I would like to invite you to find a comfortable position and that can be sitting on a chair,
Sitting on the floor,
On a pillow,
Or lying down if that feels most comfortable for you.
Making sure that if you are sitting that your spine is nice and straight.
And when you found that comfortable position,
Gently close your eyes.
Bring your attention to your breath,
Just noticing the breath as it comes into your body through your nose,
And noticing the breath as it leaves your body through your nose.
There's no need at this point to control your breathing,
Just observe the breath.
And gently allow your shoulders to soften,
Allow the muscles in your face to relax.
Maybe feeling your body sink just a little bit more into the chair or the pillow that you're sitting on,
Or if you're lying on the floor,
Just feeling your whole body sink a little bit deeper into the ground.
And keeping your attention on the breath,
Noticing the breath as it comes into your body,
Noticing the breath as it leaves your body.
Just gently and with kindness,
Observing your breath,
Allowing your breath to relax your body,
Allowing your breath to bring you into this present moment,
To keep you in this present moment.
We're now slowly going to move in to our first breathing practice,
Which is called circular breathing.
With this breathing,
We're going to bring a little bit of a flow into our body,
Into our breathing,
Like a gentle wave coming into our body and leaving our body.
So for this breathing practice,
We're going to inhale through our nose,
And without pausing,
We're going to exhale.
So we're going to make a circular movement with our breath,
Inhaling and exhaling without any pause between the inhale and the exhale,
And without any pause between the exhale and the inhale.
So to begin with,
Just take a nice easy breath in,
And an easy breath out.
And now inhale deeply through your nose.
As soon as you reach the top of the inhale,
Simply let the breath fall out of your body.
And again,
Breathe in,
Gently feeling a rise in your body,
And as soon as you reach the top of the inhale,
Breathing out.
And at the bottom of the exhale,
Breathing in,
And breathing out.
And continue in this breathing pattern.
If you would like to add a gentle count to your inhale and your exhale,
You can add a count of four for the inhale,
And a count of four for the exhale.
And as you continue to breathe in this circular pattern,
Imagine a wheel turning,
Smooth,
Effortless,
And continuous.
With every inhale,
You draw in fresh energy.
With every exhale,
You release the tension in your muscles,
In your body.
Keep this rhythm going,
This gentle,
Circular breathing,
No pauses,
Gently breathing in,
And breathing out.
Continue for a few more cycles of this breathing,
Breathing in.
As soon as you reach the top of the inhale,
Simply letting the breath relax.
And gently allow your breath to come back to its natural rhythm.
No need to force your breathing,
Just gently breathing as you normally would.
Gently feeling the breath coming into your body,
And gently feeling the breath leaving your body,
Allowing that breath to happen on its own.
No need to control anything,
Just let the breath happen.
And on each exhale,
Relaxing your body just a little bit more,
Relaxing a little bit more your face muscles,
Relaxing your neck,
Relaxing your shoulders,
And your arms,
Relaxing your chest,
Your abdomen,
Relaxing your legs,
Just allowing your whole body to relax that little bit more.
Now,
Going to move into our next breathing practice,
Where we are going to slowly begin to extend our exhale.
We're going to breathe in for a count of four,
And we're going to breathe out for a count of eight.
When we extend our exhale,
We bring deeper relaxation to our body,
So preparing for this next breathing practice,
Take a nice easy breath in,
And take a nice easy breath out,
And inhale through the nose for a count of four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale slowly through the nose for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
And just continue now counting quietly to yourself,
Inhaling for four,
And a long,
Slow,
Steady exhale for eight.
And gently come back to your normal breathing pattern.
No need to count the breath as it comes into your body.
No need to count the breath as you exhale.
Just allow the breath to happen on its own.
Keeping your focus on the breath,
Noticing the breath as it comes into your body,
And noticing the breath as it leaves your body.
And to end our breathing session today,
We're going to bring our focus even deeper into ourselves.
We're going to bring this focus into ourselves with the breathing technique of the ocean breath,
Or also known as Ujjayi Pranayama.
And for this breathing technique,
We create a slight sound in the back of our throats as if the ocean was in the back of our throats.
We're going to breathe in through our nose,
And we're going to slightly constrict the back of our throat as if we were going to whisper,
Or as if you are trying to fog up a mirror.
And as you breathe in,
And as you breathe out,
This constriction at the back of your throat will make a soft ocean sound.
Breathing in deeply,
Making the sound of the ocean as the breath comes in and passes through the back of the throat,
And breathing out,
Letting the sound vibrate through your body.
And continue to breathe in this pattern.
Breathing in,
Hearing the sound of the ocean on your in-breath,
And breathing out,
Allowing the sound of your breath and of the ocean to relax you.
And allow the vibration of this sound of your breath to bring you just a little bit deeper into yourself.
Now,
Coming back to your normal breathing,
There's no need to make any sound with your breath.
Just allowing your breath to happen normally.
Breathing in gently and kindly through your nose.
Exhaling through your nose,
Allowing your body to relax just that little bit more.
Noticing the breath as it comes into your body.
Noticing the breath as it leaves your body.
And bringing your attention to any sensations that are in your body.
Noticing how you're feeling both in your body and in your mind.
And if you notice any tension in your body,
Maybe directing your breath to that part of your body.
And with each exhale,
Just relaxing that part of the body a little bit more.
And just for the last few moments before we bring this breathwork session to an end,
Keep your focus on the breath.
Notice how you are breathing into your body.
And notice how you are exhaling.
Continuing to allow this breath to relax you.
And slowly,
Beginning to bring your awareness back to the physical room that you are in.
Beginning to move your fingers and your toes.
Beginning to slowly bring movement into your body.
Maybe moving your legs.
Maybe moving your arms.
Taking one final deep breath.
When you're ready,
Gently opening your eyes.
Coming back to the space that you are in.
And when you feel ready,
Coming to the moment.
Back to your day.
And maybe setting the intention for yourself to bring this stillness with you as you move back into your day.
