Deep Breathing And Meditation On Breathing In Light

We start with a deep diaphragmatic breathing exercise here to drop ourselves into the Parasympathetic Nervous System. We then move into a Concentration Meditation on the Breath.

We finish with a Visualisation of Breathing love and light into our body before finishing up with an Open Awareness Meditation.

Transcript

So whenever we're ready here, We can all just settle ourselves in to our comfortable seated position. We're trying to make sure that we're stacking our hips and our shoulders and our head all in a straight line. So you can imagine as if a string is being pulled from your tailbone all the way up your spine to straighten yourself out. And we can roll our shoulders up and back here just to open up the chest. And once we're all here, We can just let our eyes grow heavy and just naturally come to a close. So if we like here, We can put our left hand onto our belly and our right hand onto our heart center or onto our chest. And the breathing we're going to be doing today is going to be an inhale through the nose and we're going to go belly, Belly, Chest, Chest, Chest. So count to two into your belly, Really feeling your belly expand, And then count to three in your chest. And then the exhale is going to be through the mouth and not a forceful exhale. And there's no need to count, You just kind of let it out. No, No exertion. So we're just focusing on breathing down deeply into our diaphragms. So with your left hand on your stomach and your right hand on your chest here, We inhale through the nose, Belly, Belly, Chest, Chest, Chest, And just release. Just feel a natural release all the way down to the bottom of your chest. Just feel a natural release all the way down to the bottom of the exhale. And then again, We inhale, Belly, Belly, Chest, Chest, Chest, And release through the mouth. Again, We inhale, Belly, Belly, Chest, Chest, Chest, And release. And now you can continue this at your own rhythm for another three or four minutes. Just try to keep the count in your head that you're breathing belly, Belly, Chest, Chest, Chest, And then just release the air at the top through your mouth. And as we're doing this, Try to really feel into your belly and your diaphragm expanding outwards before you feel the breath move up into your chest. So today we're simplifying this down into just two sections in the belly and in the chest. But there can also be a third and a fourth section if it helps you to visualize too. You can breathe into your belly first and then your ribs and then your chest to fill up your full chest cavity. And try to just become nice and curious with this. So notice how it feels for your lungs to fully expand and fill up with oxygen. And as you inhale deeply, Imagine that oxygen just spreading out throughout your body. Getting to every cell in your body to give us the energy we need to live. If it feels good, You can also introduce a pause at the top of the breath. So to hold for maybe three or four seconds before you release. And try to just feel in those few seconds how the oxygen just goes from your chest and out into the rest of your body. And we're going to keep going just for another minute here. So try to really enjoy every deep breath here. And appreciate the time that you're giving to yourself to breathe deeply and to acknowledge your body. Now take one final big breath and let this be the biggest breath you've taken all day. And let this be the biggest breath you've taken all day. Try to imagine your lungs filling right from the bottom, From the diaphragm, All the way to the top of the chest. And then if you like, Hold it for a few seconds at the top and release. Once you've released that breath, You can just let your breathing return to normal. And now we can also release the exhale through the mouth and just let our breathing be in and out through the nose. So once we're all here, Just again take a moment to check in with the state of your mind after having done this deep diaphragmatic breathing. And compare that with how you felt 10 or 15 minutes ago. Before you started this class. And just allow yourself to settle fully in to this moment. And generate a trust that there is absolutely nothing that you have to do right now. Except be here, Fully present. So just release all thoughts of the past or of the future, Of what you're going to do later. And just drop fully in to the present moment. Anything that's on your mind can wait until after the practice. And take a moment to just set a positive motivation for your practice. So you can dedicate your practice to somebody or to something you're working towards or some goal you have. And once you've set this positive motivation for your practice, We're just going to feel fully in to our posture here. So feel your sit bones rooted in to the floor or to the chair below you. Feel your hands resting in your lap or on your knees. Feel your spine is completely straight and self-supported. Let your chin just tuck slightly to straighten out your spine, Your cervical spine and your neck. Feel your spine is completely straight and self-supported. Let your chin just tuck slightly to straighten out your spine, Your cervical spine and your neck. Let your jaw be loose and relaxed. Relax the tongue inside your mouth. Relax all the muscles of your face. And relax all of those tiny little muscles around your eyes. And relax your eyes themselves from the inside to the out. Relax your forehead. And relax all the muscles at the top and back of your head. And now just take a minute to scan down from the top of your head all the way through your body to the bottom of your feet. And try to notice if there's any last pockets of tension that you're still holding on to. And if you find anywhere you're still holding on to, Just breathe into that area and feel it release. And once we've scanned down through our body, We can just allow our mind to focus in on the area of our abdomen. So just notice your breath. Notice how your stomach rises with the inhale and falls with the exhale. And we're not trying to manipulate our breath or changes in any way here. Just letting it come in and out naturally. And just letting it flow. So there's nothing you need to do here at all except for focus on your breath as it comes in and out of your abdomen. So try to just keep your attention fully on the sensations of the breath in your stomach. And if you find that your mind drifts at all, Just guide it back to the present moment and the sensations in your body like you would guide a small child by the hand. So imagine that with every inhale, You center yourself and you clear your mind. And then with every exhale, You release any thoughts that you may have in your mind and any tension that you feel in your body. So just fully enjoy and appreciate your own presence with your breath in this moment. And as you inhale, Just imagine yourself breathing in peace and love and joy. And imagine breathing these things in like a white light that you breathe in through all of the pores of your skin in towards your heart center, Where it all accumulates into a bright white light. So for a few cycles of breath here, Try to just breathe in and out. Try to feel yourself breathing in this white light through all the pores of your skin into your heart center. And feel the feeling of peace and love and joy emanating throughout your whole body as the white light spread and grows from your heart center. And as you exhale, Try to imagine that you're breathing out all of your stress and anxiety and negative emotions and see that coming as a grayish light from your heart center that you breathe out through all the pores of your skin. So try to imagine yourself breathing in this pure white light through your skin and into your heart center and breathing out this gray light from your heart center out through the pores of your skin. And feel that with every breath you purify yourself more and more from these negative emotions and come into the feeling of love more with each breath. And let this white light completely drown out the gray as we become love. And remember that we don't feel love, We are love. And just put all of your attention onto your inhale for a few breaths. Try to notice how it feels in your body as you breathe in this beautiful white light. And now just shift your attention to the exhale. And notice how the exhale feels as you purify yourself with every breath getting rid of all these negative emotions and gray energy. And now again just feel fully in to the full cycle of the breath. From the moment you inhale, Start all the way through to the end of the exhale. And notice any micro changes that happen in your body and in your mind throughout the process. Just become very curious about the effect that your breathing has on your body. And also notice how every breath is unique. No two are the same. And with each breath we're touching life itself. And now from here we can just release the focus on the breath and just let our minds rest in open awareness. So again just check in with the state of your mind compared to before the practice, Compared to after just the breathing, And now after both the breathing and the meditation. And show gratitude to yourself for having showed up for yourself this evening. And for having given yourself this time to practice and to breathe. So try to just stay aware of what comes up for you here in this state of open awareness. And remembering one of the principles of meditation is non-judgment. So not judging anything that comes up, Just taking a mental note and letting it go. So I will leave you here to rest in this state of noticing for as long as feels good for you. But I am going to sign off here. And thank you all so much for joining and I will hopefully see you next week.