Breathe And Meditate (Part 1)

Breathe and Meditate is a session dedicated to pranayama (breathwork) and meditation.

We begin the session with some guided pranayama to centre the mind and relax the body. You will then be guided into a relaxing meditation to focus the mind further and bring about peace, tranquillity and awareness.

Transcript

The eyes closed,

So keep the eyes closed for the remainder of the session,

This will allow us to withdraw deeper into the body,

Into the mind,

Just by removing the sense of light,

Just limiting our distractions,

That we may find a few moments of peace,

Of awareness,

A few moments of heightened concentration,

And let's begin by checking in with our body,

Scanning at the crown of the head,

Do a slow gentle scan through the entire body from the crown of the head down towards the toe,

And as you scan down through the body,

Check in with each body part,

And see if you can notice any areas of tension,

And any areas of space,

And by space I mean relaxation,

Any areas that are tight,

And if you come across any areas of tension,

Just spend a moment there,

Sometimes just by placing our awareness on these areas,

We can release,

But if you need to make a gentle movement with the body,

See if you can release that area and do so,

And then just continue the scan all the way through the body,

Not leaving any part of the body unturned,

As you slowly scan down through the entire body towards the nose,

Once you've completed your scan of the entire body,

Bring your awareness to the breath,

And take your time completing the scan of the body,

Place your awareness on your breath,

Begin to notice where you feel the breath in the body,

And where we feel the breath can be an indication,

A deeper indication of how we are feeling inside,

As well as habit,

It can indicate whether we're stressed or relaxed,

If you are noticing the breath in the chest area or the throat,

Often a sign that there's some tension in the body,

If you're noticing that there is the breath in the belly,

In the lower regions of the body,

You'll find that there is some relaxation,

And a deeper connection to our breath,

Now we're breathing in and out through the nose at this point,

We'll take three deep breaths in,

Let everybody inhale deeply,

And exhale,

Relax,

Another deep inhale,

And relax,

Breathing out,

And exhale,

Relax completely,

Release tension throughout the entire body through the exhale,

Continue to deepen the breath,

Nice long inhalation,

Nice long exhalation,

Now send the breath deep into the belly,

As you inhale feel the belly expand,

As you exhale feel the belly relax and soften,

Send the breath up into the chest,

As you inhale feel the chest expand,

Find the chest on the inhalation,

Relax the chest on the exhalation,

Now send the breath even higher,

As you inhale feel the clavicle areas,

The collarbone area rise,

Almost lift the shoulders,

As you exhale feel the softness there,

The collarbone,

The shoulders,

Now let's incorporate each part together,

As you inhale feel the belly expand,

The chest expand,

The collarbone rise,

As you exhale feel the collarbone relax,

The chest relax,

Think of this in three parts,

Inhale the belly expand,

The chest expand,

The collarbone rising,

As you exhale the collarbone relaxes,

The chest relaxes,

The belly relaxes,

Continue this deep breathing exercise,

Filling the full capacity of the lung with fresh oxygen,

And exhaling fully,

Relaxing the body,

Releasing maximum,

Full yogic breathing,

The term given to this exercise,

A fantastic exercise to exercise the lungs,

And use the full capacity of our lungs,

Bring in energy to the body,

And remove any stale air at the base of the lung,

By breathing deep,

Another minute or so here,

With the deep breathing,

And on your exhalation release the breath,

Naturally not forcefully,

And watch the breath now,

The breath may be slightly longer or deeper than at the beginning,

Try not to take control of the breath here,

Just allow it to be natural and free flowing,

Notice if the breath stays deep within the belly,

Watch the breath rises into the chest,

Or the upper abdomen,

Once again,

Take control of the breath,

No need to fully inhale and fully exhale here,

Or breathing through the nose,

Unless there is any restriction,

As you inhale,

3,

2,

1,

As you exhale,

3,

2,

1,

Mentally counting,

If it helps to picture the inhalation and exhalation in the mind,

As a rising and falling of the breath,

Do so,

Try to consciously relax the body,

Pranayama,

Or breath work,

Is a stepping stone towards concentration,

Towards meditation,

Should the mind become distracted on some other thought,

Bring it back,

And the exhalation,

Rather than searching for that attention,

Try to relax into the awareness of the breath,

Last inhalation,

And on your exhalation release the breath,

Without the count,

Release the count in the mind,

Watch the breath,

As the inhalation reaches the peak of the inhalation,

And turns into the exhalation,

Full awareness on this point,

As you inhale,

The inhalation becomes the exhalation,

The exhalation becomes the inhalation,

The moment the breath turns,

Release that awareness,

Simply watch in the breath,

And place this breath,

Whichever one you feel most connected to at this moment,

You are not searching for something,

But realising what is already there,

The breath merge with the heart space,

Or eyebrows into the point of focus,

Not of forcing the mind to be still,

But of continuously refining our awareness,

Now slowly and softly begin to bring to mind,

A word or a phrase,

That is uplifting to you,

This will be your personal mantra,

This short word,

Short phrase,

Can be simply love,

Expression,

Peace,

Present time enough,

Whatever it is that is calling for you in this moment,

Begin to mentally repeat this with each exhalation,

Placing this repetition,

Placing this breath at your heart space or eyebrows centre,

Continuously drawing the mind back to its point of focus,

The repetition of your mantra,

With each repetition allow the vibration,

The mental,

Be here,

Be present,

Let there be something that is arising continuously,

Allow that to arise and stay for a reason,

Separate from yourself,

A thought,

A feeling,

That is simply aware of everything,

That is aware of your repetition,

When you feel ready and in your own time,

Only very slowly,

Just take a moment to realise the time that you have just given yourself,

That any experience you had was created from within you,

And is accessible at any time,

Feel free to make any gentle movements,

If you need to stretch out the legs,

Please do so,

So each of our experiences of the meditative state is our own,

But it is my hope that each one of you may be experiencing just even a moment of peace of space,

And if not,

That is not to worry because it is a present,

A continuous practice,

Again thank you all for joining me this evening,

Always a pleasure to share the practice of yoga,

Breath,

Meditation,

Anyone who is willing to receive it,

If anyone has any questions please drop them to me in a message or an email,

If you would like to see more of these sessions please let me know,

Have a wonderful evening,

Thank you very much and namaste to you all.