Good morning to you,
I hope you had a good rest last night and are ready for the day ahead.
Before you begin getting out there and doing busy life stuff,
It can be really helpful to take a little time to breathe,
Rest and ground before the busyness of the day.
By being really present with the breath you can allow your whole system to calm,
Your mind,
Your body,
Your spirit.
So in this practice together we'll be doing the Ujjayi breath,
We will do some together and then I'll give you some space to do it at your own pace.
To explain what the breath is,
Your mouth will be closed,
Your jaw relaxed and just breathe in and out through the nose.
We'll take a deep breath in through the nose,
Slightly constrict the bottom of your throat so that it extends the exhale and then breathe a long slow breath out through the nose.
It makes a sound something like this,
So let's give that a try together.
Take a few moments first to get yourself really comfortable,
It is beneficial to sit with your back straight but if you want to you can sit in a chair to support your back or even lie down if that feels right for you.
Gently close your eyes and allow your awareness to drift in,
Away from the outside world into the presence of your body and your natural breath coming in and out of your body.
Noticing all the feelings and sensations of the breath in your body as you breathe,
Gradually resting and settling.
As you rest there,
Take a deep breath in through the nose,
Slightly constrict the bottom of the throat and then breathe a long exhale through the nose.
Really paying attention to how that feels in the body.
In the same way,
Another deep breath in and a long slow breath out through the nose.
Noticing how that feels in the body as you breathe.
A deep breath in and a long slow breath out.
Being really present with each inhale and each exhale.
One more time together,
A deep breath in and a long breath out.
And now I'll give you a little space to keep doing that at your own pace.
Being really present with how the breath feels in your body.
A deep breath in,
Constrict the throat and a long breath out.
As you breathe in,
Do you notice how your body kind of lifts up and expands out?
Notice how when you breathe out,
Your body relaxes down.
Allow your body to really follow that each time,
Letting it deeply relax into the ground supporting you.
Notice the natural pause between the in-breath and the out-breath.
Maybe you notice the natural space at the bottom of the long out-breath.
It might feel kind of like you're rocking off the breath and then back on again up into the in-breath.
As you relax and breathe,
You can start off by making each in-breath and each out-breath more obvious and more sound to it,
To gently hold your awareness there.
But as you feel more steady,
You can gradually allow each in-breath and each out-breath to become quieter and more subtle.
So still a deep in-breath and an extended out-breath,
But gradually becoming more quiet until you find yourself breathing slowly but much more naturally again.
Gradually allowing yourself to feel settled and present in the body.
Quiet,
Present awareness.
So,
That's the 10 minutes up for this short breathing practice together.
I hope you feel relaxed,
Calm,
Present and ready for the day ahead.
If you find yourself stressed during the day,
Feel free to come back to the practice or do some of these Ujjayi breaths on your own.
The wonderful thing about the breath is it is always there for us,
Comforting,
Supportive and healing.
So have a wonderful day ahead and hopefully see you soon.
