Breath Awareness: 30 Day Yoga Challenge Day 1

Starting things off with (in my opinion) one of the most important things when it comes to yoga - breath awareness! We'll take it slow and move through some simple movements - all seated - to get connected to the breath.

Optional props: Blanket, bolster or pillow.

Transcript

Hello, Everyone, And welcome to day one of your 30-day yoga challenge. My name is Candice, And for day one, We are starting with, In my opinion, The most important thing when it comes to building a foundation in your yoga practice, Breath awareness. Because without breath awareness, You're really just moving through the motions, Not being aware of your body, And the purpose of asana practice is to connect our mind and body together. It fosters a deeper concentration, And it gives you a focal point body together. It takes mindless movement and makes it mindful movement. So you don't need anything in particular for practice. We're not even really going to be moving. We're going to stay seated the whole time. I'm sitting on a meditation cushion. I recommend grabbing a pillow, Bolster, Cushion, Whatever you have. If just sitting on the floor is really uncomfortable for you and you have nothing, You can sit in a chair, Sit on your couch, Sit in your bed, Whatever works. We will be moving our arms a little bit, But really not moving too much around the mat. So grab what you need and find a comfortable seat. When you get comfortable Finding a tall spine, And find a way that you can sit that allows you to have that tall spine with minimal effort from the muscles in your back. So the reason I say to find something to sit on is because when you elevate your hips slightly, It allows your pelvis to tilt forward just slightly, Giving your spine that natural curve, And it can allow you to sit tall without straining the muscles in your back. And if you don't have something to sit on. Maybe you have a chair and you can kind of lean back or even sitting against a wall and you can lean your back up against it. Once you find your place of comfort allow the eyes to close down. And without changing or controlling anything just yet, Simply observe. I just want you to turn your focus inward to the breath. And notice where your attention falls. For some, Your awareness might fall to the tip of the nose where the breath enters and leaves. For others, You might Notice your awareness falls to the chest or the rib cage. As you feel the sensation of the body expanding and contracting with the breath. Notice where the breath is most vivid for you right now. And allow your attention to rest there. And notice as we settle into stillness and attempt to focus our attention on the breath. The mind becomes louder. Thoughts circulate. And that's perfectly natural. The goal here is never to eliminate thought. Your mind is programmed to think thoughts all day long. The goal here is to find a sense of concentration. Can we shift our concentration from the clutter of the mind. And bring it into the breath. And bring it into the body into this moment we have here together right now. And knowing that it's perfectly normal to get lost in thought. But at any moment you notice yourself. Getting lost in the circulating thoughts in your mind. Without judgment, Without concern, Simply bring your awareness back to your breath. Wherever that focal point was for you, Where you notice the breath in the body. Keeping the belly soft, Can you begin to draw the breath in a little bit deeper? So establishing a sense of control of the breath. The breath is both something that happens spontaneously in the body when we're not thinking about it. It can be mindless. But the minute we establish a sense of control and focus, It becomes mindful. So mindfully draw the breath into the body. Feel it fill the lungs. Belly expands, Rib cage expands all the way around. Pause at the top, And then let the exhale leave the body, Feel everything become soft. Inhale deep, Full breath all the way, Fill the lungs. Exhale completely empty. Continuing with those deep belly breaths. Perhaps you visualize the breath entering through the nose, Traveling all the way down the throat into the bottom of the lungs as the lungs expand. Notice where it goes, Where it doesn't go in the body. Exhale, Maybe you visualize the breath leaving the body as everything softens. And if it feels nice for you to keep the eyes closed as we start to find a bit of movement, You absolutely can. I often like to practice that way. I find it helps me maintain focus. But if not, You can open the eyes. Take