Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness,
Which unites your body to your thoughts.
Whenever your mind becomes scattered,
Use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.
Thich Nhat Hanh.
Without me prompting,
You potentially just took a breath out of instinct after hearing me breathe.
It's fascinating how deeply ingrained our breath is to the foundation of our existence,
Our realities,
And to nature.
Let's pause now and just take a few breaths at your own cadence,
Natural and relaxed.
As we tap in further,
I invite you to continue with that awareness of your breath and show some genuine gratitude for it.
The inherent power behind the breath is truly remarkable when you pause to think about it,
Pulling our existence out of the ethereal space,
Drawing in this seemingly abundant and invisible resource into our lungs,
Fueling our bodies,
This resource that we can only go a few minutes without.
We breathe over 20,
000 breaths in a day,
That's over 8 million breaths in a year.
We have been breathing all of our lives,
And when it comes down to it,
The breath is one of the few commonalities that connects us all as a human race.
So in this lesson today,
I'd like to show you that there is a hidden life force within the air,
And that we can take conscious control of our states,
How we are showing up minute to minute,
Switching from a dependency on external stimulation,
And turn it back inward to the natural intelligence of our bodies,
Our minds,
And our intuition.
From this invisible space that we are immersed in,
Springs forth the magic of existence.
You may be asking,
Why do we even focus on the breath?
And for that answer,
I'd like to share a short discussion with you,
Turning your attention to the current state of affairs.
Much of society is breathing incorrectly,
Unconsciously through the mouth,
And high in the chest.
Incorrect breathing affects the nervous system,
Leading to complications in health,
Mental cognition,
Sleep issues,
Fatigue,
Body pains,
Stress,
Anxiety,
Depression,
The list goes on and on.
These microstresses of modern day society leave us in a sympathetic state,
Which is our fight,
Flight,
Freeze,
Or fawn mode.
Simply put,
We are stressed out,
Merely surviving,
Not thriving.
By not heeding these warning signs from the intelligence of our bodies,
We ignore,
Escape,
External stimulation,
Distractions which are simply numbing us and turning a blind eye to the issues at hand,
Making us dysfunctional,
Disconnected,
Living in a trance,
Simply limping along.
And by breathing incorrectly,
We are perpetuating the aforementioned conditions into this tense cycle.
So with that somber public service announcement aside,
Please pause and take a breath with me.
I'm here to tell you that there is hope,
There is always hope.
We are spiritual beings of abundance and deserve to reconnect to this infinite life force all around us.
And the ray of sunshine here is that we can naturally bring relief and reprise to this condition quite easily,
Much like day and night.
We need to get back into our parasympathetic state through conscious breathing.
The parasympathetic state is our default and natural state of being,
Where we are more resourceful,
Regulated,
Creative,
And calm,
Allowing the body to heal and tap into intuition.
And from here is where we can make some magic happen through creation and manifesting our truest expression.
And the easiest way to do this is by breathing through your nostrils.
That's it.
If there is one thing to take away from this lesson,
That would simply be,
The nose is for breathing,
The mouth is for eating.
So let's re-establish our breathing patterns with some minor tweaks,
And I know that you will be feeling notable results within moments.
Begin by getting into a comfortable position,
Ideally sitting up with spine aligned.
Our focus will begin by first taking air in and out of the nostrils.
Go ahead and take a few now.
Please continue with your nostril breathing,
And now place a hand over your stomach and the other hand over your chest.
Our focus now is to feel the stomach hand rise first,
And then the hand on your chest.
Ideally when you take a breath in,
Your torso will resemble that of a cup getting filled from the bottom to the top.
So a fulfilling breath would start with filling into the stomach,
Then the chest,
And finally up to the neck.
Go ahead and try this a few times,
Stomach,
Chest,
And neck.
Finally we bring a focus to the exhale.
To tap back into a parasympathetic state,
We will want to focus on making the exhale longer than the inhale in a 1 to 2 ratio.
So an example,
If you inhaled for 4 seconds,
Make that exhale 8 seconds long.
While the exact 1 to 2 ratio isn't super critical,
The point here is to make that exhale,
Either out of the nostrils or an audible sigh,
Longer than the inhale.
Keep the exhale slow and controlled,
Experimenting with a style specific to your needs.
So go ahead,
Pull it all together,
And try a few fulfilling breaths now.
By now you may even be yawning.
If you have a relaxed gaze to your eyes,
Or perhaps even passed out,
That's totally fine.
You needed it.
Your body has switched into the parasympathetic state and now is tapping into your innate healing abilities.
You very likely have been running on all cylinders in first gear,
Burning out.
So if you are still with me,
Just remember these steps to the proper breath.
Inhale through the nostrils,
Filling up from the stomach to the chest and up to the neck,
And on your exhale,
Making it extended,
Longer than the inhale.
May you have many fulfilling and liberated breaths to come.
Be well and be inspired.
