Breath Work & Meditation On The Keys To Walking Your Path

Maybe at times you’ve wished life came with an owner’s manual that would show you exactly where you are, where you are going to end up, and how all the parts work together to serve a purpose. In this session with breath work and guided meditation, Jay Chodagam has shared a few things that most people don't tell you about awakening and what it takes to be truly happy.

Transcript

I'm going to guide you through about three exercises,

Three breathwork exercises.

I ask that you go ahead and please downshift your gaze or close your eyes,

Whatever you feel comfortable.

And I ask that you attain something called Vayu Mudra.

So this is a exercise where your hands are not really going to be doing much today.

So go ahead and take,

Make the tips of your index finger touch the tip of your thumb.

And the other fingers are open.

Go ahead and rest your arms on your lap,

On the arm rest next to you.

Or if you're lying down,

It could be on the floor.

I ask that you start by taking some deep belly breaths.

I'm asking you to use your diaphragm to expand and collapse as you're taking inhales and exhales.

Making sure that your spine is straight,

Your shoulders are dropped,

Your jaw is unclenched.

Allowing the air to go deep into the abdomen.

Just like when you see a baby sleeping very peacefully,

You'll see the rise and the collapse of the abdomen.

Making sure that your exhale is slightly longer than your inhale.

A lot of times when we talk about breathwork,

This emphasis,

An ignorance of emphasis on the inhalation.

The inhalation is tied to your sympathetic nervous system,

Which is the stress response.

Whereas the exhalation is tied to your parasympathetic nervous system,

Which is your rest and digest part of your autonomous nervous system.

So next time you're feeling any little bit stressed,

Any sense of anxiety,

Go ahead and focus on making the exhale slightly longer.

When I say longer than what?

Count of five in,

Count of eight out.

Allowing the air to flow freely as you are relaxing every part of your body,

Especially your core,

Making sure your core is softened.

Allowing this air to go nice and deep as you notice your belly button ebbing and flowing just like the tides.

It stretches away from the spine as you're inhaling and then drops back towards the spine upon exhale.

Maybe even exaggerated a little bit,

Pushing the belly button away with each inhale and pulling it towards the spine with an exhale.

It's best recommended that the inhalation happens through the nostrils.

Exhalations can happen either through the nose or through the mouth.

Allowing this nice flow,

Five in and eight out,

To become natural before we move on to the next part of this pranayama,

The ancient wisdom of breath work.

To breathe nice and steady like this,

You'll notice that your body begins to relax.

Your mind begins to slow down.

Your heart rate begins to reach a natural,

Healthy rate.

Your blood pressure reduces.

And this is the beginning of your immunity being strengthened.

So many benefits with the simple act that we take for granted each day.

This act of breathing nice and deep with a focus on the exhale.

Now in this next exercise,

It's a three-part breathing.

I want you to fill the belly for the first part,

Then focus on flaring out the rib cage like the gills of a fish.

And then the third part of the same breath inhalation,

Where the upper part of the chest and shoulders expand,

Moving out.

And then let it all out,

Relaxing,

Revitalizing,

And you're automatically removing toxins from your body.

So let's go ahead and do this three-part exercise with one inhale.

You're going to first expand the belly,

Moving upwards into the rib cage,

Flaring out.

And then to the upper part of your chest,

Opening up.

And then let it all go.

Let's repeat this a few more times.

Inhalation,

First part into the belly.

Second into the rib cage.

Third into the upper chest and shoulders opening up.

And then let's let it go with a sigh.

Inhale into the belly,

The rib cage,

The upper chest.

Let it all out.

Again into the belly,

Into the rib cage,

Into the upper shoulders,

Into the chest area.

And out.

Now this time,

I want you to go ahead and hold your breath.

And the way we're going to do it is we're going to start by again,

Five in,

Eight out,

And hold at the bottom of the lungs for ten seconds.

We can all do that.

Ten seconds is totally doable.

Three,

Two,

One,

Inhale for a count of five.

Exhale for a count of eight.

And this time hold for twelve.

I'll do the counting,

You just do the holding.

We can all do that.

Twelve is totally doable.

Three,

Two,

One,

Inhale.

Exhale for a count of eight.

And this time let's hold for fourteen.

