Meditation And Pranayama For Balance

A guided meditation and pranayama practice to bring you back to your centre so that you can move through you day with balance and groundedness. Nadi shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) with a breath retention followed by a mental nadi shodhana practice.

Guiding breath with you attention.

Props suggested: A blanket or cushion to sit on.

Transcript

Welcome to your practice.

My name is Hayley Rose and this is a guided meditation and pranayama practice to bring you back to your center so that you can move through your day with a little more balance and a little more groundedness.

Whether you are just beginning your day or going to sleep you can move through with a little more ease.

So when you are ready you can make your way into your comfortable seat.

Making sure that your spine is tall,

Your shoulders,

Your face,

The whole outer shell of the body can be soft and relaxed.

If you haven't already you can allow the veil of the eyelids to gently close,

Cast your gaze down.

And then we begin today by bringing your hands to meet palm to palm and lifting your thumbs up so that they rest in the middle of the forehead,

Your third eye center.

And with the hands together just let them be soft like you are holding something delicate.

And focus your attention towards the middle of the brain.

And you might invite a sense of spaciousness to your center line.

And as you breathe,

Breathe symmetry into your lungs,

Into your limbs,

Into both sides of your brain.

Feeling the central channel in the body and allowing the breath to move evenly in both directions.

Taking another deep breath in and as you exhale release your hands and just bring the prayer to heart center.

And if there is a piece of you that feels like has been given away,

If you have given responsibility or power for your emotions to someone else,

Just call it back into your body now.

Feeling yourself centered and grounded in your physical form.

Just gently take a deep breath in through the nose.

Open the mouth,

Let it go.

Two more like that,

A deeper breath in.

A longer sigh out.

This time your deepest breath in today.

Your longest sigh out and release your hands gently down onto your knees,

Palms face down.

And just let your breath be natural,

Let it be even.

And then slowly I'd like you to take your tongue and place it on the roof of your mouth behind your two front teeth.

And from that point draw a line directly back along the upper palate until you find that soft squishy palate.

And just apply a little bit of pressure here so that your attention accumulates.

And then you can release your tongue back to rest in your mouth.

And then from that point,

From that soft upper palate,

Guide your attention directly upwards until you arrive in the very middle,

Middle of the brain.

And you might feel or see or sense just a warm light here.

And for me this is the most direct doorway to the middle of the brain that I have found.

And as you feel or sense the light,

Just breathe into it.

Each breath nourishing.

Filling the whole space.

And then with your right hand,

Turn the palm over to face up.

And with the first two fingers fold them down towards the base of your thumb.

So your thumb and your ring finger are free.

You'll use your thumb to block the right nostril.

You'll use your ring finger to block the left nostril and we will alternately breathe through each nostril.

So you can rest your hands on the cartilage of the nose,

Your fingers rather.

And this will be your neutral point for alternate nostril breathing,

Nadi Shodhana.

You don't need to lift the fingers off,

You can just let them rest and apply a little bit of pressure each time you close the nostril.

Taking a breath in through both nostrils open.

And a breath out through both nostrils.

Close your right nostril,

Inhale through the left,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Pause and hold,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Release the thumb,

Exhale right,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Inhale right nostril,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Pause in the middle of the brain,

Hold,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Exhale left,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Inhale left nostril,

Guiding the attention up to the middle,

Middle of the brain.

Pause and hold here.

Exhaling midbrain out right nostril,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Inhaling right nostril to the middle of the brain.

Pause and block both,

Hold.

Exhaling midbrain out left nostril.

Inhaling left side.

Pause and hold the attention at the middle,

Middle of the brain.

Exhaling midbrain out right nostril.

Inhaling right nostril.

Pause and block both,

Hold.

Exhaling left.

Inhaling left side.

Pause and hold in the middle of the brain.

Exhale out the right.

Inhale right.

Pause and hold.

Inhale left.

In left.

Pause and hold.

Exhale right.

Exhale right.

Pause and hold.

Exhale left.

Just continuing like this on your own.

You can adjust the length of the breath to better suit your lungs.

We just continue feeling the breath move in one nostril.

Accumulate at the middle,

Middle of the brain.

And as you change sides,

You exhale from the middle of the brain out the opposite nostril.

And you might start to feel or see the breath like an upside down V.

Travelling in through one side,

Accumulating at the apex in the middle of the brain.

And then from the middle of the brain out the other side.

Very clear,

Very directional breath.

Taking three more full rounds of Nadi Sharada like this in and out through both sides.

Not rushing,

Not hurrying.

And then after your third exhale on the right side,

You will continue Nadi Sharada without your hand.

So you can release your right hand down to your knee.

And just continue with your mind's eye to direct the breath in through one nostril to the very middle of the brain.

And from the middle of the brain out the opposite nostril.

And over time we've created the neural pathway the mind knows,

The breath knows.

And you get a feel for what it is like to direct prana,

To direct life force energy with your mind.

And if you've lost track just start again.

Following your breath with your mind's eye.

Very clear,

Very directional breath.

Finding that upside down V in the apex in the middle,

Middle of the brain.

Finish the round that you're on,

Take one more full round after that.

No rush.

And when you've completed your final round you can release the technique and just breathe naturally.

And as you rebound back to your center,

Back to your natural rhythm can you feel once more the symmetry of the breath,

The spaciousness in the very middle of the brain.

Gently bring your hands to meet palm to palm one more time,

Thumbs to the forehead.

Gently bow head to heart,

Chin to chest.

In the deepest gratitude for the truth of the practice,

For the way in which it brings us back to our true selves over and over.

Thank you all of the teachers that have come before and to the greatest teacher that which is the self.

Hands to your heart.

Thank you all for practicing.

Have a beautiful day.

Reviews

Crystal clear guidance, unhurried and gentle. I found it very helpful to combine the visualisation of symmetry and the centre of my brain with movements and the breath. This is a meditation I'll return to. Thank you 🙏

So beautifully done! Thank you! Your guidance was just what I needed to embrace and learn how to do alternative nostril breathing! I believe that touching my tongue to the roof of my mouth is also good for healing my hypothyroid, as I read elsewhere. I will be using this meditation again! & coming back to it whenever I need a refresher or a reminder of how to do alternative nostril breathing🙂🙏🏼✨️💓

Very calming. Liked the visualization of breathing into the midbrain. Thanks for posting ♥️♥️♥️♥️