Practice Session | Inner Flute Breathing

In this practice session we will use the 'inner flute' breathing technique, also called Sushumna breathing. In this practice you'll guide the energy through your body by using the breath. Gently letting the energy flow through your body will help the body to soften and open. Stuck energy can loosen its grip and you can experience relaxation and a sense of surrender; flowing freely in whatever way your vital energy expresses itself.

Transcript

Welcome in this practice session.

Today's practice will be the Shushumna breathing or the inner flute breathing.

And you will use the breath to guide your energy through the body.

And this might give you a sense of relief,

Relaxation,

Softening of the body,

Opening the body.

On the physical body level but also on the subtle body level.

I will guide you through the whole practice step by step,

So you can just relax and follow my guidance.

So to prepare yourself for this practice it's good to set your space,

To find yourself a nice spot where you can lay down.

Preferably on the floor.

With a thin pillow under your head.

And you might get cold on the way,

So it might be a good idea to have a blanket.

So take some time to prepare your space,

Maybe lit a candle.

If you like music you can play some soft music in the background.

So then you can come lay on your back.

You can start in a Shavasana position,

So you can stretch your legs out on the floor.

A little bit wider than hip width.

Your arms by your side or your hands on your belly.

Really settling in,

In this moment.

Finding your body resting here on the floor.

On the earth.

Maybe you have a sense of surrendering to the earth below.

And you can feel the surrendering to the earth below.

And then you can gently bend your knees and place your feet hip width on the floor.

So if you are wearing socks,

Maybe you can take them off so you will have a little bit more grip.

Otherwise you have to tense your body to keep your feet in place.

So find a position that is relaxed.

By bending your knees and placing your feet on the floor you will have a little bit more space in your body and your hip area and your pelvis to move.

Then bring your attention to your breathing.

As it is right now.

Just watching your breath for a moment.

And take a few deep inhalations and exhalations.

To really arrive here relax your body.

An opening for this practice.

So in a moment we will start the breathing technique.

And we will guide our breath and our energy through the central channel.

So inside of our body is a central channel from the pelvic floor.

And we will start with our breathing technique.

And we will guide our breath and our energy from the pelvic floor,

Your perineum.

All the way up to the crown of your head.

Just a little bit in front of your spine.

So maybe you can bring your attention to this central channel,

To the Shushumna or the inner flute.

And maybe immediately you will feel something.

You will feel the energy.

This channel.

But it is also very possible that you don't feel anything.

You just visualize this inner channel,

This central channel.

So in your next inhalation you can visualize that you take the breath in your body through your perineum.

So you breathe in through the perineum.

And you breathe out through the perineum.

So this is the start of the inner flute breathing.

Just to connect to this,

To your pelvic floor,

To your perineum,

To the central channel.

And breathing as if you breathe in through the perineum and maybe guide your breath a little bit up in the central channel.

And on the exhalation you let the breath go out of your body,

Out of your perineum.

So take some time to connect to that area.

And see if you can breathe in and out through the mouth.

And as humans we like to feel immediately all kinds of sensations in our body.

But most of the time,

Especially if you are new to this technique you will not feel anything.

So you just gently work with this practice,

Work with this technique.

Very open to whatever outcome.

We are not working towards anything.

We are just exploring our energy,

Our breath,

Our body.

So the next inhalation you can intensify a little bit.

So you suck the breath in as if you are sucking through a straw.

Sucking the breath in through the perineum,

Guiding your breath up in the central channel.

And then on the exhalation you let go with a sigh.

And let the breath out through the perineum.

So you can do this a couple of times,

Sucking the breath in and out.

And our breath is the carrier of our energy,

Our prana.

So by breathing in the central channel you will give space to the energy to flow through the central channel.

So you breathe in through the perineum.

Guide the breath and your energy up in the central channel.

Maybe it goes all the way up to your crown.

And then out again.

And we slow down.

We slowly build up this practice.

So in the next inhalation,

When you breathe in you can contract the muscles of your mula bandha as if you have to hold your pee.