We can do it together.

Hold for fourteen.

Three,

Two,

One,

And inhale.

Exhale for eight.

And hold this time for sixteen.

I'll do the counting,

You just do the holding.

Trust yourself you can do this.

Three,

Two,

One,

Inhale.

Exhale.

And hold this time for a count of eighteen.

We can do it.

Three,

Two,

One,

Nice deep inhale.

Exhale for a count of eight.

And hold this time for twenty.

Count of twenty.

I'll do the counting again.

You just do the holding.

And believe it,

You can do it.

If you simply cannot,

It's okay to go ahead and take the inhale.

But for most of us,

We will be able to do it,

We should be able to do it,

And it has tremendous benefit when you do it.

Three,

Two,

One,

Inhale.

Fabulous.

Now I love your breathing to go back to the regular cadence of five in and eight out without the pause.

Now breathing in through the nose and noticing your belly rise.

Try to keep your chest still as you're inhaling and exhaling.

So I'm loving this to be truly belly breathing.

Originating in your diaphragm.

That's the muscle that controls the opening and the closing of your abdominal cavity.

When you practice this kind of deep belly breathing every day,

Even for just ten minutes,

You'll start beginning to see the benefits it has known to be a way to relieve pain in the body because there's a deep connection between your posture,

Your spine,

And your diaphragm.

The muscle of the diaphragm is connected to your rib cage,

Is connected to the spine.

And so when you learn to breathe nice and deep like this,

Using your belly versus using your chest,

You're automatically straightening out the posture.

You're reducing the pain in the body.

Like I said earlier,

The diaphragm has a deep connection with the activities of the brain and the body.

So you're regulating your vital signs to become reach a normal healthy state.

Now as we move into the matters of the heart,

Keep your eyes closed and feel into the sensations in the body.

As we've reduced our activity in the brain,

Now you can focus a little bit more on how you're feeling,

Turning your attention from that world outside into the world within.

And bringing your attention to a soft focus on the region of the third eye.

Your body knows what to do.

The breathing has become not natural.

So let's give something for the brain,

For the mind to focus on.

And let yourself rest your attention on the seat of consciousness.

This body is my costume and I am the eternal traveler.

And sometimes I forget that.

I'm caught up in the drama of life.

I forget who I am,

Where I came from and what's mine to do.

And at such times,

Maybe you wished that life came with an owner's manual that will show you exactly where you are,

Where you're going to end up and how all parts work together to serve a purpose.

So along my journey and search for purpose in my life,

I've learned a few things that I'm going to share with you.

And these are things that most people don't tell you as you're growing up,

As you embark on this journey,

As you're in the process of awakening.

Awakening to be truly happy.

The first is that the only way to find yourself is to completely lose your way.

From where you came,

Everything made sense.

To where you're going,

Nothing makes sense.

This is life.

This is the way.

You might even feel like you're losing your mind when you begin to come alive to your life and discover that what you have been doing just isn't going to cut it any longer.

You might actually end up losing the things you worked so hard for.

You might stand to lose a few of the most precious things in this process.

Second,

When you are lost,

The things that worked for you once will stop working for you.

Have you ever heard the expression,

Jump and the net will appear?

Well,

The reality is life looks more like this.

And as you jump off the cliff,

You take a leap of faith,

Risk everything and go for it.

And you'll trip.

You will fall.

You will stumble.

You'll get scuffed up on your elbows.

You'll cut up your hands.

You'll grasp,

Clutch and scream on the way down,

Wondering if you're ever going to survive the fear of the fall.

And then after breaking through a few safety nets,

Falling into the deepest darkness of the abyss,

You will enter into the complete unknown.

You will find where the treasures lie.

Bringing us to number three,

You will find a new way,

Your way.

You will try others' ways and they won't work for you.

You will find your way,

The only way that is meant for only you.

And your way is uniquely designed for you.

And only you can find this way.

Most people are afraid.

Be careful of others who give you quick fix advice or try to sell you a ten step strategy for happiness.

There is no quick fix and it is difficult to find your own unique way,

But there is nothing more rewarding you can spend your time doing in this lifetime.

Most people have never done the great thing in their life that you're attempting to do.

And so they're scared of what it means if you accomplish what you've set out to do.

