Welcome to our free meditation challenge.
Today is day 10 and I want to introduce you pranayama.
In Sanskrit,
Pranayama means life energy and niyama means control.
So pranayama is the practice of breath regulation.
It's the control of the life energy through your breath.
In day 2 of this challenge,
We did mindful breathing where we focused on our breathing.
We were an observer of the air coming in and out of our body.
Pranayama is different in the way that you completely control your breathing.
You can control a slow breathing which is when we can from 1 to 5 and 5 to 1 or a fast breathing when you breathe in and breathe out as fast as you can for 10 times in a row,
Then you pause and then you repeat.
Both methods will bring you to a meditative state.
We are going to practice fast breathing and slow breathing in between.
Let me demonstrate how your hand goes.
First,
Let's find a comfortable position where your spine is straight,
Your back is nice and tall and you can rest your hands wherever it feels comfortable.
You can keep your eyes open or you can close them just as you prefer.
Let's take a deep inhale for 1,
2,
3,
4 and 5 and slow exhale for 5,
4,
3,
2 and 1.
Inhale for 1,
2,
3,
4 and 5 and exhale for 5,
4,
3,
2 and 1.
What we just did is a slow pranayama breath work.
Now we are going to start the fast breath work.
So we breathe in and out 10 times and then we slow down our breathing for 5 to 10 seconds and we do this 3 times in a row.
So let's do it together.
I'm going to start my fast breathing now.
Now wait for 5 to 10 seconds and then I will repeat again.
1,
2,
3,
4 and 5 and 1.
So that was 1 cycle.
So now you might feel a bit dizzy.
It's because of the deep in breath we brought a lot of oxygen in our body.
So the blood is now filled with oxygen that circulates in our body,
In our brain.
This is why we have this sensation of dizziness but it's completely normal.
Just don't get up and observe the sensations in your body.
And we are going to go again for another round.
Let me start now.
And again.
One more time.
And now feel the sensations in your body and the sensation of dizziness.
If you are not feeling well,
You can stop now.
It's ok.
You can just come back and try again another time.
Don't push too hard when you do it for the first time.
And you will see that the more you practice this technique,
The more you will feel at ease.
It's one of the best technique for anxiety when you need to release stress,
When you have a lot of pressure,
When you feel overwhelmed.
You try this practice and you will see your body and mind will automatically calm down and relax.
And you will be able to put yourself back together.
Let's go again for the last round.
And we stop now.
Let's go again.
And one last time.
And again.
And now you can slowly open your eyes.
Reconnect with your body and mind and your surrounding.
Don't stand up yet.
Just sit down for some time.
Just want to reconnect.
Put yourself back together.
Time to stop this dizziness.
And when you feel ready,
Go back to your day.
