Arrive | Breath Awareness & Expansion | 19 Mins

Join Abigail to truly land and arrive here and now. In this finite yet ever unfolding moment through gentle breathing techniques, awareness and self connection. Be prepared to go on an inward journey of greater balance, calm and clarity after this practice.

Transcript

So over the coming moments as you settle into your meditation and breathing practice today,

Why not start by simply allowing the eyelids to gently close if they haven't already done so.

As the eyelids soften 2% more,

Also allow the micro muscles in the back of the eyes to soften too.

And from this place of the eyelids and eyeballs,

Allow that softness to trickle down into the facial features,

Through the mouth,

And then let that wash all the way through the body.

Take a deep breath in through the nose now,

Fill the whole body with beautiful breath,

And ever so slowly open the mouth and let it go.

Take two more just like that,

In through the nose,

Out through the mouth,

Feel free to make any sound or sigh that you need.

Last one just for you.

And then gently sealing the lips,

We just continue to breathe now through the nasal passages,

Nasal breathing.

As we breathe through our nose,

We're using our natural inbuilt filtration system,

Filtering out.

And as you nasal breathe,

You might even plant these affirmations into your practice.

I commit to my meditation practice today.

Through showing up in my practice,

I show up for myself.

I recognize this is a practice,

And I let perfectionistic qualities dissolve.

Breath by breath,

Moment by moment,

I meet what's here.

I put aside everything that has been with me up until this point today,

Put it in a jar,

Put it on the shelf,

And I commit to being here as a priority.

And with that,

We start to deepen our breath.

We're going to explore our three-part breathing today,

And we'll start with abdominal breathing.

So as you breathe in,

Allow the belly to inflate,

Feel the navel,

The belly button draw out in space.

And as you exhale,

You just witness the belly softening,

And you might even do a gentle hug of the belly button toward the spine as you exhale.

Inhale,

Inflating the belly.

Exhale,

Feeling the belly gently softening back toward the spine through the exhale.

Inhale,

Belly rises.

Exhale,

Belly releases,

And navel draws gently to spine.

Stay with this for the next few rounds of breath,

Noticing the feeling of the belly rising and falling.

Let yourself arrive now through this practice.

And any time a thought wants to take you away from your breathing,

Keep prioritizing the breath.

Make it the focal point.

Beautifully done.

The next time that you breathe in,

You're going to allow the belly to inflate once again,

And then you're going to continue to fill up into the lower ribs.

And as you exhale,

Notice the ribs softening,

And then the belly softening.

Inhale,

Belly expands,

Ribs expand.

Exhale,

Ribs soften,

Belly softens.

Inhale,

Belly expands,

Ribs inflate.

Exhale,

Ribs soften,

Belly softens.

Couple more rounds with your own time and guidance.

We were working our two parts now,

Belly and ribs,

In and out.

Just like a cup of purified water,

Filling up and emptying out.

Each time you take that breath,

There's like a beginning again feeling,

A renewal.

You get to choose when you want to start again.

Beautifully done.

From here,

We move into our third part,

Which involves the clavicles,

So the collarbones and the shoulders.

But for this third part,

I'd like you to keep your shoulders relaxed and your clavicles relaxed,

But just witness the breath moving in there.

So the next time you breathe in,

Feel the belly inflate,

Feel the ribs expand,

And then even up into the clavicular region of the collarbones.

And then exhale,

Collarbones soften,

Ribs soften,

Belly relaxes and gently draws into the spine.

Inhale,

Belly expands,

Ribs expand,

Collarbone and upper chest brightens.

Exhale,

Collarbone softens,

Ribs soften,

Belly softens.

Noticing these three distinct parts now as you breathe with intention.

Noticing the breath can move into the crevices behind the shoulder blades,

Between the ribs.

Allow the breath to fill the torso now.

Maybe you stay with that image of a cup or a glass being filled up with purified water as you breathe in.

As you breathe out,

It is released and poured out.

Beautifully done.

Taking just one more full round of our full three-part breath.

Keeping it fluid and smooth now.

Making it not a step up,

But a smooth gradient up through the torso.

And gently let that go.

So return to your natural breath.

Notice already at this time in your practice if anything's shifted or altered within yourself.

Noticing the inner space and if anything's changed,

Just acknowledging that.

If it hasn't,

That's totally fine too.

And from here we're going to lengthen and extend the breath even more.

And I'm going to guide you.

