Sensing The Lungs | Awareness Through Movement

Bring your awareness to the expansion of your lungs. Based on Moshe's Feldenkrais lesson called "Gluing the Lungs" this awareness exploration will help you not only connect with your breath but also release stress and quiet the nervous system.

Transcript

Let's begin by lying down.

And you can have your knees bent or your legs straight if your lower back allows for it.

Whatever is comfortable for you.

It's very important to feel comfortable because if there are annoying sensations in your body you will not be paying attention to your lungs,

You will be paying attention to the annoying sensations.

So really make yourself comfortable.

For some people a padding,

A rolled blanket or something under their knees can be helpful.

Something under your head.

So really take a few moments to make yourself comfortable.

And begin to notice your breath.

And of course we say observe your breath without changing which is very very difficult.

I don't know if it's even possible.

It's what in physics is called the observer effect.

The act of observing changes what is happening.

But can you keep your breath quiet and soft.

And really don't focus on taking a big inhale or making noise.

Just listen in to that quiet breathing.

And as you do can you concentrate now on the temperature of the air and can you follow the path of the air from the edge of your nose,

Your nostrils up your nose to the back of your mouth down your neck.

And you can feel that the incoming air is slightly cooler.

Can you follow this sensation in through the nose to the back of your neck down your chest.

How far down is the air cool.

And pay attention only to your inhales.

So every time a new inhale begins you follow it from the edge of your nostrils up your nose the back of your neck maybe the palate of your mouth.

And now that you know where you feel the air coming in can you pay attention to the places that are darker to the places around your nose and your mouth and your neck where you don't feel the coolness of the air as much.

Can you breathe without effort Can you follow the coolness of the air coming in through your head down your neck into your chest And as you continue to notice only your inhales can you pay attention now to the top right lobe.

So your lungs are a bit different the left lung has only two lobes to make space for the heart but your right lung has three lobes the top the middle one and the bottom one.

So now can you bring your attention to your top lobe of the right lung.

And if you remember the image we saw it's it's really up it can be found underneath your clavicle and behind your shoulder and under your armpit.

So now as you inhale can you sense the expansion of the top right lobe and with your left arm can you touch now your clavicle your right clavicle and really clarify the movement keeping your attention only in every inhale feeling how your right clavicle gently pushes against your left palm as the top right lobe expands and then for a few inhales could you bring your left hand under your right armpit and find those top ribs under your armpit feel for them gently and then you keep your hands on the ribs under your armpit and for a few breaths you sense the expansion of the top right lobe of your lung we usually think of our breath as a movement forward in the chest in the forward of ourselves but our breath is an expansion in 360 degrees wherever there are ribs up there in the chest beneath them there is a lung gently pushing outwards with every inhale and as you breathe now as you inhale and you feel clearly now the top of your right lobe expanding maybe you can feel the right shoulder blade getting a bit heavier and pressing gently into the ground as you inhale as your body expands and just keep your attention there in this space under your clavicle behind your shoulder in front of your shoulder blade behind your armpit and really sense the expansion of the top lobe with every inhale and you can let your left hand rest and for a few moments just sense the movement from within without the help of your left hand now can you feel it becoming clearer bigger even though your breath is still soft and quiet and again bring your attention to the path of air from the tip of your nose follow the coolness of air into the top of the right lung maybe the coolness of air is expanding a bit too and then bring your attention to the bottom right where your floating ribs are in the bottom of your rib cage of your chest and you feel the breath there without making it bigger keeping your neck soft so there's no hissing sound as you inhale or exhale the breath is soft and quiet and effortless and just your attention is dropping now finding out what happens in your lower ribs as you breathe and again you could sense with your left hand the front of your ribs or the right side of your ribs and keep your awareness only in the inhales so you're paying attention only to the expansion now the expansion of the lower the bottom lobe of your right lung and you feel the body expanding upwards towards the ceiling and sideways and can you feel the lower part of your back of your ribs expanding into the floor maybe maybe with every small gentle quiet inhale you can feel a difference in weight in the lower part of your torso now in your lower ribs and we will take a rest now and coming from a very active background of dancing and yoga I never it took me years to understand what resting was about in Feldenkrais because it's not about muscular effort but you really need a break for your attention so take a breath and just allow your attention to roam free for for just a few moments for just a few breaths just really let it go unfocused and then with your next inhale bring your attention back to your body and now could you find the smallest of movement and you gently turn now your head you roll your head on the ground very very small movement and as you roll your head your nose only turns just a few millimeters to the side and as you roll your head feel the weight in your shoulder blades and in your ribs and if your body has quieted down enough now you will start to sense the movement of your head as a weight shift between your shoulder blades and as a shift in your shifting of weight between the right side of your torso and the left your right and your left ribs and maybe even down to your pelvis for some more experienced maybe even your heels now bring your head back to center again find that slow quiet breath trying to notice without changing can you feel now your middle lobe of the right lung so can you feel the expansion of the top lobe and of the bottom lobe and in between the middle lobe under your breast can you imagine the shape of the lung can you visualize it changing shape where do you feel the expansion clearer in the front of you the side or the back and is there another sensation now you could sense or maybe imagine that as you inhale the right lung is lengthening as you inhale your diaphragm drops down towards your abdomen and it allows your lung to lengthen and again let your attention go for a moment feel your right and your left side and then come from lying to sitting and from sitting to standing and as you stand now you could you feel your right and your left shoulder your right and left side of their chest can you still feel the expansion here of your right lung with every inhale you the lung expanding in every direction opening and lengthening and as you do pay attention to your breath and to the expansion of your inhale can you feel the right and the left side of your face if there is a difference in the way the right and the left arms hang could you take a few steps and as you walk continue to feel your breath and your left shoulder paying attention to the similarities and your right and your left side

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