Hello and welcome!
This session is part of the 21 Day Breathwork Challenge.
If this is the first time tuning in and you'd like to start at day one,
If you follow my profile Inge Wolsink,
You can find all the available previous sessions there.
You can also find all the other tracks in the playlist,
The 21 Day Breathwork Challenge.
Are you ready?
Let's begin!
For this practice,
You will need your journal or notebook in which you have noted down your breathing patterns at the beginning of this course.
You will also need a timing device.
Today,
We will get an idea of the progress you have made so far by re-measuring your bolt,
As well as take your breath practice to the next level by actively practicing some breath holds in a variety of breathing practices you are now familiar with.
Before we go into the practice of breath holds,
A few safety notes.
The following safety rules apply.
When you are pregnant,
Are diagnosed with a respiratory disease,
Mental disorder,
High blood pressure or heart disease or another chronic disease,
Go very careful with these practices and preferably get medical clearance or practice with a professional the first time.
Although breathing practices can be very efficient in relieving symptoms,
They can also worsen symptoms in the beginning.
Especially when pregnant,
You never,
Ever want to reach a state of hypoxia where your blood oxygen levels are too low.
So,
Just to be on the safe side of supplying your baby with continuous oxygen,
If you do want to practice with gentle breath holds,
Never ever hold your breath for longer than a comfortable bolt score.
Your bolt score,
As you measured it in our previous session,
Is a reflection of how efficiently your system runs and how much stress it can endure without involuntarily going into overdrive.
We will start the session with re-measuring your bolt.
This will be your reference point to safely practice holding your breath in the following practices and adapt them to your personal needs.
As a general rule,
When your bolt score is low,
So below 10,
Don't hold your breath longer than half your bolt score.
So,
A bolt score of 10 will be a breath hold of a maximum of 5 seconds.
It is not advisable to practice strong breath holds until your bolt score is above 25 seconds or if any of the pre-mentioned medical conditions apply.
Okay,
This being said,
The following breath hold techniques are relatively mild,
So as long as you feel comfortable doing them,
You can.
Listen to your body and never force it.
Okay,
When you are ready,
Let's begin.
Sit comfortably and have a timer in handy.
Take a normal and silent inhale through the nose,
A normal and silent exhale through the nose.
Pinch your nose to hold the breath and time the seconds.
Check the number of seconds until you feel a clear desire to inhale.
And inhale whenever you need to.
Don't force yourself to hold the breath for longer than your body tells you to.
Write down your bolt score.
You can take a mental note of whether or not you have made progress since your first measurement.
Please keep in mind that apart from your consistent breath practice,
There are a few other factors that influence the bolt,
Such as sleep quality,
Stress levels,
Time of measurement during the day,
Female hormones,
Pregnancy,
And of course,
Your current health.
Regular measurement is needed to track progress reliably.
Overall,
With consistent practice,
You should see your bolt increase.
In this session,
We will build upon previous breathwork techniques by adding a breath hold,
Or as in yoga,
We say with Kumbhaka,
Which means breath retention.
We will do five rounds.
A round will be slow and controlled on the inhale,
A breath retention personalized to your bolt half-time,
And a slow and controlled exhale.
Sit in a comfortable position and take a few regular breaths.
Lengthening the spine from the ground up,
Pushing the sits bones into the ground,
Creating space and length on your inhales.
Widen the chest,
Head above the sits bones,
And shoulders relaxed.
Steady your exhales as you ground yourself and prepare for the practice.
Exhale fully for round one.
Take a slow and steady inhale until you feel like you are at the maximum of your capacity.
Hold your breath for half a bolt.
Count yourself down and slowly exhale with full control to your maximum capacity.
We repeat this five times.
Take a slow and steady full inhale.
Hold for half a bolt and exhale fully at your own time.
We go for four more rounds.
If you want,
You can press pause on this recording and get back to me when you are done,
Or simply wait until my instructions pop up again.
Take a slow and steady full inhale.
Hold for half a bolt and exhale fully at your own time.
Take a slow and steady full inhale.
Hold for half a bolt and exhale fully at your own time.
Take a slow and steady full inhale.
Hold for half a bolt and exhale fully at your own time.
Take a slow and steady full inhale.
Hold for half a bolt and exhale fully at your own time.
Take a few normal breaths.
You have now practiced with personalizing your breath hold.
You can keep measuring your bolt score before every session and keep it as a signpost for a personalized hold time,
Particularly if your bolt is below 20.
If it is consistently above 20,
You are ready to start pushing yourself a little bit.
Keep listening to your body and challenge yourself responsibly.
The next few practices are Kumbhaka additions to practices you already know,
Namely Nadi Shodhana and Kapalabhati.
Thank you for being on this journey with me.
I'm looking forward to practice together again.
