Hi,
And welcome to the daily insight for today.
My name is Vidya Malabarj and today's meditation is going to focus on how we can use the simple act of breathing in the body as a way of beating stress.
And the reason this works so effectively is because almost inevitably when any of us get stressed,
We tend to hold the breath.
So say you've got a lot of anxious thoughts,
You're really worrying about something,
Your energy,
Your awareness is up in your head,
What you'll find is your breathing becomes shallow and restricted.
Maybe your belly and your jaw get tense and tight.
So a very simple way of beating stress in each moment is simply to allow the breathing to be natural,
Soft and wholesome in the body.
And what this means is essentially allowing the out breath to go all the way out.
And then the in breath takes care of itself.
So when we're holding the breath,
What we're doing is we're restricting the volume if you like of the out breath.
And we never allow the out breath to go all the way out.
There's a lovely little phrase,
A little slogan,
Which I sometimes teach,
Which is when in doubt,
Breathe out.
When in doubt,
Breathe out.
Let the breath flow all the way out.
And there's three areas in the body that are helpful to pay particular attention to.
One is the throat.
The other is the belly.
And the third one is the buttocks.
Very often we have constriction around the throat.
We have a tight belly and we've got tension in the buttocks.
So right now let's just see if we can let the throat be soft,
Maybe yawning for a few moments.
Really releasing tension around the jaw,
Softening the lips,
Making sure the teeth aren't clenched.
Let the air of the breath flow freely through this area at the back of the mouth.
And let's soften the belly.
Maybe even loosening your trousers a wee bit if they feel tight in any way,
Just loosening your waistband if you can.
Ah,
Let it all hang out,
Let the belly be soft.
And then let's let the buttocks be soft.
So we're resting down onto the chair that we're sitting upon.
And when we soften the buttocks,
That means that the sensations of breathing,
The movement of breathing can go right down inside the body all the way down into the pelvis.
And now let's also be aware of breathing in the back of the body.
Very often we don't really consider what's happening in the back of the body.
We can't see the back of the body,
So we kind of blank it out.
But the back of the body is very engaged with the act of breathing.
The ribs are as much in the back as the front,
The lungs are as much in the back as the front.
And there's long ligaments that attach to the diaphragm that go all the way down to the lower back.
So every time you breathe in and out,
The lower back is also being rocked and cradled by breathing.
Let's rest our awareness in the whole back of the body for a few moments.
Breathing first of all in the upper back.
Feeling the movement of the ribs in the back of the body.
Maybe getting a sense of the lungs in the back of the body.
Maybe even feeling the way the shoulder blades move a little bit apart from one another on the in-breath.
Subside on the out-breath.
Seeing if we can allow the volume of the upper back to expand with each in-breath and subside with each out-breath.
Let's come down to the middle back,
The area at the back of the waist just below the ribs.
What's happening here with each in-breath and each out-breath?
Always making sure that the out-breath has its full length,
Its full exhalation.
And then the in-breath quite naturally flows in again.
And the lower back.
Feeling the shape of the lower back,
The curve of the lower back,
The breadth of the lower back,
The length of the lower back.
How's breathing showing up in your lower back?
What can you feel directly in your lower back?
There's not much happening that's fine.
Just being aware of the possibility of the lower back being involved in breathing.
And checking that the buttocks are relaxed,
That you're giving the weight of the body up to gravity.
Again,
When we're stressed,
Anxious,
We tend to pull away from gravity.
And it can be very interesting to cultivate a new habit of always dropping downwards,
Always resting on the chair,
On the floor,
On the earth,
And allowing ourselves to be held for gravity.
And now being aware of the whole torso,
The whole volume of the torso,
The front,
The sides,
The back.
Expanding in all directions on the in-breath,
Subsiding on the out-breath.
And the whole body,
The whole body,
Resting,
Breathing,
In each moment.
Expanding on the in-breath,
Subsiding on the out-breath.
And as we bring this meditation to a close,
Let's see if we can take the awareness with us.
So we're stopping this formal practice,
But let's see if we can take this attitude,
This embodied breath awareness with us,
Into our activities,
Whatever we're doing next.
And at any time during the day where you find yourself stressed,
Anxious,
Heady perhaps,
Remembering when in doubt,
Breathe out,
Dropping down into the body,
Letting the out-breath flow all the way out,
Letting the in-breath take care of itself,
It will flow back in quite naturally.
And having breathing as your friend to beat stress moment by moment by moment.
And I hope you have a great day.
