Three Part Vagal Toning Breathwork Practice

In this short breathwork practice, we move through three practices designed to strengthen your vagal tone. The stronger, or higher, our vagal tone, the more readily we can move from a sympathetic nervous system state back into a parasympathetic state. We begin with a "voo" breath, then flow into an equal 5:5 diaphragmatic breath, and end with an extended exhale breath. I hope this short practice brings a moment of peace within your day.

Transcript

Begin to draw awareness to your breath. Initially notice your natural cadence of breath. Notice the temperature moving in and out of the nose or mouth. Notice any physical sensations with the natural rise and fall of the belly as you breathe. And then begin to lengthen the breath. So with each inhale, Just sip in a little bit more air. In each exhale, A longer breath out. Now a few more rounds on your own, Lengthening each inhale with the breath in. Allowing all the air to leave the body with each breath out. Our first of three vagal toning practices will be the voo breath, V-O-O. So the next breath in, Take a nice deep inhale through the nose. And on the exhale, Just make the sound VU. VU. The next breath in, Inhale through the nose. And exhale an audible VU. You And continue just like that. Breath into the nose. And exhale, Audible voo. Inhale. Aum you Good, And a few more on your own. Good, And then let that go for now. And then on your next inhale, We're going to breathe in for a count of five. One, And exhale, Same, Same for five. And we'll continue like this. Inhale for a five. And exhale for a five. In Howl5. Exhale five. In How 5. And exhale five. And continue like that a few more rounds on your own. Maybe you're counting to five with each round of breath in your head. Or maybe just feeling the sensation of. Five seconds is. . . About. And what it feels like in your body. Few more rounds. Inhale for five, Exhale for five seconds. And when the mind wanders, That's what it does. Just draw it back to the breath. Begin again. Inhale, Five seconds. Exhale, Five seconds. And on the next round of breath. We're going to inhale for five like we've been doing. This time lengthen the exhale for 7. So slightly longer exhale. Inhale again for the five count. And exhale now for 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Inhale for a 5 breath. And exhale for seven. Good and continue on your own. Again, Maybe you count. Inhale for five, Exhale for seven. Maybe it's the felt sense of the exhale a little longer than the inhale. Just a few more rounds. Good. And if you're enjoying that last practice, Feel free to continue. Otherwise, You can let that go for now. Take a moment just to notice whatever you notice. The body, The mind, The heart, Beyond. One final round of breath, A nice deep inhale through the nose. And an exhale out of the mouth. Namaste.