Three-Part Breathing.
Place your hands on your lower belly beneath your navel.
Your thumbs can meet at your navel with your fingers spread out below.
Pinkies can be close to your pubic bone.
The base of each palm is close to your hip bones.
Allow your arms to relax.
If you're lying down,
Let your elbows rest under the floor or bed.
If they don't rest easily,
Then place a pillow or folded towel under each elbow for support.
Begin by simply noticing the movement of the belly under your hands.
After a few breaths,
When you're feeling more relaxed,
Follow the out-breath all the way out,
And with the next in-breath,
Intentionally try to isolate your breath in the lower belly.
Refrain from breathing into the upper belly and upper chest.
When you breathe in,
Allow your belly to stretch under your hands,
Pushing your hands up,
Even if this means putting a little intentional effort,
Muscular effort,
There in your belly.
When you breathe out,
Allow your belly to relax,
Causing your hands to drop down.
Breathing in again,
Feel the expansion of your belly,
Pushing your hands up.
Breathing out,
Releasing,
Emptying.
Breathing in,
Focus just on the lower belly.
Feel the stretching,
Opening,
Expansion,
And breathing out,
Releasing,
Emptying.
Pay attention to how your belly moves on the in-breath.
It may expand forward,
Backward,
Into the sides,
And really allow your belly to release on the out-breath.
And then let go of any effort and return to normal breathing.
Slide your hands up to find your bottom rib.
Place your hands such that your palms are on your lower ribs and your fingers are on your upper belly.
Allow your arms to be in a relaxed position.
Now we'll focus on isolating breathing into this area,
So it no longer matters about breathing into your lower belly or into your upper chest,
Just feeling the gentle expansion and release that happens here at the upper abdomen and the lower ribs.
As you breathe in,
Notice every small detail of the breath in this area.
For example,
What directions do the ribs move in?
Forward,
Backward,
To the sides?
Is there one rib that does something different than the other ribs around it?
Or does one side of your ribs expand more than the other?
On the out-breath,
Releasing.
On the in-breath,
Expanding.
One more breath in,
Feeling the gentle expansion of this area in your body.
The upper abdomen and the lower ribs.
And exhale,
Releasing,
And return to normal breathing.
Now we'll bring the hands up to the collarbones and upper ribs area.
Use your index fingers and thumbs to find your collarbones.
With your index fingers touching your collarbones,
Let your hands spread across the upper ribs of your chest.
Your thumbs will be near to your armpits,
Middle fingers near your sternum.
Allow your arms to relax.
If you're lying down,
Support your arms as needed.
And now we'll attempt to isolate the breathing in this area.
So it doesn't matter anymore about breathing into your lower belly or into your upper belly and lower ribs.
We're just focused on breathing into the upper ribs and the collarbones.
Imagine there's a magic balloon in your upper chest.
When you breathe in,
The balloon inflates.
And when you breathe out,
The air leaves,
But the balloon does not lose its shape.
So it's a magic balloon because it has limitless capacity for expansion,
And it never collapses.
The air leaves,
But the balloon does not lose its shape.
The next breath in,
The balloon expands just a little bit more.
And exhaling,
The air leaves,
But your chest stays nice and open.
Breathing in again,
Feeling the upper chest expand.
And exhaling,
Releasing without collapsing.
Breathing in this way,
Your chest stays open,
Lifted,
Expanded,
Even as the air leaves.
And when you breathe in again,
Your chest opens just a little bit more.
And now you can rest and breathe in whatever way is comfortable for you.
Placing your hands where they're most at ease,
Take a few minutes to consider which area was easiest to breathe into today.
And where was it most difficult?
Was this different from what happened yesterday when you did this practice?
How were you feeling when you began this practice today?
And how are you feeling now?
Allow yourself to just rest for another couple minutes.