Because that means you might still have to do the thing that they are meant to do and that is too scary.

Bringing us to number five,

Do not expect perfection.

Do not aim for perfection.

The expectation of perfection,

Of total security,

Of knowing all things before they happen and how your life will unfold,

If achieved,

Would create a state of stagnancy beyond which there would be no further growth.

Realistically,

There is no such state that exists,

A state of having arrived into that state of perfection.

Number six,

True wealth is an absolute knowing that everything you need is within you.

How we become truly wealthy is different for each and every one of us.

And how we define our own personal wealth is incredibly important to spend time defining so that we may make sure that we are in alignment with our own personal truth while making money so that we have the capacity to sustain it while enjoying ourselves.

This is freedom.

Number seven,

The ability to reframe failure and not take yourself so seriously at times will be exactly what propels you towards living a more extraordinary life.

It will be what will set you apart from the rest who are too afraid to try and fail and therefore will never truly know or understand who they are and what makes them happy.

So sit with those things that were deemed failure and ask yourself,

What is the lesson?

How has that shaped me?

Reframe the narrative.

Number eight,

Arriving at your destination is not the point.

You will come to learn that fulfillment,

Life purpose and happiness is in who you become and who you become as a result of following your heart and the process of making welcome in your life,

Your unique destiny and fulfilling that which you and only you were meant to fulfill in the first place.

To really learn about yourself,

Be Ludwig of the universe and remember of tracks running through them.

I want you to please bring your palms together in prayer position at your heart center.

And I want you to please rub your palms against each other.

The palms are an energy vortex in your body and as you embrace them you're igniting the chi or the prana for life giving the healing energy.

And when you feel a nice warm ball of this chi I want you to go ahead and apply cupping one eye with one palm.

Hold your palms on your eyes and blessing yourself letting this chi percolate through you.

And blessing yourself that may clarity reign in my mind.

May love reign in my heart.

May health reign in my body.

And may the obstacles in my life be removed.

May I know the fear that comes with following my path but do it anyway.

Creating a life that's uniquely mine.

Defining success that is my own.

And not succumbing to following the crowd.

And now I ask that you please go ahead and put your palms facing outwards as if you're sending a blessing out into the world.

And imagine there is someone,

Some people or some place that could really use this blessing right now.

And I want to visualize,

I want you to visualize that person,

People or place.

And send a blessing as if it was a beam of light that is emerging from your heart shining towards that person,

People or place.

May their obstacles be removed.

May they find true joy.

May health reign in their bodies.

Clarity reign in their mind.

And love reign in their hearts.

And bring your palms back together in prayer position at your heart center.

And take a bow of gratitude for what we have received.

And notice how you're feeling right now.

Notice how you're feeling right now compared to when you joined us 35 minutes ago.

And if you could summarize how you're feeling right now in one word,

What would that be?

I ask that you please share that one word in the comments.

Reviews

Incredibly beautiful and powerful.
Much gratitude to you 🙏
One word that came up…relief🩷

Really interesting the breathing part, lovely the message, about the world at the end of this meditation? Lighter! ❤️ Probably ready to do that jump!

That was powerful. I feel like I’m falling thru safety nets into the darkness and this left me optimistic nonetheless.

Inspired

Amaaaaaaziiiing
This is the best in a long long time.

Thank you for this incredible meditation. Feeling of love and total being. Inner peace for all beings. Thank you for that amazing journey

Lighter, blessed by having such a great meditation teacher! Namaste!

I have more than one word, but peace stands out. Many thanks, very centering practice. ☮️💖🙏🖖

Wonderful morning self love ❤️ meditation 🧘🏻‍♀️ and happy feelings soaring Thru me like clouds ⛅️ thanks 🙏🏼 Om Shanti 😇

Absolutely great. I’m feeling relieved and so happy, and I know I’m on my way. Jay, your meditations are so powerful. Being grateful.

Thank you for this exceptional everlasting gift ❤️💫💫💫💫💫

Beautiful. It helped to get be out of my head and into my body and ❤.

Grateful. I adored this practice, thank you so much 🙏

Peace

Beautiful practice. Thank you for holding this space. My one word is clear.

Content

Peaceful

Wow..so beautiful! Thank you so much!!!

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