Breath,
The energy,
The motion,
The emotion of breath.
We're going to practice a breath called a Pana Vayu.
A Pana Vayu is the opportunity to nourish the lower extremities of your body.
Focusing here on a downward exhalation.
We barely breathe to stay alive.
Find yourself in a comfortable seated position.
I'm going to ask that you take shoes and socks off and feel your feet grounded to the floor.
Allow your body to sit in a comfortable posture.
And do lean back in your chair or your couch just to really let go.
Be held.
Be held by this prop that's behind you,
The back of the chair,
Or the couch.
Just allow yourself to be suspended here in space and time.
And take a nice inhalation and a nice exhalation as a sigh.
Now gently and slowly close your eyes.
I'm going to ask that you bring your hands,
Palms down on your lap,
Perhaps cupping your knees,
Your knees that bend and move your knees that hold your whole body up and just feel a lightness as your hands touch your body and they rest to be nourished and restored.
With eyes closed,
Bring your attention inward.
We're going on an inner journey to nourish your body upon a value.
As you inhale and exhale in your mind's eye,
Please bring the color red either energetically in your mind,
As a thought,
As a word,
As emotion,
Or even as an image of red.
Perhaps for you,
Red is brick red,
Like the bricks that make up a beautiful sidewalk.
Or maybe the red is a tulip bringing signs of spring.
And even more perhaps red for you.
Remind you of red roses,
Or maybe candy apple red.
Choose your red energy that will work with you today.
As you inhale and exhale into this moment.
Let your eyes become heavy,
Closed,
But relaxed.
Let your shoulders let loose from your ears.
Create more space in your chest cavity by lifting up your chin and breathe.
Slowly as you inhale and exhale,
Start to feel the rise and fall of breath and belly in your body.
And as you inhale and exhale slowly allow energetically the color red,
The image of red to move down through your body.
Inhaling and exhaling focus on that downward feeling.
Let your breath sustain you,
Nourish you.
And now inhale and exhale so you can feel your belly expanding.
And just feel your belly like a bowl filled with red energy from your breath.
The breath that you take from the air around you,
Nourishing your inner self for an inner journey of nourishment and restoration.
Pay attention to your hips.
Just imagine as you inhale and exhale here more deeply and completely.
You're sending breath down into your hips,
Your right hip,
And your left hip.
Now both hips together.
Imagine filling your organs below the belly button.
Imagine this red light,
This red energy moving and pulsing down your legs through your kneecaps down your calves,
Swirling around your ankles,
The tops of your feet and the tips of your toes,
Fronts of the legs,
Backs of the legs.
And then focus on the buttocks and your mind's eye.
Just release any tension,
Any tension you're holding there.
The backs of the kneecaps,
The backs of your heels,
The inside and the outside of your feet,
The center of your feet.
And now just imagine that as the breath expands,
That you feel grounded here,
Grounded like roots of a tree,
Roots of your tree of life.
Feel the stability of a nourishing breath.
Allow your breath to be more deep and more complete.
Just sink into this moment,
This breath,
Then this breath.
Pay attention to the waves of awareness,
Breath and belly grounding down,
Nourishing your body.
And now just do a little body scan from your waist down.
Is there any energy that feels stuck?
Any muscles or kinks in the joints?
So imagine in your mind's eye that the color red goes down and starts to just massage out these kinks or muscles.
Just let your body surrender.
Surrender to this moment.
Allow yourself to be nourished here.
A Pana Bhayu helps with the subtle body opening up,
Shifting,
Deepening,
Supporting all the functions of your body,
The process of elimination,
Exhalation,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now bring your hands together to touch in Anjali Mudra or prayer position,
Where the right hand meets the left hand,
Lining up like a mirror,
Then bring your thumbs together to touch at your sternum,
Elbows out,
Lift your head and breathe.
In yogic medicine,
We use sound,
Sound heals,
It helps the body.
The sound here of a Pana Bhayu breathing down into your root chakra is Lam,
L A M.
So take a nice inhalation,
A nice exhalation.
Bow to yourself first for this beautiful practice of grounding and nourishing yourself.
And we'll extend a Lam to your subtle body,
Which means I am grounded.
I am awake.
I am nourishing.
I am safe.
So take a nice inhalation through your belly.
Now imagine the breath rising up into your shoulders into the back of your neck.
And then we'll exhale together.
Lam.
And bring your hands down to your lap.
Breathe and go about your day.
Nourished and sustained in this moment.
Be one and be well.
Namaste.