So you breathe in through the mouth,

Sucking the breath in.

Closing mula bandha.

And then exhale.

Opening your whole pelvic floor,

Really relaxing.

And you can add something if it works for you.

It's your exploration,

Your body and your moment.

So every inner fluid breathing can be different.

Even if you already did this practice for many many many times you will notice that every practice is different.

So what you can add is a gentle rocking of the pelvis.

So on your inhalation you rock your pelvis a little bit to the back so your tailbone is on the floor and the low back is a little bit hollow.

And on the exhalation you rock your pelvis to the front,

Opening your whole pelvic floor,

Relaxing letting the breath and the energy go out.

So inhale suck the breath in,

Close your mula bandha and rock the pelvis to the back and exhale.

And see if you can loosen the whole body,

So maybe other parts of your body start to move a little bit and it's perfectly ok.

So don't control anything.

So breathing in through the mouth,

Sucking the breath in guiding your breath and your energy through the central channel maybe all the way up to the crown of your head and maybe out through the crown and then all the way back breathe out with a sigh,

Opening your pelvic floor relaxing,

Rocking the pelvis to the front and gently caressing the inside of your body with your breath with your energy so allowing the energy to flow through You might notice some effects in your body without looking for any,

But there is a possibility that you will notice some trembling or tingling in your body,

Some physical sensations or maybe some contractions in your body,

It's perfectly ok and normal.

It means that some energy that was stuck comes loose so see if you can allow all the sensations in your body to be there and just gently guide your energy maybe some emotions come up sometimes tears will flow or maybe anger arises,

It's also possible that some stuck energy comes loose and expresses itself in a forceful energy,

Maybe some sounds will arise,

And so don't keep anything in don't control anything without holding on to any effects in the body or any emotions,

At the same time you allow all the emotions to be there and to flow through and to express itself as it needs to be expressed and felt and you keep doing this breathing technique,

Sucking in the breath closing Mula Bandha rocking the pelvis to the back and out opening your pelvic floor,

Relaxing and it might also feel very joyful or sensual so also allow yourself to feel these sensations without any gripping or holding on just allow yourself to flow freely normally we really want to keep our contracted state,

Our contracted emotions we want to keep that inside of us,

It's quite scary to let go of control and allowing all these emotions to be there,

But also our expensiveness or our sensuality it's quite difficult to let that go and really allow ourselves to feel that so it's just natural energy flowing through the body as humans we add the judgement what is right or wrong what is nice or not nice what should be there or not so in this practice you just breathe and let the energy flow through and allow all the expressions of your vital energy to be there without looking for anything in particular so just for another minute we will breathe the shushumna breathing,

The inner flute breathing and if you notice that you hold yourself back that's your normal pattern maybe you can see if you can intensify it,

Just to explore what will happen just see if you can open yourself,

Open the flow and if you notice that you are really looking for something and doing your best to get certain results,

Then ease up a little bit just make it gentle,

Sometimes it can be very subtle this practice very subtle and gentle but at the same time full and intense relax the face relax the jaw and then slowly you let go of the technique and you let the breath find her natural rhythm and you let the breath find her natural rhythm and you let the breath find her natural rhythm and maybe you like to stretch your legs out on the floor in shavasana surrendering to the floor,

The weight of your body and gently aware of the sensations in your body and gently aware of the sensations in your body and gently aware of the sensations in your body,

The whole field of sensations and in a moment I will ring the bell and you can take all the time you need to get to the top of the floor,

The top of the floor for a little bit of space and you can start to feel the energy and then you can feel the energy take all the time you need to stretch your body a little bit,

Start with wiggling your toes and your fingers.

But maybe you want to lay down for a little while longer if you have the time.

So thank you for practicing together.

Reviews

Beautiful and peaceful way to start the day. This practice allowed me to connect with very subtle sensations moving through the channel & body. I feel peaceful and connected.

This practice was new to me and I found it to be engaging and relaxing.