Welcome once again.
It's great to be with you.
So today we will practice the power of the breath that will help us amplify the power of the heart,
Thereby making us more and more unshakable.
So again,
As we have,
Let's become aware of the breath and allow the mind to settle.
And you guessed it,
We'll become aware of the heart seeing the heart in our chest as a sun.
And with every breath,
Allowing the heart to shine more and more effortlessly,
Because this is what it does.
The heart shines.
And with every breath,
We become more and more aware of the heart and its presence as a warm golden sun.
And regardless of whether the mind is moving,
The heart still shines.
So our work is to become simply aware.
With every breath,
We become more and more aware of the heart.
And one way that we can become aware of the heart is to express our gratitude.
So notice something that we might be grateful for.
Perhaps it's a quality of our life or someone or something in our life that we don't notice typically.
Or maybe it's something so obvious we could not not be grateful for it.
And allowing this quality to enhance our perception of our heart.
The openness of the heart like a flower blooming at dawn.
Or a soft wind across a summer meadow.
Or a gentle breeze across a still pond.
The heart's steady presence makes itself known in the stillness and the silence.
And we will enhance the quality of the heart by using two breath practices.
The first breath practice is called Kapalabhati,
Which translates to skull shining.
In this breath,
We'll rest the hands on the knees.
And it will be a strong breath with our focus on the exhale from the diaphragm,
Exhaling out of the nose with the mouth closed.
The nostrils will be flared.
And if we wish,
The eyes can be closed and rolled up pointing towards the space between the eyebrows.
It's a strong forceful breath where we focus on the exhale and the inhale happens naturally between the breath.
And we'll practice for about a minute,
Starting slowly and getting stronger and stronger.
Let's begin.
Keep going as fast as we can.
And relax the breath,
Fully relaxing,
Allowing the opening to occur and allowing the silence and the stillness to overtake us for a minute,
Bringing the awareness back to the breath over and over again,
Patiently,
Kindly,
And allowing ourselves to be breathed,
Opening ourselves to life and its essence,
Opening ourselves to the heart from within us,
Accepting everything fully,
Surrendering and allowing in our humility.
And now we'll practice another conscious breath technique,
Which we may simply call conscious breathing,
In which we'll take a long inhale,
Hold for a moment or two,
An extended exhale and hold for a moment or two,
And continue this breath pattern for a few minutes.
Very simply,
Very easily,
Let us begin inhaling,
Holding,
Exhaling,
Holding,
Inhaling,
Holding,
Exhaling,
Holding,
Inhaling,
Holding,
Exhaling,
Holding,
Inhaling,
Holding,
Exhaling,
Holding.
And now as you continue to breathe,
We'll bring a technique called Ujjayi breathing,
Where we close the back of the throat ever so slightly to create an ocean sound.
So in your cycle of breathing,
Simply bring the Ujjayi layer to the breath.
And we can return to our natural breathing,
Returning to the presence of the heart and its vulnerability,
Experiencing the infinite power of love and its tenderness,
Surrendering,
Allowing,
Accepting,
Humbly.
And in gratitude,
We bow.
