So as you allow your body to settle,
Allow your eyes to be softly closed,
Let your senses be wide open.
Notice sounds.
Practice observing,
Witnessing sounds without judging or labeling the sounds,
Just simply noticing.
Feel the touch points of your body on the floor.
What part of your body is touching the floor?
Does one part of your body feel heavy,
Light?
Notice the touch of clothing on your skin.
Though your eyes are closed,
Let your inner gaze be soft and still,
With more of a downward inner gaze,
As if you can look inside your chest.
Sense the air moving through your nose.
Notice how the air is cooler on the in-breath and warmer on the out-breath.
Notice the inside of your mouth,
Your inner cheeks,
Upper palate,
Lower palate,
Your tongue,
Gums,
Teeth.
Notice any sensations in your jaw.
Now place your hands on your abdomen,
One hand below your navel and the other hand above your navel.
Soften your belly.
As you breathe in,
Allow your belly to rise.
And as you're exhaling,
Allow your belly to fall back down.
So just simply notice the gentle rising and falling of your abdomen.
A lot of us are chest-breathers,
So if that's you,
This is challenging.
So be patient.
It gets easier.
See if you can keep your breathing smooth and even.
Let the inhale effortlessly and naturally move into the exhalation.
Continue with this breathing.
This is called diaphragmatic breathing,
And it's very calming and soothing to your nervous system.
The diaphragm is the primary muscle for respiration and is located just below the lungs and heart.
It's a thin dome-shaped muscle which separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity.
As you breathe in,
The diaphragm contracts,
And from the dome shape,
It flattens to make room for the lungs to expand.
This contraction puts pressure on the abdominal organs,
And that's the reason why your belly expands.
As you exhale,
The diaphragm relaxes back up and the belly falls back down.
This kind of breathing is one of the easiest ways to activate our parasympathetic nervous system,
Our rest,
Digest,
And repair part of our nervous system.
It's simple and yet very effective.
If you like,
You can relax your arms back onto the floor,
Palms facing the ceiling.
Continue breathing in and out through your nose.
Let's do a simple pranayama breath exercise.
Again,
Prana means breath,
Life force.
Pranayama means to regulate,
To control,
To extend.
Please start at the number 20.
On your next exhalation,
Silently say 19.
Next exhalation,
Silently say 18.
And so on until you are at zero.
If you suddenly lose track,
Just simply come back to 20.
Losing track doesn't mean that you're doing something wrong,
But that you for a moment got distracted and then noticeably became aware of that.
Let your face be soft.
Keep the breathing smooth and even.
And allow your belly to rise and fall.
And so on until you are at zero.
And so on until you are at zero.
And so on until you are at zero.
And so on until you are at zero.
And so on until you are at zero.
As you finish the breathing exercise,
Notice how you feel.
Bring your attention back to your body.
Sense your hands,
The palms of your hands.
Notice again the energy,
The aliveness in the palms of your hands.
Raise the palms of your hands on your belly.
Notice your belly rising and falling.
Sense the touch points of your hands on your belly.
Slowly and gradually bring your attention back into the room.
