Welcome to your daily practice.
Today we will be exploring the three-part breath otherwise known as Durga Pranayama.
So from here sitting comfortably,
Spine can be tall,
Shoulders are soft.
You can close your eyes just to be able to tune into the breath.
Take a deep breath in through the nose and as you exhale soften the shoulders,
Soften the jaw,
The forehead.
Let's do that again.
Deep breath in and exhale.
Now as you continue breathing I want you just to mentally visualize that the torso is broken up into three components,
Three equal pieces.
And so the first third may start from the lower abdominals all the way up to or just maybe one inch above the navel.
And then the second third is from the navel just up to midway up the rib cage.
And then the final third is located at the top of the chest.
And so these sections are associated with particular parts of your body.
So the first being focused on the abdominals,
The second being your diaphragm,
And then the third and final piece being your chest.
What we're gonna do now is pay attention to the breath and where it travels to,
Always aiming to fill all three sections,
Almost like you have a basin that you're trying to fill with water instead the water is your breath.
And as you exhale we're emptying that particular basin so we will go down from the top down the second third and then finishing down until it's empty.
Okay so as you bring your awareness to this visual and your breath take a deep breath in filling up all the way to the top and exhale to empty.
And now taking your hands and placing them on the abdominals to start so just around that location of the navel and just below and inhale feeling your hands gently push away as you take the breath in filling up two-thirds and whole and then exhale release from the chest release from the diaphragm release until empty.
And let's do it again inhale filling up three parts full and expansive and exhale letting go three two and one to empty this time moving the hands to the ribs so the thumbs are perhaps towards the back and the fingers are let have landed onto the ribs and taking another breath in here and you might feel the ribs gently push away as you take that breath in and then on the exhale the chest releases the ribs and then the base release.
Let's do that again deep breath in one third two thirds three and then exhaling three two and one and lastly bringing the hands to the chest so almost as if your hands are like your lungs resting on the top of the chest and remembering to fill up all the way to the collarbones so inhale to the belly ribs and up to the collarbones and exhale softening three two and one.
Let's do that one more time inhale one two thirds and filling up collarbones might gently rise or push away on the fingertips and then exhale releasing three two ribs retracting and done.
You can continue on for ten rounds and practice this by visualizing filling up a cup or like I said a basin in three parts and placing the hands alongside the different parts of your torso to really connect with each part.
This is a great accessible exercise that you can integrate into any part of your day or into your yoga practice as well.
Wishing you peace joy and happiness.
