Hello everyone and welcome to this meditation on diaphragmatic awareness.
I'm Andre Wilson and I'll be your guide today.
If you're familiar with this meditation and you want to jump ahead to the breath work,
You can skip to 2 minutes and 24 seconds.
This is a meditation that can be done by itself or it can be used as a warm up for breath work techniques.
We are going to be bringing a lot of awareness to the areas surrounding the diaphragm and the diaphragm itself,
Creating more space in these areas so that the diaphragm can more fully and completely expand.
This will help us to take in higher volumes of air and in turn allow us to slow the breath down,
Bringing us into a more relaxed state as well as bringing the heart rate down.
If you are a beginner or even advanced,
It's a great practice to do lying down.
And now we're going to begin with the warm up to help anchor us into the body and begin to bring awareness into the parts of the body that surround the diaphragm to help us fully expand with air.
It's always a good idea to start your breath work practice with a sufficient warm up.
A great way to do it is to lay down on your back and completely stretch out with your legs elongated and your arms at your sides,
Shoulders away from the ears with the chest supported by the upper back.
And just take a belly breath in.
And when you take that breath in,
Maybe you feel that the arch of your lower back isn't fully connected with the ground.
In order to make sure that we are taking the fullest volume of air with our diaphragm,
See what it feels like to put your heels by your sit bones and your knees to the sky.
And move around a little bit to feel where your lower back is flat on the ground.
For some,
This will provide greater volume for the lungs and the diaphragm to expand.
This can also take a lot of pressure off the lower back.
So take a couple breaths in this position and just get used to breathing in this position.
Let's put our hands on our belly with the middle fingers meeting at the navel and breathe into that part of the stomach.
Feeling the belly lift the hands and exhaling.
And take a couple breaths exploring what this feels like.
Maybe lightly pressing into the belly with the hands to have a little bit of resistance.
Feeling the belly lift the hands so that when your hands aren't there,
Your stomach will be familiar with pushing through that space.
And once you get used to breaths into the belly,
We begin to focus on our side belly.
On either side,
Maybe put your hands just lightly pressing into your side belly and breathe into those hands.
And pressing into the sides just enough to where you can feel the belly pushing into the hand.
And taking a couple breaths,
Really feeling into the side belly.
And now we can shift the focus on the back belly.
Feel your lower back lightly press into the ground.
And as you breathe,
You feel your back press into the ground.
Just taking a couple breaths,
Exploring that space.
Feeling the low back press into the earth beneath you.
Noticing how that feels different than the front or the side belly.
And now we bring the breath across all parts of the belly.
Imagining a young newborn baby how it breathes so beautifully in all directions.
And now we're going to combine all of those parts of the belly.
So with one inhale through the nose,
We fill up the front belly,
The side belly,
And the back belly.
Full expansion,
360 degrees.
And let that go.
And again.
Full expansion,
Front belly,
Side belly,
Back belly,
All the way around.
And letting that go.
And we can shift our awareness and our hands up into our front ribs.
Breathing only into those front ribs,
They expand upward and outward.
And letting that go.
Full expansive breath again into those front ribs.
And letting that go.
And we shift again,
Maybe bringing the hands to the side ribs.
Taking an expansive inhale into those side ribs.
Feeling the ribs press into the hands.
And letting that go.
And another deep breath into those side ribs.
Feeling those side ribs expand outward.
Full expansion.
And exhale,
Letting that go.
And bringing the awareness to the back ribs.
Feeling the back ribs press against the mat,
The earth beneath you.
Full expansion.
Elongating the spine and letting that go.
And one more full expansive breath into those back ribs.
Full expansion all the way.
And letting that go.
And now we bring that awareness to 360 degrees around the ribs.
Breathing into the front ribs.
Expanding the side ribs and into the back ribs.
Full expansion.
And exhaling,
Letting that go.
And again,
Full expansion into the front ribs.
The side ribs,
The back ribs.
And letting that go.
And now we shift the awareness up again.
Placing the hands between the sternum and the collarbone.
Breathing into that front chest.
Feeling the chest expand to the sky.
And letting that go.
And full expansion into the chest.
Again,
The front chest.
Full expansion all the way.
And letting that go.
And next we breathe into the side chest.
Maybe giving yourself a little hug.
Putting the fingers on the side ribs.
Full expansive inhale.
And letting that go.
And another full expansive breath into the side ribs.
Fully filling yourself and letting go.
And we shift into the upper back.
Full expansive breath into the space between the shoulder blades.
Filling up,
Pressing into the earth.
And letting go.
And once again into that upper back.
Full expansion inhale.
Creating so much space.
And letting that go.
And now we shift the awareness to the complete chest.
Breathing into the front chest.
Full expansion into the side chest.
And into the upper back.
And letting that go.
And another full expansive 360 degree chest breath.
The front,
The side,
The back all the way.
And letting that go.
And now we build that breath back to the base of the belly.
Breathing into the front belly,
The side belly,
The back belly.
The front ribs into the side ribs.
And the back ribs into the front chest.
Side chest.
The back chest all the way up into the head.
And letting go.
And again the base of the belly,
The front belly.
The side belly,
The back belly.
The front ribs,
The side ribs,
The back ribs.
The front chest,
The side chest,
The back chest all the way up into the head.
And letting that go.
And you can continue to breathe in this manner.
Just taking time to notice how deep and full and expansive your breath has become.
Taking note of your mental state,
Your physical state.
And any other sensations you feel in the body.
And you can continue to breathe in this manner.
Or if you wish to shift into any other breathing technique.
The body is now primed for full absorption of air and expansion of the diaphragm.
Thanks for practicing with me today.
Peace.
