Hello and welcome to the Shavasana series and today's episode square breath.
We will be doing a breath exercise that is much like a concentration meditation to calm your nervous system and your body.
Let's begin by taking a nice deep inhale and exhaling all the way out,
Relaxing into your body,
Really letting your whole body soften and coming fully into the present moment.
Become aware of your awareness.
The square breath has four E's.
The square breath has four equal parts.
The inhale,
Holding at the top of the inhale,
The exhale and holding at the bottom of the exhale.
As you breathe,
Draw nice,
Gentle,
Full breaths in,
Staying connected and make sure that when you're holding your breath at the bottom or the top that there's no extra tension.
So do your best to relax through this breath.
We are starting today with a nice short count,
But as your lungs increase in capacity and your nervous system soothes and calms itself,
Then you will be able to take longer inhales and longer exhales.
The most important thing with this practice and any other one is that you do what works for you.
Always take my words as a guidepost and listen to your inner voice first.
Let's begin.
Nice deep inhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale two,
Three,
Four.
Hold two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale two,
Three,
3,
4,
Hold,
2,
3,
4,
Exhale,
2,
3,
4,
Hold,
2,
3,
4,
Inhale,
2,
3,
4,
Hold,
2,
3,
4,
Exhale,
2,
3,
4,
And hold,
Keep counting in your head as you begin the next inhale,
Take this count all on your own.
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20,
21,
22,
23,
24,
25,
26,
See if you can lengthen your inhales and exhales ever so gently.
Relax your face,
Your forehead,
Your eyes,
Relax your hands,
Your feet,
Your hips.
Stay with the square breath for a few more rounds.
Now,
Release your counting and we'll come into a nice,
Gentle,
Deep three-part breath.
Breathe all the way into your belly,
Filling up your lower lobes of the lungs,
Middle lobes and upper lobes,
Nice and gentle,
And then exhaling lower lobes,
Middle lobes,
Upper lobes.
We're filling up the lungs all the way from the bottom to the top and then exhaling all the way out,
Bottom to top.
Stay with a nice,
Gentle,
Deep and full breath all the way in,
All the way out.
Gently stretch and expand your inhales and gently stretch and expand your exhales.
Now,
Release your breath completely.
Feel how the belly rises and falls left to its own accord.
Notice how your breath settles after you release all control.
You can use the square breath anytime you want to calm your mind and balance your nervous system and become more centered.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Namaste.
