Welcome to this five-minute breath practice.
My name is Indra and I'll guide you through this session today.
This is a practice you can return to daily to bring yourself back to balance,
Whether in the middle of your day or as a way to unwind before sleep.
A few minutes of conscious breathing can shift your whole inner state.
So take a comfortable seat or lie down.
Relax your shoulders.
Let your hands land wherever they naturally do.
Lengthen your spine and settle in.
Feel the points of contact beneath you.
The seat,
The floor,
The support holding your body.
Allow the world around you to fade by bringing your awareness to your natural breath.
There's nothing to change yet.
Just notice your inhale and exhale.
Where does your breath begin?
How deep does it feel today?
Notice that soft pause at the top and the gentle release of your exhale.
Flow through a few cycles of natural breath,
Being curious and observing it.
Find yourself feeling more present with every inhale and more relaxed with every exhale.
Notice the coolness of the inhale and the warmth of the exhale.
Keep breathing.
Feel the breath travel through you like a gentle wave.
Inhaling and exhaling.
And now we'll start shaping the breath gently.
Inviting more space into the body.
Begin to deepen your breath.
Inhale from the depths of your belly.
Let the breath rise through your chest all the way to the collarbones and exhale through the nose completely.
Inhale from the belly,
Lift the breath into the chest,
Feel the side ribs expand and exhale smooth and steady.
Keep going.
Inhale deeply,
Let the ribcage expand,
Feel the breath in the back body all the way to the top and exhale completely.
Once more.
Inhale fully,
Expand through the whole ribcage,
Lift the breath all the way to the top and exhale all the way out.
Now we start adding gentle pauses.
Inhale,
Belly,
Chest,
Collarbones,
Pause at the top.
Exhale fully,
Feeling the belly contract at the end.
Inhale,
Belly,
Chest,
Top of the lungs,
Pause.
Exhale completely,
Empty,
Empty,
Empty.
Inhale,
Belly,
Chest,
Collarbones,
Pause.
Exhale and pause at the bottom.
Notice the stillness.
Inhale,
Sip the air in from the belly to the chest through the side ribs all the way to the top.
Pause,
Feel the expansion.
Exhale,
Release completely.
Pause in the emptiness.
One last round.
Inhale from the depths of the belly,
Feel fully to the sides and the top.
Pause,
Relax.
Exhale,
Release it all.
Pause at the bottom.
To recover,
Take one more deep breath in and a long,
Full breath out through the mouth.
One more just like that.
Inhale deeply and exhale,
Letting everything go.
Return to your natural breath.
Notice the spaciousness you created.
No control,
No shaping,
Just breath as it is.
Notice how your body feels right now.
Notice your mind.
When you're ready,
Bring your awareness back to the room,
Back to your surroundings.
Gently remember where you are,
Where you're going next.
