Good Morning Practice: Meditation & Pranayama

Welcome to my morning practice. Here I will guide you through a meditation and a breathing exercise that I like to practice when I wake up. The morning time is a beautiful moment to go inward and set a trajectory for the day. This is the time when we are still free from the day's experiences, thoughts, and emotions.

How we start our day determines how the rest of our day will play out. If we can cultivate peace, love, gratitude, and grace in the morning, we are more likely to create a day based on these values.

Beautiful relaxing music by Peter B. Helland.

Transcript

Good morning beautiful soul,

My name is Ani.

This morning I will guide you through a morning breathwork and meditation practice.

This is a practice I often do myself when I wake up and so I feel very honored to be able to share it with you.

The morning time is a beautiful moment to go inward and set a trajectory for the day.

This is the time where we are still free from today's experiences,

Thoughts and emotions.

How we start our day to a large degree determines how the rest of the day will play out and so if we can cultivate peace,

Love,

Gratitude and grace in the morning we are more likely to create a day based on these values.

And so I invite you to find a comfortable position.

This can be on a chair,

On your bed,

On the floor on a meditation cushion or wherever you feel comfortable.

The most important thing is that your spine is straight and that you feel relaxed.

Once you have found this position take a moment here to observe your natural breathing pattern.

There is no need to manipulate your breath,

Simply observe it for a few moments and this will help you to arrive in the here and now.

I invite you to now set an intention for this day.

Think about what it is that you would like to cultivate on this brand new day.

Perhaps you want to focus on being more kind,

Being more present,

Feel more gratitude.

Maybe there is something you want to achieve within your relationships or at work.

Whatever it is,

Take a moment to become really clear on what you would like to cultivate today and define it in a word or a sentence.

Before we begin with today's practice let's start by waking up our body by gently tapping it using the tips of our fingers.

So begin at the top of your head and use your fingertips to gently tap all over your head,

Covering the crown and slowly begin to move towards your face,

Tapping your forehead,

Around your eyes,

Your temples,

Your cheekbones and along your jaw.

Move to the sides of your neck and feel free to spend a little bit of extra time here.

This is an area where many of your lymph nodes are located,

Just below the jaw line where the neck starts and your lymph nodes play a very important role in your immune system.

So stay here just a little bit longer and when you're ready move down to tap your collarbones,

Your chest,

The center of your chest where your heart chakra is located,

Igniting all the love for the day and slowly move down your right arm all the way down to your hand and come back up the other side of your right arm.

Cross your chest and tap down your left arm to reach your left hand and again come up the other side of your left arm.

Tap your stomach,

Your hip area,

A lot of emotions are located in this area,

We keep a lot of emotions in our hips so feel free to give this area a little bit more attention.

Slowly tap down along your legs until you reach the bottom of your feet.

When you have reached the bottom of your feet,

Place your hands in a comfortable position,

This could be on the top of your thighs with your palms of your hands facing upwards and just enjoy the stillness for a moment.

Feel the effect of the tapping,

Feel how you have activated the energy that is now moving more freely through your body.

Now let's begin today's practice with a short pranayama or breathwork exercise.

The technique we're going to use today is called Kapalbhati and it's commonly referred to as the breath of fire in English.

As the name suggests,

Here we want to ignite our inner fire and wake up our body to start the day cleansed,

Energized and full of vitality.

If you have undergone recent abdominal surgery,

If you're pregnant or you're suffering from very high blood pressure,

I urge you to take this practice really very slowly or maybe even avoid it.

To perform this technique you will forcefully push your belly button in towards your spine to then exhale through your nose.

All you need to focus on is your exhale,

Your inhale will come automatically.

It will sound something like this.

So pressing the belly button against your spine,

Forcing the air out of your nose.

We will do two rounds of this.

The first round we will go very slowly and then for the second round we will mindfully speed it up.

I will perform the exercise with you so you can follow the sound of my breath if you like,

But always make sure to listen to your body as well.

If I go too fast for you,

Simply slow it down a little bit.

Now take a deep inhale through your nose and a full exhale through your nose.

Now take an inhale to begin,

Take a deep inhale through your nose and hold for 15 seconds and exhale through your nose,

Let it go.

Take a few moments here to return to your natural breath and to prepare for the second round.

In the second round we will go a little bit faster.

Again if you feel like my pace is too fast for you,

Please proceed at your own rhythm,

Listen to your body.

Take a deep inhale through your nose and a full exhale through your nose and inhale to begin.

Take a deep inhale through your nose and hold here for 15 seconds.

Close your eyes if they aren't closed already and feel whatever you're feeling and let it all go this time through your mouth with a sigh.

Take a moment here to return to your normal breathing and see whether you can observe any changes in your body,

Whether you can feel any effects of the Kapalbhati.

Perhaps you feel a little bit more energized,

Perhaps you feel a lot more energized,

Perhaps you feel like you can breathe better,

You might feel more alert,

You might feel more calm or maybe you feel nothing at all.

Either is fine,

Just take a moment to observe.

The next exercise we are going to do is called Nadi Shodhana or interval nose breathing.

This is a yogic breathing technique to help balance the right and left hemisphere of your brain or your Sun and your Moon,

Your masculine and feminine energies.

It will also help to eliminate any cortisol that we have created in the last breathing exercise.

