Find yourself in a comfortable seated position with your spine straight.
You can either sit on the edge of a cushion,
On the edge of your chair or straddle a bolster.
If none of these are suitable for you today you can also lie down.
We're just going to start by tuning into our breath.
Not trying to change it,
Just noticing the ebb and flow.
Noticing is there any pauses between the in and out breath.
Notice the quality of your breath.
Is it slow and steady?
Is it smooth,
Jagged?
Just noticing but not trying to label it as anything good or bad.
And now bringing your awareness to how you're currently feeling.
Looking at yourself with a loving kindness,
Being gentle with how you feel.
Again there's no right or wrong,
Just let it be.
Now coming back to the breath,
I want you to notice how many counts the in breath is.
And then count how long the exhale is.
And repeat this again.
One more time.
Now I want you to take the longest breath and this is how we're going to be breathing.
So today I'll be showing you how to do a pranayama technique called the sum of vitti.
This basically means equal part breaths or box breathing.
So we'll be inhaling and then holding,
Exhaling and then holding for an equal count.
Now again bringing that number that you first counted to your head.
I want you to now on your next inhale count to three.
And then hold for three seconds.
Exhale for three seconds.
Hold the exhale for three seconds.
Inhale for three seconds.
Hold.
Exhaling.
And then holding.
If your current count was more or less than this,
Please repeat but with that number instead.
Remembering that each breath is equal and not skipping the holds.
If your mind wanders,
Just bringing the count back at the next inhale.
This breath is very balancing,
It's great for focus and for cultivating some calm.
When you reach your next exhale,
I want you to inhale with one extra second added.
And do the same for the hold,
The exhale and the hold again.
So if you were counting to three,
You are now counting to four.
Each breath equal.
If your mind wanders,
Just bringing it back the next inhale.
We're just going to do three more rounds.
Ending on the hold of the exhale.
And as you get to the end,
Just letting the breath and the counting go and coming back to a normal ebb and flow of the breath.
Noticing if there's any change to the quality of your breath.
Noticing how you feel.
And when you're ready,
You can carry on and go about the rest of your day.
Thank you for listening.
