Hi,
This is Anika Francis.
Thanks for joining me for this meditation that's going to focus on how to breathe into ease.
Ease is the state of being relaxed and in flow.
It's easy.
But the thing is,
It's not always easy to get into a state of ease.
Sometimes life can feel really hard.
Maybe we're under a lot of pressure.
Perhaps you're being pulled in too many directions.
Or maybe your mind just won't slow down,
Making it really hard to relax.
You know what?
We're meant to do hard things,
Even if that hard thing is learning how to be easy.
The great thing is that there are techniques that can help,
Like our breath.
So today,
We're going to practice several breathing techniques from the yogic pranayama tradition.
I'm a yogi.
I've been teaching and practicing yoga for over 15 years.
And I love teaching pranayama practices because it offers some really powerful and effective and natural techniques that can activate your relaxation response,
Making it easier for you to get into that state of ease.
And no matter where you are,
Who you are,
What you do or don't have,
Everybody has to breathe.
So today,
We're going to use the breath to find more ease.
So I want you to get comfortable settling into your seat and connecting with your breath,
Feeling the abdomen as it slowly begins to rise and fall with the breath.
We're going to draw the shoulders up towards the ears,
Back and down.
And I just want you to start to let the tension go.
Maybe you can relax your forehead,
Relax the jaw,
Relax the shoulders,
Sinking even more heavily into your seat,
While still lengthening out through the crown of the head.
And I want you to think about a time when you felt a sense of ease.
A time when there was no pushing against,
When life felt like it was in flow.
Life felt easy,
Even if just for a moment.
As you bring your awareness to that moment of ease for you,
I want you to connect with what that feeling of ease felt like in your body.
What did it feel like in your breath?
How did your mind feel when you felt easy and in flow?
Just connecting with that.
The state of ease is also about a state of mind.
And we can use our mind to connect to that state of ease.
It can be hard to get the mind to slow down,
But they say that mind follows breath.
So when we slow down the breath,
We can slow down the mind.
And when we can slow down the mind,
It's easier for us to get into that state of ease.
So we're going to begin to slow that breath down.
We're inhaling for four,
Three,
Two,
Exhaling four,
Three,
Two,
One.
And as you begin to slow that breath down to that four count inhale,
And that four count exhale,
I want you to begin to deepen the breath by breathing into the abdomen.
We're going to work with abdominal breathing.
So as you breathe into that abdomen,
Just feel the stomach expanding out like a really big balloon.
As you exhale,
The navel slowly sinks in towards the spine.
Just feeling the ease of the breath as it moves through the abdomen,
Feeling the ease of that flow,
Beginning to expand that breath also into the side body.
So inhaling into the belly,
Into the side body,
Feeling that full expansion,
Feeling the ease of the exhale as that air slowly flows out,
Feeling the side body flow in,
And then the navel towards the spine.
And now we're going to draw that breath from the belly to the side body,
All the way to the upper chest,
Adding the third part to this breath,
Which is known as Dhirga Pranayama.
Breathing to the belly,
Side body,
Upper chest,
Just as slowly releasing through the chest,
Through the side body,
Through the abdomen.
Just feeling that breath as it flows in easily and flows out.
We're going to work with this mantra,
Ease and flow.
As you inhale in,
Just saying to yourself,
Ease.
As you exhale out,
Flow.
Inhale ease,
Exhale flow.
Feeling the ease and the flow of your breath.
Breathing through the belly,
Side body,
Upper chest,
And just as easily letting it flow out.
Ease and flow.
Feeling the ease of the breath as it flows through your nostrils,
Into the abdomen,
Through the side body,
To the upper chest.
Feeling that breath as it slowly flows out and just beginning to ease and even out the inhale and the exhale.
Working with your four count inhale and that four count exhale.
But there's no pushing against with the breath.
You're staying easy.
You're staying in your own flow,
Feeling the rhythm of your body,
The rhythm of your breath.
We all have our own rhythms in our own flow,
But sometimes we have to slow down enough just to connect with it.
Using the breath to slow the mind,
Just feeling the ease of the breath.
Ease and flow.
Inhaling ease,
Exhale flow.
And I want you to see if there's any tension you can let go of in your body as the breath softens and deepens.
Relaxing the jaw,
Relaxing the shoulders,
Letting the arms,
The hands become heavy as they perhaps rest in your lap.
Letting the sit bones sink down.
Let ease in the body,
The ease of the breath,
The ease in the mind.
Ease and flow.
There's so much ease and flow with me.
Breathing through the belly,
Side body,
Upper chest,
Just as easily letting it flow out.
Just appreciating the breath.
Such a powerful tool that we all have access to.
It's just a breath away.
Ease is just a breath away.
When I slow the breath,
I slow the mind.
When I slow the mind,
It's much easier to find that state of ease and flow.
I just want you to return to a normal breath,
Taking this moment to check back in with the body.
Noticing how the body feels now than perhaps when you first started.
Appreciating the ease and the flow that can come from the breath as we breathe into ease.
And as you move through your day,
You find those moments when perhaps you need to find a little more ease or a little more space.
Just remember the breath.
Even just taking a moment to connect with the breath can help you to breathe into ease and to slow the mind.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
