Healing Breath, Empty And Held

Healing Breath, Empty and Held is a powerful and simple meditation. It can be used to attract sleep. It is also perfect for heart-opening, mood-changing, and getting in touch with what is important. It can be practiced seated or lying down. This practice is great for 'air gulpers' and allows for a different experience.

Transcript

So, This is a really powerful and simple meditation that you can do for any length of time. If you're laying down, You may fall asleep, And it would be a really nice way to go to sleep. And if you're sitting up, Then you can sit for a long time or a short time, And there is an impact, And the breath changes, And then the thinking changes, And your awareness of presence changes, And the heart opens. So, Either sitting or laying back, And if you're laying back, Let the spine sink into the ground, And if you're sitting, Sit right up through the tail, Up the spine, It can be against a wall if that's helpful, And then you relax into sitting posture, But you try to keep the length where you can keep it through the spine. And this meditation is great because it takes focus, It's also very simple, And there's a counting involved that's internal, And it's quite a nice way to count, Is to count OM 1, OM 2, OM 3, OM 4, And if you'd like to see the word, It can be OM or AUM. And this is the sound of the universe, So it's in Sanskrit word, It's considered to be a really powerful mantra. It's the sound the universe is making all the time, If we were able to hear it. So when you use AUM, You're tuning into a pre-existing sound, The sound of creation. So I'll describe first what we're going to do, And then we'll begin. Then we're going to inhale for four AUMs, So it'll be AUM 1, AUM 2, AUM 3, AUM 4, And then we're going to hold the breath lightly. So a lot of you have been doing retentions recently anyway, Just holding the breath lightly. And you can hold the breath for as long as you're comfortable holding. And then we're going to exhale for six, So we're going to exhale AUM 1, AUM 2, AUM 3, AUM 4, AUM 5, AUM 6. Now you're empty of breath, We are going to hold the emptiness, So we're going to stay empty, And this is really where the nectar is. It'll be a little strange, Initially when I began to do this, I panicked, I felt like I had to gulp air. So it will bring up a little bit of panic in people who are air gulpers. And it's good to find out if you're an air gulper, Nothing wrong with it, It's just you don't need to. And if you can, You wait for the body to open for the inhale, And then AUM 1, AUM 2, AUM 3, AUM 4, So that was an inhale, And holding for as long as comfortable. So soft brow, Relax the area around the mouth, And then exhale through the nostrils, You have to control the exhale to make it last six counts, Again this is a wonderful training. AUM 1, AUM 2, We're exhaling, AUM 3, AUM 4, AUM 5, AUM 6, And then stay empty. So the two ends of this, The empty end and the held end, In terms of the breath, Have as much importance, If not more, Than the breathing. And this is really where the nectar is, In the emptiness, And also in the light holding. So we're controlling prana, We're actually taking life force, And we're controlling it, We're directing it. So we'll begin to do this together now, You may have begun already, Inhaling for four, Counting inside yourself, AUM 1, AUM 2, AUM 3, AUM 4, Holding. And then exhaling for six, AUM 1, AUM 2, AUM 3, AUM 4, Control the air going out, AUM 5, AUM 6. In a moment we're going to continue silently, But we'll just do it together for a while. Now you're on empty, Stay empty, And just stay quiet with the emptiness. You may have to relax the tongue, The root of the tongue. See if you can feel the body opening for the inhale, And wait for the inhale to come organic. And when you're ready to inhale, AUM 1, AUM 2, AUM 3, AUM 4, Inhaling. Top of the breath now, Hold the breath. Relax the areas around the eyes, Keep holding. And then control the exhale slowly out, AUM 1, AUM 2, AUM 3, AUM 4, AUM 5. AUM 6, So it's four in and six out. You're on empty, Stay empty. So when we begin the next round, We're going to do it in silence. Give the ends of the breath importance, Stay empty, Just stay quiet with it. And wait, There's no rush. Give your body that space, This is pure healing you're giving yourself. Wait for the inhale to arise. Take your time, Slow it right down, Keep going. Staying on empty may create a little bit of trembling or anxiety, That's great. Just let that happen. Breathe in when you need to. You may become aware of sensations elsewhere in the body, Whatever you do or don't feel is fine. We're going to do two more full rounds when you get to the inhale stage. So take your time, Two more full rounds. There's no rush, But when you finish that second round, Just let go of the retentions and the controlled breathing and the counting. Let your body be soft and just allow the breath to come and go without intention. If you're ready to sleep, You can sleep. Otherwise, When you're ready, Opening your eyes. Thank you for joining me. Bye.