As you begin today's practice,
These initial few moments where you're dropping in,
You're arriving,
Are you able to intentionally settle in?
However that looks,
However that feels for you,
Settling in to practice.
That might look like letting the hips get a little heavier,
The shoulders softening.
That might look like keeping a buoyancy,
A brightness to the chest,
To the crown of the head to show that you are present and aware in your practice.
But we're settling in over the coming few moments.
And then I invite you to start to notice your breath.
Breath awareness.
A simple yet beautiful way of opening to present moment awareness.
So with each breath that comes in and goes out over the coming moments,
Start to let everything else dissolve that has been with you up until this point in your day.
And start to really accept and embrace each breath and each moment.
Finding simplicity through breath awareness.
Letting everything else fall to the sides.
Keeping that single pointed awareness placed on your breath.
Nicely done.
And over the next few moments that pass,
Just starting to find a bit more expanse in the breath.
So back of the ribs start to open.
Sides of the ribs start to open as you inhale.
As you exhale you feel this descent of the ribcage.
This relaxing of the stomach.
Inhale you feel your torso expanding.
Exhale you feel it gently drawing back in toward itself.
Starting to allow for a fuller experience as you breathe.
Measured connected breathing.
See if you can already at this stage let the breath flow freely from inhale to exhale and back round again.
So there's no pause.
Just flowing freely from one to the other.
And we're going to be dropping into a little bit of breath work based off holotropic and rebirthing breath work.
There'll be a pace that is established and there'll be three gears that we move into in total.
You can always stay within the realm of the first gear if that feels most comfortable or you can join me to elevate your practice and your breathing as we advance.
In the moments of breath retention I encourage you to soften to fill up into the spaciousness and just notice what's there.
We'll be breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth today and it might sound like this before we go there.
So it's an active inhale through the nose and a passive exhale through the mouth.
When you're ready you can start to find your pulse with me.
First gear sounds like this.
In,
Out.
In,
Out.
In,
In,
In.
Continue with your own rhythm.
Make it work for you.
Active inhale through the nose.
Releasing.
Relaxed exhale through the mouth.
Passive.
And we aim for consistency over intensity in our breath work practice.
So once you've found your pulse,
Your rhythm,
Just stay with it.
Notice how it feels to breathe in this way.
Beautifully done.
We've got just a few more breaths in this rhythm before we do a breath hold.
So allowing the inhale to be active here,
Get all that oxygen into the cells.
And we'll do a retention,
A breath hold in five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Breathing fully in.
Pause at the top of the breath for a moment of fullness and then slowly out through the mouth.
Let it go.
And then at the bottom of the exhale where there's nothing left,
Pause.
Suspend.
Relax into the spaciousness.
Relax the jaw,
The shoulders.
Allow your body to take up space and soften here.
Rest in the space between.
And only you know when it's time to initiate the breath once again.
And when you do,
It's simply returning to a natural breath.
Notice how good it does feel when you return to breathe.
This gift of breath.
A few rounds of natural breathing when you do go back.
And from here you can either choose to re-engage with that same rhythm that served you or you can take it to the second gear with me.
The second gear will sound a little like this.
So it's that little bit quicker.
And it will be to this rhythm.
Feel free to join me when you're ready.
In.
Out.
In.
In.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
In.
In.
In.
Out.
Continue with the pulse that serves you.
Consistency is key.
Round,
Circular,
Connected breathing here.
No pause between the in and out breath.
Active inhale through the nose.
Passive exhale through the mouth.
You know what to do.
We won't be in this one for as long as our first round,
So commit fully.
Give it all of your awareness,
All of your intention.
And we're here for just five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
Breathe fully in.
Expand the body with beautiful breaths.
Soften and suspend at the top of the breath and then slowly exhale through the mouth.
At the bottom of the exhale you rest.
Pause and suspend the breath and observe what's here.
You know when it's time to bring in the next breath.
And when you do,
Just resting into an easy,
Natural method of breathing.
Returning to a beautiful breath.
