Good morning and welcome to your morning breathwork practice.
Now this practice will be best performed in a seated position so I encourage you to come into a comfortable seat now.
Before we begin I'll just preface it by saying this breathing practice will involve Ujjayi Pranayama as well as Skull Shining Kapalabhati breathing.
Now if you're new to Kapalabhati breath this is a dynamic quite a strong breathing technique.
It's a strong exhale through the nose and at the same time you'll be drawing your navel through to your spine so your lower abdominal area creates almost like a pump.
Now you can make this as dynamic or as mellow as you need so if you're someone that responds well to this type of breathing you can make this quite brisk and quite fast paced.
If you're new or if you are someone that tends to err on the side of a sympathetic response within the nervous system you can keep this quite moderate more like a moderate pace.
So let's get started.
When you're ready please close down your eyes.
Feeling for your awareness gently moving inwards and downwards landing in your body.
It might take a moment to notice how you're feeling and how you're doing this morning.
Feeling for your awareness moving to your breath and as soon as you are comfortable to do so please connect to your Ujjayi breath.
And as a way of warming up the respiratory channels and to set the nervous system we'll come into a sequence of resonant breathing.
So let's come into an inhale for four seconds and an exhale for six seconds using your Ujjayi pranayama.
You can start to get a sense that your inhale is becoming a little longer and a little wider.
So filling the navel,
The ribs,
The heart,
The side body,
The back body and your out breath is this emptying of the lungs completely.
Inhaling for four seconds and exhaling for six seconds.
Noticing how it feels to stretch your lungs just as you would stretch your body in the morning.
Very shortly we'll be transitioning to our Kapalabhati breathing and we'll break these rounds up with an inhale or inner retention.
As I cue you into the retention,
Remember that this is your breath and you can release the pause at any time that you need to.
Remember also the rate and the pace of your Kapalabhati breath is completely up to you,
Keeping it dynamic or moderate,
Whatever suits you best.
So just go ahead and release your Ujjayi breath now.
Take a deep and full Ujjayi inhalation,
Filling navel,
Ribs,
Heart and a slow and steady exhalation,
Emptying your lungs completely.
Take half an inhale and commence first round of skull shining breath,
Kapalabhati breath.
Strong out breath through your nose and at the same time drawing your navel through to your spine.
Relax your shoulders and find a rhythm and a pace that works for you.
We're taking quite short rounds here.
Let's finish it out completely.
Empty your lungs.
Take a deep and full steady inhale,
Filling your navel,
Your ribs,
Your heart and pausing at the very,
Very top of your inhale.
Relaxing your shoulders.
You can gently lower your chin and holding your awareness within your heart space.
Transitioning into our second round,
Exhale completely.
Take half an inhale and commence second round of skull shining breath,
Dropping into a rhythm and a pace.
Remember you can slow it down as much as you need and remember the dynamic action here is isolated to that abdominal area so try not to get the shoulders involved or the jaw or the brow.
Let everything else remain soft.
The spine long and strong but everything else soft and it's just this pump of the abdominal cavity that's taking place and you can finish it out completely.
Take a deep and full inhalation.
Gently diffuse your breath all the way up,
Filling your navel,
Your ribs,
Your heart and pausing at the very top of your inhale.
Relax your shoulders.
Gentle drop of the chin.
Awareness in your heart space.
Exhale to empty completely.
Transitioning into our third round.
Take half an inhale and commence and finding a little more confidence here on this third round.
Maybe finding a cadence that's working really well for you.
Dropping into your pattern.
Okay finish it out.
Take a deep and full inhalation.
Navel,
Ribs,
Heart,
Back body,
Side body.
Pause at the very very top of your inhalation.
Relaxing your shoulders.
Gentle tuck of the chin.
Awareness in your heart space.
Exhale empty your lungs completely.
Moving into our final round.
This round will be a little bit longer so when you're ready please take half an inhale and commence.
Final round of Kapalabhati skull shining breath.
You might be feeling quite a strong sensation and activation through that lower abdominal area.
That's okay.
Keep working this breath massaging the internal digestive organs.
Try not to create tension anywhere else within your body.
We want to continue to encourage the flow of prana,
Of energy.
Nearly there.
Okay let's finish it out.
Well done.
Last inner retention.
Take a deep and full expansive inhale.
Feel for the energy moving upwards.
Expanding your body outwards.
And pause at the very very top of your inhale.
Exhale empty your lungs.
Transitioning into resonant breathing pattern.
Inhaling for five seconds and exhaling for seven seconds.
Connecting back to your Ujjayi breath now.
Inhaling for five seconds and exhaling for seven seconds.
Noticing the smooth cadence of your breath.
Noticing any extra space,
Any shifts,
Any changes.
Making this really beautiful expansive inhale.
Five seconds and extending your out-breath for seven seconds.
Just allowing your nervous system to come back to a place of balance.
You might be aware of a strong sense of energy moving through your body.
Maybe a vibration or pulsating or simply a noise.
Eventually letting the Ujjayi breath drift away,
The pattern drift away.
Allowing your breath to return to something quite effortless and natural.
And we'll finish with a poem by Susan Coolidge.
It's called New Every Morning.
Every day is a fresh beginning.
Listen my soul to the glad refrain and spite of old sorrows and older sinning.
Troubles forecasted and possible pain.
Take heart with the day and begin again.
When you are ready you can slowly gently flicker your eyes open.
Coming back into your space and ready for your day.
