Pranayama,
Often translated as breath work,
A little bit of a misnomer with that translation,
But it does have a direct correlation with our breath.
Pranayama is literally the controlling of prana or the shaping of prana,
Our life force or our vitality.
And in my asana classes that I'm sharing this month,
The focus is on the prana values,
The five different directions of prana,
Or we could say the winds of prana.
And prana,
There are lots of different forms in the body,
The physical body,
As well as the subtle body.
But the main form of prana is governed by these five different directions.
And these five different directions then govern different bodily systems.
So systems that are needed on a physiological level,
Whether it's respiration,
Digestion,
Nerve impulses,
All of this is directed by these directions of prana,
Of life force,
Of wind.
And so I thought that it would be nice to start incorporating some of that into the meditation practice.
And you may have already realized through your own meditation practice that breath and kind of the result of your meditation or your experience of the meditation practice have a very close connection,
Directly correlated.
Several months ago,
Back in May,
When we started these morning meditations,
Virtual meditations,
I opened with breath awareness just to begin to allow us to understand how we shape the breath and the different qualities of the breath and how we come to the practice and how that is constantly shifting and constantly different,
We're aware of that or not,
Whether we're conscious of that or not.
And breathing is one of those few kind of automatic processes that we are able to shape and control.
Controlling our thoughts,
Controlling the mind is not one of those.
Blinking is,
You know,
Somewhat we can do.
But breathing is one of those that we can begin to shape.
And through that shaping,
We can begin to affect or begin to shift maybe the movement of the mind or even mood or energy levels.
And so allowing that to come into a meditation practice,
You may begin to become more aware of prana,
Your life force,
And how that connection to breath and the effect of the meditation,
Especially through the rest of the day,
What results that might have.
And so this week will be practicing and focusing on Nadi Shodhana which we've already done a psychic version of.
It was the alternate nostril breathing.
Nadi meaning channel and we have 72,
000 channels in some texts.
Other texts will say that we have more and other texts will say that we have less but 72,
000 kind of channels of prana is what is kind of accepted in the Yogic and Ayurvedic thought and the two of these channels are related to the different sides of the nose so the left side and the right side the Ida and the Pingala the Ida being on the left side correlated to the moon the qualities that are more receptive and gentle and soothing and calming and the Pingala correlated to the right side so more of the Sun the action the hot the fiery,
The passion aspect.
And so balancing these two qualities of the mind and having them flow with a sense of equilibrium down the Shishumna,
Up and down the Shishumna,
The central channel that is said to run the length of where the spinal column is.
And today we'll use the hand gesture and a little bit of visualization,
But the hand gesture,
Several different ways you can do this.
Some like to take,
It's the right hand traditionally,
The index and the middle finger to the palm.
And then you'll alternate blocking the different sides of the nose.
And this is not a forceful blocking in any way.
And basically you don't want to deviate the septum or the cartilage in any way.
It's just a gentle placing of the thumb pad right where the soft part of the cartilage becomes a little more dense and it's just a tiny bit of pressure.
And so that's the thumb.
And then you would use the ring finger to block the left side.
And again,
You're not shifting the nose sideways in any way.
It's just a gentle little pressure here.
And if taking the index finger and the middle finger to the palm creates a little bit of tension in the hand,
You can also just gently place them on the forehead.
But again,
Not a lot of pressure.
So often I'll see spots and I'm guilty of that too,
Putting too much pressure here.
There's a little red spot at the third eye when you're done.
So it's just gently resting.
So a lot less pressure than you think that you need.
And if you find that one side of the nose is a bit stuffy today,
You can come back to that psychic version that we used several weeks ago,
Which is release the hand mudra and just visualize or imagine or sense trust that the breath can move through the alternating sides of the nose.
So let's go ahead and begin.
Let's settle in.
Take a comfortable seat.
Adjust your body in any way,
Gather any props to support the knees,
To lift your seat.
Adjust your clothing so that you're comfortable.
So that your spine can become tall and long,
That central channel unobstructed.
As you're settling,
Maybe the eyes are closing fully.
Maybe you're just softening your gaze,
But you're beginning to turn your awareness inward,
Beginning to arrive to your practice.
It helps to wiggle the body in any way,
Roll the shoulders.
Take some deep breaths or some long,
Slow exhales.
There's no hurry to arrive.
You may have also noticed this connection between how we move and how it affects the movement of our mind and therefore the movement of our breath.
This direct relationship of breath and mind.
They tend to reflect each other's movement.
So if we can slow down the body,
Slow down the breath,
The mind begins to slow as well.
To continue helping you arrive,
Take a moment and just noticing the external world around you through your five senses.
Start with sound.
Begin to notice sounds off in the distance.
Just let your awareness move from sound to sound.
That allow those sounds to become a background hum.
Bring your awareness into the space.
Notice the sounds in the space around you.
And allow those sounds to dissolve into the background hum.
Drawing your awareness in a little more,
Begin to listen for the sound of your own breath.
You don't have to change your breath in any way,
Make it louder or bigger or deeper.
Just begin to notice if it's easy to hear the breath or if you have to listen.
A little closer.
Now allow your awareness to shift to your sense of smell.
As you're breathing in,
Is there a scent lingering in the air?
And if there's an absence of scent,
Maybe you just notice the felt sensation of the breath moving in and out through your nose.
Bring awareness to the inside of your mouth.
Become aware of any flavor or moisture or dryness in the mouth.
Whether your eyes are closed or gazing softly.
Begin to remember,
To see,
To visualize the space that you are in.
The shape of the room,
The color of the walls.
And then finally.
Becoming aware of touch.
Notice places where clothing is resting on your skin.
And then begin to notice the places where your body is touching the surface beneath you.
