Awaken Your Energy | Breath & Seated Movement

Awaken your energy and enliven the body through a seated practice that combines breath and gentle movement. In this guided session, Brenda Carey uses pranayama, upper body movements, and mindful awareness to stimulate the flow of life force energy while creating a sense of balance and clarity. This accessible seated practice helps you feel grounded, refreshed, and more deeply connected to your breath and inner vitality.
Music by Alan Frijns.

Transcript

Hello, My name is Brenda Cary with Sacred Path Healing, And we are going to do an invigorating breath body practice. So this is meant to really draw deeply in pranic energy, Or prana, Which means life force energy in the yogic term, To enliven and awaken all of the cells in your body with a deeper breath experience. And we're going to use some arm movements to help facilitate this movement of this internal pranic energy as well. So I'd like for you to start by placing your hands down on your thighs. This will help ground the lower body energy and rise up through the spine, Open the heart space, Roll the shoulders down and back. And what I'd like you to do is inhale deep into the nose, Open mouth exhale, And do that deeply two more times. Inhale, Nice big, Big breaths, Fill up the whole belly, And then big exhale out the mouth. And again, Inhale from the belly ribcage up into the chest, Big exhale out. So you should feel this whole wave of movement and breath throughout your whole torso. You could imagine as if you're like pulling up the energy or the breath from the soles of your feet all the way up. Let's do it one more time. Big inhale, And then a big open mouth exhale. Now we're going to do ujjayi breathing. So you're going to inhale through the nose as before. And as if you're going to open mouth exhale, I want you to seal the lips and exhale. So you'll feel this slight throat constriction. This is called ujjayi or victorious breath, And it should sound a bit like an ocean wave. So let's do that a few times, Inhaling through the nose and exhaling out the nose, But feeling that slight throat constriction as if you are exhaling out an open mouth. Good, Now we're going to do some arm movements to basically just help open up this whole ribcage area. So arms touch down by the side, Inhale, Sweep the arms up as you inhale. And then exhale, Flip the palms and create your own resistance as you exhale out the nose. Good, A couple more times, Inhale, Exhale, Again, Inhale, Exhale. Now this time we're going to inhale, And then exhale, Bring the left hand down and lean over to the left, And we're going to really fill up this right ribcage with breath. We're just using that inhale to expand each little rib bone, The space in between each rib bone. One more breath. And then inhale, Sweep the bottom arm up, And then exhale, Right hand comes down, Lean over to the right. And same thing, Really open up this left side of the ribcage by using your inhale to expand that side as you stretch over. Keep both sit bones rooted down into your mat or cushion, Whatever you're sitting on. Exhale, Inhale, Sweep the arms up. Exhale, Again, Flip the palms, Exhale, Create some pressure as you push that energy down. And again, Inhale, Sweeping the arms up. This time we're going to twist to the right, So opposite hand to knee, Look over the back shoulder. And I really want you to concentrate on that deep belly breathing. Down through the sit bones, One more deep breath. Exhale it out first. Inhale, Sweep through center, Lengthen first, And then over to the opposite side, Looking over your back shoulder, Two really deep belly breaths. Again, Inhale and exhaling out the nose, Ujjayi breathing, Feel the throat constriction, Inhale, Sweep back through center, Exhale, Flip the palms, Push the energy down. Now if you're sitting cross-legged, Just switch the cross of the legs, Because I feel like it's important, We tend to sit cross-legged in one direction. If you're not sitting cross-legged or you're kneeling, Then just stay as you are. All right, We're going to do similar breath work, Just a little bit quicker to move the pranic energy, Move the pace. Inhale, Arms sweep up, Exhale, Flip the palms down. Two more times, Inhale, Really use that energy. And again, Last time, Exhale. Good, Now this time, Inhale, Exhale, Twist to the right. Inhale back through center, Exhale, Twist left. Two more times each side, Inhale, Really lengthen, Exhale. Inhale, Sweep through center, Exhale, Twist. One more time each side, Inhale, Exhale. Final time, Exhale. This time, Inhale, Sweep through center, Flip the palms, Exhale, Press the energy down. Touch the fingertips down. Deep breath in, Deep breath out. Good, Now we've created some invigorating energy. Now we're going to balance that energy with alternate nostril breathing. So what I'd like for you to do is take your left hand, Flip it palm up, Connecting the index and the thumb. Take your right hand and take your two fingers, Index and middle, Place it on your third eye. And just kind of gently press in, Acknowledging your third eye, Which is the seat of your intuition. And we're going to alternate between closing off with the thumb for the right nostril, And the forefinger with the left nostril. I will guide you through. Again, This helps balance left and right hemispheres of the brain. Let's start with just an inhale and exhale out both nostrils. And then as you inhale, Close the right nostril with your thumb. Inhale through the left nostril. And then close off both nostrils. Release your thumb, Exhale out the right nostril. Inhale just through the right nostril. At the top of your inhale, Close both nostrils. Release the forefinger, Exhale out the left nostril. That's one round, We're going to do two more. Inhale through the left nostril. At the top, Close both nostrils, Pause just for a moment. Release the thumb, Exhale out the right nostril. Inhale through the right. At the top, Close both nostrils. Release the forefinger, Exhale left. One more round, Inhale through the left. Pause at the top, Close. Release the thumb, Exhale right. Inhale through the right. Pause at the top, Close both nostrils. And finally release the forefinger, Exhale left. And then release the hand from your face. Breathing in and out of both nostrils. Connect both index and thumb, This is chin mudra. Place them palm up on your lap and just hold this mudra. It connects our higher self to our earthly self. To help, Again, Find more balance between what we have to do on this earth plane. And who we really are on the spiritual plane. I'd like for you just to take three natural breaths. Notice this internal energy that you have created. And then release the hand mudra, Bring both palms to heart center. Press the thumbs into the heart space. Honoring yourself for doing this breath practice. Drawing the thumbs up to the third eye, Honoring your intuition. Your inner knowing. And then exhale, Bring the hands back down to the heart. As always, It is my honor to guide you. Namaste.

Reviews

Thanks, Brenda! That was truly refreshing and exactly what I needed today 🙏