel like you're not falling asleep,
Even if you
feel like it's not working,
Just stay with the breath.
Release any expectation of falling asleep and simply keep breathing.
