Advanced Alternate Nostril Breathing

This meditation utilizes not just the physical body and breath but also the mind and imagination to experience alternate nostril breathing throughout the whole body. This exercise helps interweave what we imagine to what we experience, strengthening your own innate capacity to call in change within your own body and perhaps that of others during intuitive sessions like Reiki as well. This is also a part of a larger meditation series incorporated in this teacher's Reiki Level 1 and 2 Courses. (17)

Transcript

Hello! My name is Eden, And I am a therapist, Reiki teacher, And meditation guide. Now whether you've found this meditation through one of my Reiki courses or just through the web of life, Welcome! These meditations are intended to deepen your relationship to your intuition and gifts, And facilitate an understanding of your own internal landscape. Each meditation is also a tool that can be offered to yourself or a client, So I invite you to notice what shifts within you before, During, After, Beyond the meditation, Cataloging the effects with words and feelings and sensations. Just letting yourself take note. Allow it to be personal and universal. Let's begin! And today we are going to do a second variation of the alternate nostril breathing. You might have listened to a similar version before, And this one goes a little bit deeper, A little bit further in exploring our whole system, Interweaving what we imagine to what we can feel when our mind asks something of the body. So wherever you are, Just finding a comfortable resting position. This might be most easy to visualize if you are laying down, But there are no wrong answers. So just go ahead and if you'd like you can close the eyes from top to bottom, And then together we just take a few slow, Calibrating breaths, Starting to be right here, Just a little bit more. And just like the traditional alternate nostril breathing, We will move air now in and out through one nostril at a time, Yet instead of plugging the nostrils with our fingers, We will just use our intention to ask the air to move in this way, And then to observe it moving in this way. So go ahead and roll your attention, Your awareness down to the tip of your nose, And then with your next inhale, Trace the air up the left nostril to the third eye or the crown. And then exhale, Watch the air move down the right nostril back out into the space around you. Inhale watching the air move into the right nostril and up, And exhale down and out the left nostril. Inhale left, Exhale right. Inhale right, And exhale left. Continuing on this breath pattern for just a few more moments here, Softening any little muscles in the face that have tensed back up, Offering the body more space for the breath to embody. And this breath so gracefully interweaves our mind and our body showing us what is capable because we know the breath is already moving in and out of the nose. We can sense it, We can feel it. And now we open up to the possibility of our imagination allowing for that sensing, For that feeling to come online still. So we'll continue that same sort of shape of breath, I always imagine it kind of like a rainbow back and forth. But instead of through the nostrils now, We will imagine that the inhale moves into your body through the palm of your left hand, And that inhale travels up the arm and settles at the top of the inhale in heart center. And then the exhale moves out down that right arm and all the way through that right palm. Inhale through the right palm into the heart center, And exhale back down the left arm out the palm. And continuing with this imaginal breath for a few moments here, Imagining what would it be like if I breathed in this way. What might that feel like, What might I experience, What might I sense? And relaxing anywhere in the body that is already tensed back up as you keep with this imaginal breath for a few more moments. And maybe, Just maybe, You allow yourself to soften so much that you feel the breath, The prana, The life force, The energy moving in this way. Can you, Even if you feel like you are imagining that feeling, Let yourself. And with the next exhale out the left palm, You can gently let that breath pattern go. And moving breath in and out of the body as it pleases for a few breaths here. Before we move into our final imaginal breath, Our final stage. Same shape, Slightly different location in the body. So with that next inhale, Now you will imagine that the breath moves into you through the sole of the left foot. And throughout that whole inhale, The breath travels up, Up, Up the body, All the way to the crown of the head, Getting tall and long and full. And then the exhale travels down, All the way down the right side of the body, Through the right sole of the foot. Inhale through that right foot, All the way up to the crown. And exhale back out the left. Continuing in that shape, In that breath pattern for a few moments. Even if it's just imagining this movement in your body as you link your breath to whatever you picture in your mind, That is enough. That is perfect. And maybe, Just maybe, You start to soften the physical body and the mental body so much that you start to feel something moving in you in this way. Maybe it's the breath, The prana, The energy, The life force. Maybe it's just your awareness opening, Softening, Rolling up and down the body. Just letting it be whatever it is with you. A few more rounds right here. No rush. And with these next few exhales, Letting something go, Imagining that the breath washing all the way down the body catches something on its way out and helps it leave the body. Releasing. Cleansing. And with the next exhale, Out that left foot, You can gently let this visualization go. Bringing air into both nostrils and letting breath back out. Nourishing the body with traditional breath, Letting the mind relax. No need to picture anything at all. Maybe you offer yourself a quick little body scan to notice anything that has come up or released or shifted or still there. Letting yourself notice something today. And whenever you're ready to rejoin the day, You can blink the eyes open if they were closed. Let the eyes just softly rest on something in front of you. Taking a few more breaths in and out consciously. Coming back to this animate world and thanking your imaginal world as well. Namaste.