And what we're going to do is we're going to start with an inhale for the count of four and an exhale for the count of four.

And then we're going to progressively move up towards ten.

We might not get to ten today,

But we know that's where we're aiming for.

So I'll take you there breath by breath.

Feel free to take a clearing breath now in through the nose and wash it out through the mouth.

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Exhale,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six.

Exhale,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven.

Exhale,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Gently return to natural breathing.

Notice how that felt for you to gradually build up.

To expand the volume of breath that you can hold and release.

And know that we'll be working with this over the coming weeks to build up and to find even greater space through the breath.

Releasing any shaping or holding of the breath now and just let it flow freely,

Coming back into easy breath.

Take two percent of the mental tension out of this practice now.

And we're going to go on the journey of the breath,

But without shaping it now,

Just witnessing it.

I'd like you to begin with your entire awareness placed just below or around the nostrils.

Your whole awareness placed just below or around or on the nostrils.

And as you breathe,

You're simply observing what's there.

The feeling,

The experience of the breath coming in and out through these openings.

When we breathe,

We actually take in,

Obviously,

The external atmosphere,

The external world,

And we bring it into our physical body.

And as we exhale,

We release something inside ourself,

Into the external space.

So think of the breath as a bridge between your inner and outer world.

Literally brings the breath in,

Out to in.

And as you exhale,

It's in to out.

Noticing the sensations at the nose.

The ears.

Maybe you even feel the difference in the temperature of the air coming in compared to the air going out.

I'm going to gently draw your awareness now down into the central column of the throat,

The middle of the throat.

So now witnessing breath coming in through the nose,

Meeting the throat,

Feeling the breath leaving through the throat and the nose.

You might even sense the breath like a whisper or an echo in a cave as it moves through the center of the throat.

And then witnessing now the breath coming through the nose,

The throat opening into the lungs,

The ribcage.

And then witness the exhale,

Breath leaving the ribs,

The throat,

The nose.

Looking at these three markers now for the journey of the breath.

And as you do that,

Maybe you feel the clothes on your skin against your chest as the breath inflates and deflates.

Try not to overthink the breath.

Try and just let your body be breathed naturally without any force.

And you're just watching.

To add on to that,

We're going to add the fourth marker in the journey of the breath,

Which is the belly.

Just like in our abdominal breathing,

You witness now the breath moving through the nose,

The throat,

Chest,

And belly.

And then you witness the breath leaving the belly,

The chest,

The throat,

And the nose.

These four touch points.

To bring the outer in and to bring the inner out.

From here,

I now invite you to visualize a color to signify the external world and the external atmosphere.

And as you breathe in,

Imagine that color traveling through those touch points,

Nose,

Throat,

Chest,

Belly.

And then feel like the body transforms that color into something else and imagine a different color coming from your inner space through those touch points out into the atmosphere.

The alchemy that happens in the lungs,

In the alveoli.

Every time that we breathe,

Every single breath,

We're in an alchemizing experience.

And with that,

I bring you the beautiful quote of the late philosopher Rumi.

Stop acting so small.

You are the universe in ecstatic motion.

Just like the breath shows us the power,

Our ability to alchemize,

To change and transform.

Stay with that visualization just for another few rounds.

One color coming in,

One color coming out.

Transforming that in the lung space.

And see where it takes you.

And then I invite you to release that imagery,

Release that activity.

Let the breath just travel freely.

Let the mind just rest.

And as the mind rests,

I'll drop in a seed for contemplation.

What are you seeking to alchemize or change in your inner or outer world this year?

What are you seeking to alchemize or change in your inner or outer world this year?

Just allowing anything to present itself.

And if you have gained clarity or a feeling or an inkling,

Just allow that to be there.

If you haven't gained anything,

Let that be there too.

If you are working with something there,

Feel free to dive into a little bit of your why.

Why is it that you're seeking that?

Notice the first thing that comes up.

And just let that integrate for the next few breaths.

You might choose to note that down after our inward experience.

And then let's take a clearing breath all together.

Inhale through the nose.

Exhale through the mouth to let it all go.

Starting to listen in to the sounds of your immediate environment.

Starting to feel your body being held by whatever's beneath you.

And ever so slowly start to reawaken the physical body.

Maybe the fingers,

Maybe the toes.

Maybe you take a little bit of a twist or a stretch.

And when you're ready,

You may blink the eyes open and come from the inner to the outer space with your awareness.