Hi,
This is Bill.
Today I'm gonna go over a method for working with your breath.
Breathing is one of the things that we can really use in our practice as a gateway to opening to all that we are,
To all that is.
And yet it's so much a part of our everyday experience that we have to go back and reown it,
Reinvestigate it,
Become aware of our breathing all over again.
As if for the first time.
So that's what we're going to begin doing today.
And then this breathing awareness can take you deep,
Deep,
Deep into your own self,
Into the heart of practice,
Into the heart of all life.
So though it's fundamental,
It is an inexhaustible treasure trove and limitless path to awareness and awakening.
I like to encourage people to breathe into their low abdomen,
Into the dan tian point an inch or so below the navel.
There are several reasons to make this suggestion.
The dan tian is an energetic center point of the body,
Of the body mind system.
It's a great place that can safely,
Easily store a lot of energy.
It's a place of great presence,
Centeredness,
And groundedness.
And so it helps us to collect and store and purify our energy and have it here down low in the body at our center of gravity and away from the mind or the head where that energy,
That same good energy could have a destabilizing or anxiety producing or ungroundedness effect on us.
When all that energy,
When so much energy goes up into the head,
We might find that we're unable to sleep,
Unable to concentrate,
Unable to really bring a grounded presence to the moment.
And so I suggest that we use a meditation that really brings the energy down to the center point.
And when it's needed to go back up to the head,
When you're planning,
Thinking,
Doing problems,
Reading,
Then the energy will go back up there of its own accord in the right analog.
So how to do this slow abdominal dan tian breathing practice.
It's really very easy.
Let's just start by laying down on the carpet,
On the ground in a comfortable position on your back is ideal.
You could do it a little bit sitting up as well,
Especially if you're seated in a chair where your feet could be flat on the floor.
And just begin by taking a couple of deep inhalations and exhaling,
Relaxing,
Just bringing your body here,
Bringing your mind here,
Letting your whole self settle in the posture,
Whether you're seated in a chair or lying on the floor.
You know,
The way we breathe changes pretty radically with our emotional physical state.
In a time of anxiety or panic,
Most people will seem to be breathing with the upper rib cage.
You know,
They'll see the upper rib cage expanding in and out,
Possibly rapidly.
You might just try that right now to get a sense of what that feels like and for you to breathe from the top of your rib cage.
Just let's try that just for a second.
Kind of a shallow,
Rapid breath seems possible from up there and doing it right now,
I almost feel like I'm getting more anxious.
And then we could try breathing from the center of the rib cage,
From the lower rib cage,
Breathing from the diaphragm at the base of the rib cage.
Each of these has its own quality,
Its own purpose.
So sometimes you might do a meditation where you breathe into the heart chakra,
Breathe into the heart center,
Right in the center of the chest,
Feeling the entire chest area,
The entire chest cavity,
The entire upper torso expanding gently on the inhale and relaxing and perhaps energetically expanding out awareness of the heart expanding out on the release on the exhale.
So there are many,
Many things to explore,
Many,
Many things that we could,
Ways we could use the breath to work with our concentration and our awareness.
But today I said we're going to look at breathing into the low belly,
So let's get to that.
So if you just find your navel with your finger and measure a place one or two finger widths below that,
We'll take that to be your dan tien,
Your low belly spot.
And you might need to loosen the belt or something,
Or if your clothing is particularly tight over that area,
You might want to loosen it at this point.
And then just try breathing in to the low belly.
Now,
What does that really mean?
Well,
We're going to imagine that you're breathing the air into your lungs as if you could breathe it in through this low belly point below the navel.
And so putting your mind's eye,
Putting your concentration there below the navel,
Just an inch below,
Maybe an inch back from the surface of the skin,
Two inches back,
And breathing in to this point.
Now,
What this looks like physically with your body is that if you're lying on your back,
The low belly will actually expand first before the lungs or chest area.
Of course,
The lungs are still expanding,
But the expansion is showing up in the low belly so that if I were to look at you from the side,
I'd see the low belly rise,
And then a little wave of rising would go up from the low belly up into the chest.
So the low belly rises,
And then next the upper belly,
And then the low chest,
And then the mid chest rises.
And it's especially easy to feel and see this if you somewhat exaggerate your inhalation.
So take a bigger inhale than normal,
Maybe put your palm,
Rest your palm on your dantien spot,
And see if you can feel that rising of the low belly and then culminating in a little wave that travels up the torso until the chest itself is rising,
And then releasing,
Letting go the breath,
Gently releasing the breath so that it can exhale,
Giving the breath back to the universe,
Being totally empty for a moment,
No breath in,
And then taking the next breath in.
Taking the breath in,
Letting the low belly expand,
The upper belly,
The chest,
And then giving the breath back,
Releasing the breath back to gently flow back out,
Like the tide flowing out of the bay,
Like life leaving this limited form and flowing back out to the unlimited potential from which all life comes.
So that's a little bit.
It can be,
You can just play with that,
Lying on your back,
And then when you move to a seated posture,
Whether cross-legged or with your feet planted on the floor,
You can just see what it's like to do this breath in that posture as well.
It's a little harder to have the awareness of the belly rising first when you're seated,
But in time,
You'll get the hang of it and it'll become quite natural,
And any time you find yourself anxious or agitated or maybe even panicking,
You can just take a moment,
Relax,
Let go into the moment,
And practice a deep,
Relaxed breath from the dantian,
From the low belly,
Just breathing in,
Feeling the expansion,
And then relaxing,
Releasing the breath back out,
And all your tension with it,
And as the exhalation releases,
Letting your subtle energy body expand out to infinity and being just for a moment,
That empty fullness that you are,
That empty fullness that's there,
Very tangible,
Very apparent at the end of the exhalation and that little pause before the next inhale comes.
So I hope this has been useful to you,
And if you have any questions,
By all means,
Let me know.
This is the form of breathing that I recommend in all beginning meditation practices.
Beginning meditation could go for the first five years,
Because as I said,
It's a simple technique,
But it can take you so far,
So deep into your own exploration.
May it be a rich and rewarding one for you.
Namaste.
