Hi and welcome.
This meditation will help you refine the movement of your diaphragm and refine the connection of the feeling sense that you have to your diaphragm as you breathe.
So please assume a comfortable seated position.
You may want to raise your pelvis slightly,
Propping it up on a bolster or a cushion,
Raising your ribcage high away from your hips and sit so that your back feels firm and elongated and the front of your body is lifted and receptive.
Begin to sense the sturdy and muscular flap of your diaphragm spanning across the middle of your torso and just taking a slow continuous soft pace of breath in and out of your nose.
Bringing your awareness now to the flow of breath moving through your right nostril.
How open is your right nostril right now?
And then bringing your attention,
Sensitive attention to your liver and the right side of the diaphragm below your lower ribs.
How does your right diaphragm move relative to the area of your liver as you breathe in?
Do you feel that your liver provides a barrier to the downward excursion of your diaphragm as you inhale?
Is there a tug on the right side of your diaphragm?
And does this area on the right feel any different in relation to the movement on the left side of your diaphragm?
Now focusing your awareness on your left nostril and notice its relationship to the left side of your diaphragm.
How open is your left nostril?
Is it more or less open than your right nostril?
I'm just paying attention and feeling into this.
Observe the downward excursion on the left side of your diaphragm,
The left side of your lower ribs.
Notice it on the inhalation as the breath moves up against the diaphragm and pushes down towards your stomach.
Now comparing the two sides of your diaphragm again,
The left side relative to the right side of your diaphragm at the base of your ribs.
Does one side move with greater ease than the other side?
You may even notice a slight wobble in the inhalation phase of your breath.
If you're really sensitive to this,
You will notice most likely that there's a greater restriction on your right side given the relative density of the liver.
Typically,
The motion of the left side has more ease because the organ of the stomach on the left is hollow and more distensible.
Given the stomach is more expandable,
The left side of the ribs can protrude slightly more forward.
I'm just continuing in this exploration,
Breathing through both nostrils and their relative relation to the left and right side of the diaphragm,
Their relative relation to the area of your liver being more dense and the area of your stomach being more light and hollow.
Within this exploration,
Taking a moment to contemplate that the right side of your diaphragm and the area of your liver is connected to the pingala nadi in yogic philosophy relating to the energy of the sun and warmth.
The left side of your diaphragm and the area of your stomach relating to the lunar channel or moon channel of the body called the ida channel or chandra nadi.
I'm just feeling into these elements of philosophy of pranic energy moving and sustaining the body beyond a physical level.
And we can even think of the breath being the medium between connecting the physical and more ethereal aspects of ourselves.
Just soft,
Natural breaths.
Feeling into the lowest part of your ribs,
Deeply exploring the sensations in your diaphragm.
And you may continue this exploration for a little longer.
And whenever you're ready,
You can slowly take a moment to come back to your senses and gently close your practice.
Namaste.