Now begin to feel your seat grow heavy with gravity,
Anchoring down into the support of the earth.
And then your spine grow tall,
A gentle lift through the crown of your head.
Take a moment to observe the qualities of your mind.
Does the mind feel heavy?
So it's still shaking it off sleep from the night before.
Thoughts jumping one to the next,
The mind busy.
Maybe even a sense of underlying anxiousness.
Or maybe you notice this quality of steadiness.
Presence or alertness to the mind.
Whatever you're noticing.
There's nothing to do or change.
You're just beginning to become aware of what is coming to the practice with you.
How are you arriving?
There's not a good or a bad.
Now you're gonna bring your awareness back to the tip of your nose.
And just begin to sense,
To feel the breath moving in and out through your nose.
You don't have to shape or count the breath in any way.
Just recognizing that felt sensation of the breath as it moves in and out through your nose.
Do you notice if one side feels more dominant than the other?
Meaning that you notice the breath moves more freely through one side.
Or that there's more sensation on one side.
And possibly you notice that the breath feels even and it's moving evenly through both sides.
Now let your awareness move back to the tip of your nose and we'll begin to shape the breath into sama vritti.
So balancing the length of your inhale and exhale and use a four count.
So you'll breathe in for four,
Sense or feel the breath move in through the nose.
Breathe out for four,
Sensing,
Feeling the breath move out through the nose.
Nine rounds.
Just following the breath in and out.
Inhale and the exhale the same length.
Allow your awareness to come back to the tip of the nose.
Awareness resting at the tip of the nose and begin to visualize or imagine that at the base of the left side of the nose,
There's a tiny full moon.
See or imagine that tiny full moon,
The color,
The shape,
The soft light that radiates from that tiny full moon.
And then shift awareness to the right side of the nose.
Right at the base of the nose,
See or imagine.
A son.
A bright golden sun.
See the light?
See the glow of the sun.
You're going to bring your awareness back to the left side.
Awareness resting on that tiny full moon and as you breathe in,
Sense the breath moving up through the left side as a stream of moonlight.
As you breathe out,
Breathe out through the right side and sense the breath as a stream of sunlight.
Breathing in through the right side,
Sense the breath as a stream of sunlight.
Out through the left.
The breath,
The stream of movement life.
Just continue with this pattern in through the left moonlight.
Out through the right sunlight.
In through the right sunlight.
Out through the left moonlight.
Please continue.
Seeing or sensing,
Feeling the breath as moonlight through the left side of the nose.
Seeing,
Sensing,
Feeling the breath as sunlight through the right side of the nose.
And the next time you exhale through the left side,
Moonlight flowing out through the left side,
You'll dissolve the visualization.
Let awareness rest at the nose once again.
Just feel the breath moving evenly through both sides for the next nine rounds.
Now you'll bring in the hand mudra.
Right hand,
Index finger,
And middle finger fold to the fleshy part of the palm.
Or you can bring index and middle finger to the space right between the eyebrows.
And again,
Gentle pressure.
And you're going to use the pad of your thumb against the fleshy part of the nose.
Again,
Gentle pressure on an inhale,
You'll breathe in through the left.
You'll block the left side,
Release the right,
And exhale through the right.
Inhaling through the right.
Gently blocking the right side,
Release the left and exhale through the left.
And through the left.
Out through the right.
And through the right.
Out through the left.
Inhale left.
Exhale,
Right.
Hell right.
And exhale left.
Please continue.
Remembering that you can release the hand mudra if you notice that the nose feels stuffy in any way.
Maybe you begin to refine the breath.
Notice if you are pulling the inhale and pushing the exhale.
So are you breathing or are you allowing your body to breathe?
You're just shaping what side of the nose the breath flows through.
But you're not forcing the breath in any way.
Yeah.
Bye.
The next time you exhale through the left side.
Release the hand mudra Sense the breath flowing evenly through both sides of your nose.
Now let awareness settle into your heart space.
Space right at the center of the chest,
Deep behind the breastbone.
Awareness resting at the heart space.
For the next two minutes.
Slowly begin to welcome yourself back.
Allowing the breath to deepen and your awareness to move outward.
As your awareness moves outward,
Begin to take in the world through your five senses once again.
So hearing the sound of your breath.
Hearing the sounds in the space around you.
And hearing sounds off in the distance.
Feel the places where clothing touches your skin.
Notice those places where your body is supported by the surface beneath you.
Your breath continues to deepen.
Notice a scent lingering in the air or the felt sensation of the breath moving in and out through your nose.
Taste comes back online?
Is there a flavor or moisture in the mouth?
And finally,
Begin to see yourself in the space,
Visualizing and imagining the room,
The color of the walls.
And slowly continue to bring yourself back more and more.
As you arrive back into the present moment.
And slowly take your chin to your chest.
Allowing yourself these next few breaths to observe the qualities of your mind.
How might these qualities be the same or different than those that arrived to your practice with you?
Can you dissolve comparison or judgment?
And instead call in this quality of curiosity.
This quality of exploration.
Exploring how your life force shows up.
How the mind and the breath,
Even the movement of your body are all intimately connected to each other.
And how as you begin to influence one,
You can influence the others.
But knowing that each day you come to your practice,
You come with different lived experiences.
So each practice has its own wisdom,
Its own insights.
What are the wisdom and insights that today's practice offers you?
I encourage you to carry that out into your day,
Letting it guide you through each breath.
Bringing hands to heart center,
Palms pressing.
If you would like to rub the palms together,
Creating some warmth.
You can do so,
And once the palms are nice and warm,
You can place them anywhere on your body or over the eyes.
Continuing to take your time to come back,
Reemerging into your day.
Thank you so much for joining.
A bow to you in gratitude.
To these teachings.
Thank you.
Have a great day.
We'll see you soon.
