Basic Breathwork Practice

This is a Basic Breathwork Practice; Day one of seven days.

Includes gentle stretching beforehand to create space in between the intercostals /side ribs.

We also learn:
1. to activate the parasympathetic nervous system by increasing the exhalation.
2. how the breath moves the body
3. a heating and cooling breath practice
4. how to meditate on courage and compassion

Music Backed by Christopher Lloyd Clarke, Composer and Director of Enlightened Audio.

Transcript

Welcome,

Welcome,

Welcome.

Day one of the Basics Breathwork Program.

My name is Ariana Pina and I will be guiding you through today's practice.

Before every single practice over the course of this program,

We will stretch gently.

This is going to allow for the breath to move deeper into the body,

Opening up through the rib cage and the intercostal muscles.

So find a comfortable seat if you'd like to have your hips raised so that the knees are below the hips.

You can place a pillow or a blanket underneath your seat.

Remembering that even if you are in a chair practicing,

As long as the spine is straight,

You're good to go.

And so there's gentle stretching of the intercostal muscles in the side body between the side ribs.

And we do this because if these muscles are tight,

The capacity of the lungs is restricted.

So rather than trying to force big deep breaths,

We simply and gently create space for the lungs to expand outward,

Therefore increasing the capacity to hold oxygen.

So for the next minute or so,

Give yourself some time and some space to open up through the rib cage,

Perhaps with some side bending,

Some cat cows.

Take your time with this.

There's no rush.

You really want to open up through the side body.

And as I said,

We'll be doing this every practice.

And I will guide you and give you space within each practice so that you have an opportunity to stretch.

All right.

Find your seat.

Come still.

To begin with,

We're going to learn a practice called the ha or sh breath.

In learning the ha or sh breath,

We learn to increase the exhalation and the inhalation will occur naturally.

This is a very powerful tool to remember,

Especially when you're feeling overwhelmed or anxious,

As often we try to breathe in when we're feeling tense and this can already,

Well,

This can tighten an already tense part of the body,

The throat,

Which then can contribute to the stress response.

So we empty as best we know how by audibly sounding the breath out.

And then naturally what happens at the end of that breath is you inhale because there's nothing left to push out and the body will naturally inhale.

So I say the ha or the sh breath because you can choose which one serves you best.

The ha is a sound much like this.

Some practitioners call that the sighing out breath as well.

And the sh breath sounds like this.

That's it.

That's simple.

So throughout the time that we practice in this program together,

You can interchange between the ha or the sh breath.

You don't have to pick one and stick with it.

I want to encourage you to try both,

See what works for you.

And also know that on different days you may require different breath sounds and that is totally fine and perfectly okay.

So go ahead now and practice the ha and the sh breath.

There's no timing to these breaths.

This is simply allowing you to practice breathing out for longer periods of time.

So in that,

Breathe in for however many counts,

But try and breathe out for a longer period of time than the breath in.

So if you've breathed in for two or three counts,

Then the breath out becomes four or five counts.

Or if you breathe in for four or five counts,

Then the breath out becomes a six to eight count exhalation.

Do that now.

Notice how the breath in happens naturally.

Okay,

Now for the next practice,

We're going to continue with the ha or sh breath,

But let's notice what happens in the body as we're breathing.

So I'd like for you to bring your hands to your side ribs.

So whether you place your left hand on your left rib and your right hand on your right rib cage,

Or you cross your arms over so that the right hand is gently placed across the left rib cage with the fingers wrapping around towards the back body,

And then the left hand gently placed on the right rib cage,

The left fingertips wrapped around the right side body.

And you're not holding tightly,

You're just simply placing your hands along the ribs and breathing the inhale and the exhale.

Seeing how the arms and the hands move outwards on an inhalation and how they move inwards on an exhalation.

And if you wish,

You can practice the ha and sh breath here as well.

Or if you'd prefer to just breathe naturally,

That's fine too.

The intention of this exercise is to notice how the body moves when it's being breathed,

How the rib cage naturally expands and contracts as you breathe.

Maybe you find that the rib cage doesn't move very much,

But the chest moves.

And this is a really good observation as well.

This tells you that you are shallow breathing to a certain point where you're breathing in through the top of the lungs and not necessarily in through to the base of the lungs.

And throughout this program,

What we'll be doing is learning how to breathe into the full capacity of the lungs.

We will divide the lungs into thirds and we will breathe into the base of the lungs so as to move the rib cage out and in,

Making full use of our lungs.

You can take your hands off the rib cage now and continue to breathe however you were breathing before,

Whether it's the ha or the sh breath,

Or just basic inhalations and exhalations.

From now on,

We won't breathe through the mouth unless of course I instruct that.

We'll close the mouth and breathe in and out only through the nose.

So of course the ha and the sh breath require exhalation through the mouth.

And every other breath practice that we do will be in and out through the nose.

The next practice we will do is called Viloma II.

This is a practice where we break the inhalation into three parts with three short pauses allowing the exhalation to be natural.

