Breathwork Practice For Mind And Body Well-Being

This is a breathwork practice that will take you through a few breathing techniques to help you breathe a little easier. The breath is the life force in our bodies and this practice will guide you to better use your breath to cultivate more awareness, focus, and greater flow in your mind and body.

Transcript

Welcome to your breathwork practice for today.

So as I mention a lot,

The breath is the life force in your body and it can have a profound impact on your mind and your body.

So today I'm going to take you through a breathwork practice which helps to calm your mind and body and we all need more calm in our busy lives.

So this is going to be a practice where I will add a count to your breath.

So if you have a busy mind,

And I know I do,

Adding a count to your breath is a great way to help focus your mind on your breath as well.

So it's a little trick I use to help to calm my mind down and distract myself from my thoughts so that I focus on my breath.

And this is also a great breathing technique to also do in the evenings when you are trying to wind down and if you can feel that your monkey mind is starting to get carried away,

This is the type of breathwork practice that is a great one to do in the evenings as you are lying in bed to help calm down your mind.

And as I said,

The breath has a profound impact on your mind and body.

A lot of the time we only breathe up into our chest and often that just exacerbates our stress even more because we just keep breathing into our chest and upper chest.

We don't actually use our breath all the way down into our bellies.

So today we're going to do some of that breathwork practice and teach you one of the techniques that I use to help calm my own busy mind.

So I will take you through that practice.

I'm also going to add a mantra to our breath today too.

So a mantra again is a fantastic way to help focus and centre your mind.

And the mantra that I'm going to use today is a very simple one,

I am.

So I will direct you through this.

So in yogic philosophy they say that I am are the two most important words that you can use because whatever words that you use to follow I am will dictate your destiny and your future and the life that you live.

So words are very powerful.

So this is a simple mantra that I use to help just ground myself and centre my mind.

So I will take you through that practice as well.

So we will get started with adding a count to our breath and then I'll take you through a mantra in this practice.

So get into a comfortable position.

Let's get started.

So again you can do this breath work in a seated position.

So you can come into a cross-legged position.

You can also do it lying down.

And if you replay this video you can do it in the evenings as well and it's a great one to do as you drift off to sleep.

So you can lie down or come into a comfortable seated position.

Just make sure your shoulders are relaxed.

Take just an exhale now and gently just relax those shoulders.

We carry a lot of tension in our shoulders so relax the shoulders.

Just lengthen up through the spine as well.

Lengthen up through that crown of the head.

Just starting to settle into your space.

Do one final little wriggle.

Just coming into stillness.

Gently closing your eyes.

And just taking your attention just to the tip of your nose and just focusing on that inhale and that exhale.

And just observe your breath.

Just taking these first few moments just to observe what your breath feels like as you're inhaling and exhaling.

Just noticing if your breath feels jagged or smooth.

If it feels easier to inhale or exhale.

Just noticing all of these observations with your breath.

Just breathing in and out through your nose.

And now gently start to deepen your breath.

Now as you're breathing in,

Just feel your breath as it's entering in through your nostrils and flowing down into your chest and then exhaling out.

And see if you can deepen your breath a little bit more.

On your next inhale,

See if you can breathe in and take your breath right down to your diaphragm or into your belly and then exhaling out.

See if you can draw that breath,

Inviting it right down into your belly.

This helps with starting to ground your energy as well.

If you spend a lot of time up in your head,

Deep breathing is a great way to help calm your mind and balance your energy.

Taking a few more breaths here.

And then gently just coming back to your natural breath.

Just do your inhale and exhale.

Just continuing to breathe through your nose.

We're going to add a count to your breath.

So we're going to inhale for a count of four and we're going to exhale for a count of four.

So inhaling,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And then exhaling,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And just complete this at your own breath.

Just for a few rounds,

Just breathing in for four and out for four.

And taking your awareness and your attention to your breath.

And depending on how your breath is feeling today,

You may just wish to stay here at this point,

Breathing in for four and out for four.

But if you want to explore your breath a little bit more,

You can add one more count to your exhale.

So inhale for a count of four and then exhale for a count of five.

So inhaling,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And then exhaling for one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Just repeating this at your own time.

Inhaling for a count of four and exhaling for a count of five.

Just exploring your breath and extending that exhale.

And if at any time it feels too much,

You can just come back to your natural breath.

Just exploring your breath,

Lengthening it through your exhale.

And if you wish,

You can see if you can extend your exhale by one more.

So you are inhaling for a count of four and exhaling for a count of six.

Really starting to lengthen that exhale now.

Just exploring that breath,

Seeing if you can really lengthen that exhale out.

And again,

You can stay here if you wish.

Or on your next few rounds,

See if you can explore your exhale to a count of seven or even a count of eight.

And just continue on your own breath.

Just this round of breathing.

Inhaling for a count of four and then exhaling for a count of six,

Seven or eight.

And remember at any time,

If you feel that you are just stretching your breath too much,

Just come back to your natural breath,

Just to your natural inhale and exhale.

You know your body,

You know your breath.

Just inhaling and exhaling,

Lengthening out your breath,

Slowing down your breath.

And just completing this for two more rounds in your own time.

And when you have completed your second round,

Come back just to a natural breathing pattern.

That is just your inhale and exhale.

And just observe how your breath is feeling,

Your mind is feeling,

Your body is feeling after that breath work practice.

Just taking a couple of moments.

And then on your next inhale,

I want you to start with the mantra.

So inhaling I,

Exhaling am.

Inhale I,

Exhale am.

I am.

Breathing in I,

Exhaling am.

It's a simple mantra that you can use,

That you can add to your breath work practice.

Inhaling I,

Exhaling am.

Exhaling am.

If you want to do the Sanskrit words you can.

They are so hum.

So inhaling so,

Exhaling hum.

So hum.

I am.

So hum.

Or I am.

Just breathing in a few more times.

And then one more round.

And then exhaling.

And just coming back to your natural breath.

I'm going to gently start to close this breath work practice.

With two techniques that I've just shared with you there.

You can watch this video and listen and do this,

You know,

Whenever you feel like you need to calm your busy mind.

You've got a technique to slow down your exhale and slow down your breath.

And you've got a technique to also add a mantra to your breath.

So you can continue to do that mantra throughout your day as well.

I'm just taking one more big inhale,

One more big collective breath together.

And then exhaling out.

When you are ready.

You can gently start to bring some movement back into your body,

Wriggling your fingers and your toes.

Stretching out a bit.

Gently opening your eyes and getting on with the rest of your day.

Namaste.

Have a great day.