Strengthening Our Lungs In Response To COVID19

This flow is focused on boosting the health of our lungs through yoga, meditation, massage, qi gong, and breathwork. It is appropriate for people who want to avoid the virus and for those who have COVID19.

Transcript

Welcome,

My name is Laura Garrison-Brooke and I am so glad you're here.

This is going to be a delicious smorgasbord of experiences,

All of them focused on the health of our lungs.

We're going to harness the power of yoga,

Qigong,

Breathwork,

Chinese medicine,

Meditation,

And massage all in around 12 minutes.

Get ready for fun.

This practice is for those who are looking to strengthen our lungs,

To avoid getting the virus,

And for those who have it.

For those of you who have coronavirus,

We've got your back.

You are going to get through this and we are all thinking of you,

Pulling for you during this time.

If you're like me and have been following Chris Cuomo's experience with coronavirus,

You might have heard him share the guidance he was given from a pulmonologist on how to keep it from settling more deeply into the lungs.

This doctor's advice will inform what we do.

Nutshell is that this doctor said laying in bed resting is not the path to follow.

You have to fight back.

And how is this for cool?

The American College of Chest Physicians did a study that found yoga helped improve lung function,

Shortness of breath,

And lung inflammation.

So as I'm guiding you,

If you don't 100% follow what I'm doing,

I invite you to laugh it off and just keep going.

Remember,

It doesn't have to be perfect to be effective.

And when you get confused,

That means that your brain is lighting up,

Which is great for neuronal growth.

So it's all good no matter what happens.

One last thing before we dig in,

All of the things I share with you can also be done seated in a chair.

Wait for that guidance if this is what's best for you.

If you are in a chair,

It's best to be in one without arms to give you more range of motion.

All right,

Let's get started.

Come to standing or sit up tall.

One hand over the heart and one hand on the belly.

Let's take a three-part breath.

Deep breath into the belly and feel the hand move as the belly fills and then keep inhaling expanding the side ribs and then feel the heart lift with the other hand.

Hold the breath at the top of the inhale,

Exhale,

Feel the heart melt and then the ribs constrict and the belly draws in and then hold the breath out.

That's the three-part breath.

Belly,

Ribs,

Heart.

So let's do another round.

Inhaling,

Belly fills,

Ribs expand,

Heart lifts.

Hold the breath.

Exhaling,

Heart melts down,

The ribs draw in,

Belly constricts towards the spine and hold the breath out.

And now inhaling the arms out to the side and up overhead,

Stretch up,

Reach up.

Remember you can also do this seated.

Holding on to the left wrist with the thumb and index finger of the right hand,

Arch over to the right and breathe into the left lung and stretch and then exhale both arms back overhead and inhale the other way.

Hold on to the right wrist with the thumb and index finger of the left hand and side bend to the left.

Breathe into the right lung,

Stretch,

Exhale up overhead,

Stretch straight up,

Inhale and then exhale to slowly fold forward,

Softening the knees,

Bending the knees,

Arms hang heavy.

It's like you're trying to touch your toes.

For those sitting you can do this too,

Just fold forward in your chair.

Breathe in and breathe out.

For those who are on your feet,

I invite you to slowly come down into table pose,

Which means that you're on all fours,

Hands and knees.

The hands are right under the shoulders and the knees are under the hips.

Inhaling,

Lift the tailbone up and allow the heart to melt down and the head comes up and then exhaling,

Tuck the tail,

The mid-back arches up and the head comes down,

Almost like you're looking back at your belly button.

This is like your impersonation of a Halloween cat.

So keep flowing with your breath,

Articulating the spine,

Opening the chest.

This pose is really good for the lungs.

For those who are seated,

Your hands are soft on the thighs or maybe on the knees and then inhaling you poke the tailbone back and draw the heart forward as your chin lifts and then exhaling we're going to do that Halloween cat pose.

We're going to tuck the tail,

The mid-back rounds back and the chin comes in towards the chest.

So let's do one more round.

Inhaling,

The tailbone lifts up,

The heart brightens forward and the chin comes up and then exhaling the tailbone rolls between the legs,

The back body gets round and the chin tucks in towards the neck.

For those who are on the floor,

Carefully come to the feet in your forward fold and slowly roll up the spine,

Vertebra by vertebra.

Knees are soft.

Next up,

We're going to massage the lung points.

That sounds interesting,

Right?

To do this,

Cross the wrists and lay the palms on your upper chest.

