Hello: Restore Balance With Breath

When you feel out of balance for any reason, this 5 minute breath practice can settle your worries and help you feel more at ease in your body. A racing mind is often paired with a racing heart and shallow breath. You'll be guided through viloma breathing, a pranayama (breathing) practice from yoga that creates a bit of pause between three distinct phases of your inhale, followed by a nice slow exhale. Shift your mood and your body's reactivity with this short and sweet moment of intentional breathing.

Transcript

Hello.

I'm so glad you're here.

Welcome to this five-minute practice for finding a little balance with a balancing breath practice called Valoma breathing.

This form of Valoma breathing will involve taking in air in three chambers of your body.

I'll describe it first and then we'll practice it together.

On the in breath,

You'll breathe in as if breathing in from the pelvic floor and then pausing at the belly button.

You'll continue to sip in air all the way up to the solar plexus,

Center of your being right above the diaphragm,

In between heart center and diaphragm.

Pause and then inhale all the way up to the collarbones,

To the top of the lungs.

You can try to sip in a little bit more air at the top of that breath and then slowly exhale through the nostrils.

The recommendation for this practice is to breathe in and out through the nostrils as you practice.

So let's begin.

Inhale from the root system all the way up to the belly button and pause.

Inhale up to the solar plexus and pause.

Inhale up to the collarbones.

Can you take in just a bit more air and exhale slowly and completely through the nostrils.

Let's try it again.

Inhale just up through the lower abdomen,

Pausing at the belly button.

Inhale up to the heart center.

Inhale up to the collarbones and see if you can take in a little bit extra.

Exhale slowly through the nostrils.

And again,

Breathing in lower belly,

Pausing at the belly button.

Breathing in,

Filling the middle chamber of your torso,

Pausing at the heart center,

Solar plexus.

Breathe in all the way up,

Upper chest cavity.

You can also feel into the air,

Filling the upper chest cavity through the back body,

Top of the shoulders.

Inhale a little bit more.

Exhale out through the nostrils.

Clear the breath completely.

And now try it on your own.

Lower third,

Middle third,

Upper third.

With the invitation to feel into breath awareness,

Not only in the front of your body,

But in the back body,

Side body as the air fills the three chambers we've been guiding you through.

One more time.

Breathe in,

Pause,

Lower chamber.

Breathe in,

Pause,

Middle chamber.

Breathe in,

Pause,

Upper chamber of your body.

And then exhale slowly and completely through the nostrils.

And now just be and breathe.

You can let the rhythm of your breath return to its natural cadence.

Thank you for taking this time for yourself today to return your system to balance.

May it be of benefit to you.

Have a beautiful day.