your hands to your knees with that deep belly breath in. We're just going to roll the shoulders back. Lift your heart. Lift your chin. Exhale starts first movement follows chin tucks round the shoulders forward pelvis rolls back cat and cow movements through the spine. Inhale, Shoulders roll back, Chin lifts, Heart comes through. Exhale first. Rounding the spine just moving with your breath and I say breath first movement follows because If we lead with the breath, The movements stay mindful. It's more likely that we're going to stay connected to the breath. If we lead with the movements first, We get rushy. We tend to lose the breath. We're just rushing and moving through the motions without being intentional. Take a couple more rounds here. We'll come back to center inhale sweep the arms up overhead you can either just point the fingertips up towards the sky You can press the palms up or we can interlace the fingers, Press the palms up. Press evenly through both sides of the body. Press up through the palms. Inhale here. Exhale, Flip the palms down. Bring the palms to the top of the head. So if the fingers aren't interlaced, You're just doing this. Inhale. Exhale. Palms come down. Inhale, Press up. Exhale, Palms to crown. Breath first, Movement follows. Staying with the breath, We're going to add a little bit to this. So inhale, Palms press up, Reach the arms up. As you exhale, Palms come to the heart space, Round the spine. As you inhale, Take the backs of the hands to the bottom of the chin. Lift the chin up. Open the throat. Exhale hands to heart. Inhale, Palms up, Rise up. If your hands aren't interlaced, You're here. Exhale, Hands to heart. Inhale backs of the hands to the bottom of the chin open the throat Exhale round. So just continuing with this sequence, Palms up, Inhale. Hands to heart, Exhale. Inhale, Hands come to bottom of the chin, Open the throat. Exhale round, Hands to heart. Let's do one more like that. Inhale. Exhale, Hands to heart. Inhale, Bottom of the chin, Open the throat. Exhale. Round. Inhale, Release, Come to center. Take the fingertips to your shoulders, Elbows straight out in front of you. Or excuse me, Beside you, Not in front of you. As you inhale, Roll the shoulders back, Squeeze the shoulder blades together and pull the elbows back. Similar to what we did in the start, Cat, Cow, Exhale, Round, Squeeze the elbows together in front of you. Maybe they touch, Maybe they don't. Inhale open up. Exhale round. Breath first, Movement followed. Two more rounds like that. The last one Come back to center, Elbows straight up beside you once again. Take a breath in here. As you exhale, Twist your torso to the left just slightly. We can drop the hands. Take right hand to left knee, Left fingertips behind you. As you inhale, Lengthen through the spine, Lift the left arm up, Point the palm forward. As you exhale, Take a little side bend towards your right knee. Inhale, Rise up, Reach up through the left fingertips. Exhale, Little side bend towards right knee. Keep the right hand where it is. And how to lengthen. Exhale. Last one, Inhale, Rise. Exhale, Side bend over. Inhale, Come up. Exhale, Left hand plants behind you. Pause here in a little twist, Gaze over your left shoulder. Next, Inhale, Come back to center, Sweep the arms up overhead, Maybe interlace the fingers, Press the palms up. Exhale, Twist the torso to the right. Left hand comes to right knee. Right fingertips behind you. Inhale, Lengthen up through the spine as you sweep the right arm up, Palm faces forward. Exhale, Little side bend towards left knee. Inhale, Rise up. Exhale. Breath first, Inhale, Then we rise. Exhale, Then we move, Side bend. Last one. Inhale rise up exhale right hand comes behind you pause here and in your twist gaze over the right shoulder Inhale, Come back to center. Sweep the arms up overhead. Join the palms together over top. Exhale pull the hands to heart center closing the eyes Tune into the breath, Into the body. Notice sensations you're feeling. And knowing that the breath really is always there for you, Whether it's on your mat, Practicing yoga, Or in your day-to-day life. Amidst stress. The busyness that we all experience, The mental clutter. This is a tool that you have always when you're feeling overwhelmed, When you're feeling scattered, When you can't focus. Tune in. Find that breath awareness. Breathe long, Deep, Smooth breaths. And you can blink the eyes open if they were closed. And thank you so much for joining me for day one. I hope you enjoyed today's practice and we will see you tomorrow for day two.