So your left palm is on your right side and your right palm is on your left side.

Feel with your fingertips for the collarbones.

Once you find these,

Glide your fingers under the collarbones out towards the shoulders.

You'll find a little notch below your collarbones close to the shoulder.

It's right where the clavicle dips down.

Place your fingers there in that hollowed out space just below the bone and with the middle finger and pointer finger,

Gently press and make circles.

In Chinese medicine,

This is what's called the lung points or L1 and what we're doing now is called the breath of heaven.

See if you can find a point of sensitivity.

You're still under the clavicles but maybe slide your hands in towards the midline of the body a half inch or so.

Keep massaging and breathe.

Notice if you feel an opening or lightening in the lungs.

Keep massaging,

Maybe changing the direction of the circles.

If an arm gets tired,

You can drop it down and then switch sides after a few breaths.

If you'd like a bit more information on this,

Go to acupressure.

Com.

Au and search on breath of heaven.

This page also shows you where the L1 point is if you're like me and always benefit from visual cues.

So we'll take another few breaths.

Make sure that your massage has been even on both sides of the body.

Excellent.

Okay,

So we've done our breath work,

Chinese medicine massage,

And yoga.

Last up is our Qigong flow and meditation.

As we do this,

I invite you to think of the palms of the hands as magnets or maybe as vacuums.

At a certain point in the flow,

You'll focus on drawing energy into the palms and then you'll shift and focus on pouring directed energy out.

Alright,

Let's do it.

For those who are standing,

I invite you to soften the knees and tuck the tail a little bit,

Almost as if you're sitting on a high stool.

For those who are seated,

You can follow the same flow.

Arms float alongside the body,

Palms facing in toward the legs.

As you inhale,

Think of drawing earth energy into the palms.

With the palms facing down towards the ground,

Inhale the arms slowly up.

Pause around waist height,

Exhaling,

And then turn the hands so that the palms shine up and then inhale those arms out and up.

As you're doing this,

Think about drawing sun energy into those palms.

Then when the hands are overhead,

Bend the wrists so that the palms shine down towards the body.

Then intuitively let the hands float down.

The palms shine in towards the torso and feel as if that earth and sun energy that you just drew into the palms are now being shown into the body as healing energy.

Let the hands move intuitively and in light of the fact we're focusing on the lungs,

Maybe you mindfully draw awareness to the lungs as you shine this energy toward yourself.

Nice natural easy flow of breath as the hands float down.

And then we bring the heels of the hands to the hip points at the front of the body.

Both sitting or standing,

Run your hands down the inseam of the legs,

Exhaling,

And then inhaling run the hands up the outer line of the legs,

Drawing them up,

Inhaling,

And then draw the hands forward into a palm-to-palm prayer at the heart space.

And breathe here,

Snuggling the base of the thumbs in towards the sternum.

And I invite you to breathe into a sense of gratitude for these lungs that work tirelessly for you day in and day out.

Easy natural breath in,

Easy natural breath out.

Sending gratitude to these lungs.

I invite you to reconnect with this practice regularly to boost the health and well-being of the lungs.

I am wishing you well.

Reviews

This was a fantastic meditation and yoga everything else. I really enjoyed all the flow and will come back to it again.

I have bronchiectasis, am always trying thing to clear lungs. Was unaware of Breath of Heaven, thank you.

Beautiful

Nice! Love your voice. 🩷

Thank you, this was beautiful. My body is buzzing!

Superb! Perfect for anyone with lung issues or Covid recovery

Wonderful and wise as always Laura, thank you for supporting me psychologically and my physical lung health throughout Covid19 - very grateful 🙏🏻 💕

Amazing. I love how you always integrate different modalities into your practices Laura, thank you so much! My lungs are happy. 🙏🤍

I am impressed with your meditations!! Your calming voice and directions are clear and easy to follow. Thank you 🙏

I really like your meditations!
I've done this one a couple of times and I've got a feeling I'm not doing it 100% right😅but still, I'll try it again and again.
Thank you!

Excellent, thank you!

Very good exercises !! Thank you so much 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Laura has been like an Angel during these times! Thank you for your guidance and inspiration 🙏🏼

Thank you for this wonderfull experience. Loved it and will do this meditation again and again. Namate🙏

Just excellent! Thank you!

Lovely, thank you x

Thank you for this practice🙏❤️

Great short practice, with some new great ideas to practice good lung health

Thank you. This is so needed right now!❤️