In other words we'll prepare for a balanced and peaceful day ahead.

For this exercise lift your right hand and place your index and your middle finger between your eyebrows at your third eye point.

Now use your thumb to close your right nostril and take a full inhale through your left nostril.

Use your fourth finger to cover your left nostril and hold.

Now release your thumb and exhale through your right nostril,

Keeping the left one closed.

Now inhale through your right nostril,

Cover it with your thumb and hold.

Release your fourth finger and breathe out fully through your left nostril.

Again inhale through your left,

Hold and exhale through your right.

Inhale through your right,

Hold and exhale through your left.

Inhale through your left and exhale through the right.

Continue breathing like this at your own pace for a few more rounds.

Slowly let this pranayama come to an end by finishing with an exhale through your left nostril.

Take a moment to sit and observe in silence.

Again see whether you feel any sensations in your body,

Whether anything changed in your mind or in your breath.

Just observe.

As you settle in,

Begin to simply observe the sounds around you.

You can start with the sounds that are the furthest away from you and move towards you or start with the ones closest to you,

Such as the sound of my voice,

And expand outwards,

Whatever feels more natural to you.

There is no need to create a story about the sound.

It doesn't matter where they are coming from,

Why they're there,

How they make you feel.

Just quietly observe them without any attachment.

Becoming present with the sounds around you,

You automatically become present.

I will leave you in silence just for a minute or two for you to tune into the sounds around you,

To tune into this moment.

And with all this happening around you,

You will notice that you are breathing naturally and effortlessly.

I invite you once again to become aware of your breath.

Feel the cool air entering your nostrils and the slightly warmer air leaving your nostrils.

Feel how your next breath enters the nostrils,

Travels down through your throat,

Your chest,

All the way into your belly,

And how it leaves your body the same way,

From your belly,

Through your chest,

Your throat,

And out of your nostrils.

Stay here for a few moments.

You can take this time to allow yourself to feel gratitude for your breath.

Without our breath,

Our life on this earth cannot be sustained.

Without your breath,

None of your organs could do their work,

And thus there would be no physical you.

So take a moment to appreciate it.

I will leave you here for a few moments to hang out with your prana,

With your breath,

Your life force energy that sustains you.

Just continue observing it for a little while.

And when you're ready,

Let go of all these techniques and allow yourself to sit quietly just for a few minutes.

There is nothing to do.

There's nowhere to be but in this present moment.

Everything that happens,

Happens now.

There literally is no past and no future.

Even when we make plans for the future or we think about our past,

We are doing it right now.

So why not just be here?

Embrace the now.

It really is all there is.

Stay here just for another minute and feel whatever there is to feel.

If thoughts come,

Let them come and let them go.

Keep on bringing yourself back to the now.

When you feel ready,

Slowly start moving your toes.

Start moving your fingers.

You can circle your wrists.

Stretch your body and take a conscious full deep breath all the way into your belly and let it go.

Let's do this two more times.

Conscious breath in and full breath out.

You can make a sigh as you exhale.

One more time.

Full breath in and exhale with a sigh.

Slowly open your eyes and if this resonates,

Feel free to lift your hands in prayer pose to your chest.

Bow down in gratitude to Mother Earth for supporting you through this practice.

Bow down to yourself for taking the time to start your day in a conscious,

Connected and calm way.

Thank you so much for joining me this morning.

I'm wishing you a beautiful day.

Namaste.

Reviews

I enjoyed the tapping and breathing which helped my body wake up yet calm. The meditation was calming. I will return to this meditation frequently. Namaste 🙏🏽

I loved this. Tha k you for sharing. All the exercises were great. The music i could do.without but I am so grateful for this. Namaste ✨️ 🙏

Beautifully guided. Thank you 🙏

A lovely start to my day with tge breathing practices and mindfulness to breath and sound! Thank you🙏

Wonderful meditation, thank you for your gentle and loving guidance. ✨✨

That was beautiful and amazing. I have to learn the breath technique better. ✌🏽🩵🙏🏽

Thank you so much💗

Wow. So so so good!

A lovely, calm and soothing way to start the day. Thank you and namaste 🙏🏻

Loved your voice and pace for a calming yet energizing practice on this breezy morning while traveling in Balmain, in the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. Many thanks! Namaste
🌺🙏🌺

Wonderful start to the day. Loved the pranayama guidance. Feeling relaxed but energised for the day. Thank you for sharing this meditation 🙏🏽❤️

Beautiful gentle voice with soft guidance for quiet centering.

Beautiful morning practice. I enjoyed the calming and relaxing music as well. Thank you!❤️🙏

Thankyou! A great start to a great day. Quite love the Pranayama integration with meditation.

Beautiful, peaceful & healing reset for a stressful day.

I loved the mix of techniques in this practice! Feeling very relaxed but ready for the day

Soothing voice and great pranayama
🙏🏼

Namaste 🙏
Being from India, I could see that your pronunciations are exactly like what they are here. Very few non-Indian can achieve this. Also the practice itself was very neatly conducted. Enjoyed it.
Namaste 🙏

Just the right amount of everything , focused, peaceful and ready for my day 🙏💚

It was such a gift to wake up with Anie. I am not one to slow down, and yet, this practice is leaving me at peace and present. Grateful!! ✨❤️