During this three part inhalation,

We allow the breath to fill in any part of the body and because the inhalation generally relates to heating in the body,

We can expect that this exercise,

This practice will be energising.

So we'll go through four rounds of this and I will guide you through each and every step.

So breathe out completely through the nose and then breathe in,

Pause,

Breathe in again,

Pause,

Breathe in a final time,

Pause,

And then let the breath go.

So what's important about this breath is that on the pause you don't breathe out and the breath in is a continuation of one breath cycle.

So it's an interrupted breath.

So you're not breathing in and out,

In and out,

In and out.

It's breathing in and holding the breath,

Breathing in again holding the breath,

And breathing in again holding the breath.

All right,

We'll do this practice four times.

Breathing out completely,

Breathing in and pause,

Breathing in,

Pause,

Breathing in,

Pause and let that breath go.

Second round,

Breathing in,

Pause,

Breathing in,

Pause,

Breathing in,

Pause,

Let that breath go.

Third round,

In,

Hold the breath,

In,

Hold,

In,

Hold,

Let that breath go.

The fourth round on your own in your own timing.

And release that breath practice,

Breathing in and out through the nose naturally.

The second part of Viloma is called Viloma 1.

Now this is breaking the exhalation into three parts with the three short pauses on the exhale allowing the inhalation to be natural.

Again,

We allow the inhalation and the exhalation to fill the parts of the body.

Now the exhalation generally relates to cooling,

So this practice is a cooling practice.

So let's try that once together just to practice Viloma 1.

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Pause,

Out,

Pause,

Empty out completely,

Pause and then breathe in naturally.

We're going to try that four rounds.

Together,

Breathing in and out,

Pause,

Out,

Pause,

Out again,

Emptying out completely,

Pause,

Allow the inhalation to occur naturally.

Round two,

Breathing out,

Pause,

Out,

Pause,

Out,

Pause,

The inhalation occurs naturally,

Third round,

Breathing in and out,

Pause,

Out,

Pause,

Out,

Pause and inhale.

Do the fourth round on your own,

Noticing how long your pauses are when not instructed.

We will do Viloma 1 and 2 together.

So we'll inhale with three pauses,

We'll exhale with three pauses and we will do this a total of four times.

Whenever you're ready,

A preparatory breath in and out through the nose.

Breathing in,

Pause,

Second,

Pause,

Third,

Pause,

Breathe out,

Pause,

Out,

Pause,

Out,

Pause,

Second round in,

Pause,

In,

Pause,

In,

Pause.

Breathing out,

Hold,

Out,

Hold,

Breathing out completely,

Hold.

Third round,

Breathing in,

One third,

Hold,

Breathing in the second third,

Hold,

Third,

Third in,

Breathing to the top of the breath,

Hold,

Breathing out a third,

Hold,

Second third,

Hold,

Third,

Third,

Breathing out completely,

Hold.

And for the final round,

Going at your own pace,

Holding for as long as you feel comfortable,

Holding for as long as you feel comfortable,

Holding for as long as you feel comfortable,

Letting that breath practice go.

And coming now into a meditation,

Prepare for a seat of approximately eight minutes.

You may wish to bring one hand onto your heart space,

One hand onto your belly,

The hand on your heart,

Infusing your body with courage and compassion.

Breathing in and out through the nose as if you are breathing in and out through the heart center.

Breathing in courage and breathing out compassion.

Breathing in courage,

Breathing out compassion.

Breathing in courage and out compassion.

And as you're breathing in courage,

Align with the divine feminine to lead you courageously through this realm.

Lead you courageously through this realm.

Breathing in courage,

Out compassion.

Breathing in courage,

Out compassion.

In with the divine feminine,

Leading us courageously and out compassion,

Inclusivity,

Generosity,

Joy and spreading that out into the space around you as you breathe out.

Compassion creates cohesion within our psyches and our societies.

It's a skill,

One that needs to be practiced.

And in this practice,

We cultivate it.

Working with the heart mind in this meditation,

Cultivating this virtue of compassion.

In with courage,

Out compassion.

Breathing in courage,

Out compassion.

Breathing in courage,

Out compassion.

If you need to drop your hands to your lap,

Do so.

Relax any forcing of the breath.

You're simply following the breath,

Guiding it with courage and compassion.

And this concludes our practice for today.

If you'd like to stay in this meditation,

Please do so.

If you are wrapping it up,

Then bring your hands into prayer position at the heart center.

This is known as Anjali Mudra.

Bow your head down so that the chin tucks in.

This is a gesture of surrender,

In particular of the mind to the heart.

You can set an intention for the remainder of your day.

Perhaps drawing on the virtues you've cultivated in this practice.

Courage and compassion.

And sprinkling those virtues out in the world as you go about your day.

May you be well.

Om shanti shanti shanti.

Peace,

Peace,

Peace.

Om shanti shanti shanti.

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Reviews

Absolutely wonderful ❤️