And we have just one more round to experience in our morning breath work.
This round will be a little bit quicker than the previous two and we won't be here for so long.
So I do encourage you and motivate you to connect fully to this,
To give it your all.
So the next round will sound a little bit like this and I'll open the door for you to join me very soon.
Active inhale through the nose,
Passive exhale through the mouth.
And it will sound like this.
In,
Out,
In,
Out,
In,
Out.
Join me when you count.
In,
Out,
In,
Out,
In,
Out,
In,
Out.
For 10,
9,
8,
Give it everything,
7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
And 1.
Breathe fully in,
Suspend and slowly exhale through the mouth.
Suspend at the bottom of the breath for the final breath retention.
And you might bring a visualization to mind of the sky.
The infinite blue expanse of the sky beyond the clouds.
Bright and bold and beautiful.
Letting your body soften into that imagery.
Infinite possibilities live here for you in this place.
And only you know when it's time to welcome the breath.
When you do,
Natural breathing comes back in.
Notice here on the back of your breathwork practice what you're sensing,
What you're feeling,
If your mind's moving.
For the next few moments just observing what's here.
And now we're gonna go on a short journey of the senses to connect to our aliveness this morning.
And let's begin where we have been already.
Through the nose with our sense of smell.
Take in a slow deep breath and notice if any smells are present.
Maybe it's more of a sensation in the nostrils than a smell.
Noticing that is enough.
All is welcome.
And take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate your sense of smell today.
All that it's about to gift you throughout the day.
And then gently pivot your awareness to your closed eyes.
And even with the eyelids draped over the eyeballs,
What do you see?
Tuning into your sense of sight here in your practice.
Maybe there's a color or a shape.
Maybe it's hard to even describe.
So just notice and witness.
And as you do this you take a nod of appreciation for your sense of sight and all that it allows you to perceive.
With that appreciation gently drift your awareness to your ears and allow your awareness to float around the space of the ears noticing any sounds that are present.
See if you can acknowledge the sounds without judgment.
Just listening in.
Beautifully done.
And take a nod of appreciation for the sounds that you hear.
And also for what your ears have been doing for you for so long.
And for the sounds you will hear for the rest of the day.
Now gently place your awareness into your mouth.
Maybe on the surface of your tongue.
And you can swallow here.
Sometimes just bringing our awareness to our mouth makes us want to swallow.
And then notice your sense of taste.
Perhaps there's not much going on here and it's more of a texture that you can sense.
Taking a moment to appreciate to embrace your sense of taste and all that you can taste because of it.
All that you have tasted and all that you are to taste today.
And finally we drift our awareness to our sense of touch.
And in order to do that simply become aware of the surface of your skin.
You might notice the atmosphere around you in contact with the surface of your skin.
You might even indicate any support beneath you in contact with your body.
Maybe you sense your clothing upon the surface of your skin.
And then notice the parts of your body that are in contact with each other.
That connection to self.
Self-touch and connection is available always.
And then allow all of your senses now to light up.
Smell,
Sight,
Sound,
Taste,
Touch.
And just take a moment to honor the sense of aliveness that is present when you tune into your senses today.
And with this aliveness permeating through your being let's drop in some positive affirmations on the theme.
Feel free to repeat these after or just to let yourself marinate within them.
I feel alive today.
I feel alive today.
I embrace and honor the gift of life.
I embrace and honor the gift of life.
I sense my surroundings and my inner world today.
I sense my surroundings and my inner world today.
I am grateful for the opportunity of the day ahead.
I am grateful for the opportunity of the day ahead.
I make the most of it.
I make the most of it.
And I share my vitality and aliveness with those that I meet today.
I share my aliveness and vitality with those I meet today.
Taking the deepest breath you've taken all practice in through the nose breathe in all of that positivity and as you exhale through the mouth let any stuckness,
Stagnancy,
Stress or tension dissolve.
Stepping into the next part of your day feeling clear,
Open and alive.
Let the breath return to a normal rhythm and in your own time you may start to blink the eyes open and come back into your space.
