Hello,
Today's breath work practice is Samavritti.
Samavritti is a practice of equal inhales and equal exhales.
This practice,
As the name would imply,
Is useful for creating balance.
So it creates balance within the physical and energetic body.
So it's a breath work practice that's really useful to bring in when you're feeling like life is out of balance,
Especially if things feel like there's a lot of anxiety or things are feeling like it's full of overwhelm.
This is a really good practice to bring in.
So let's jump right in.
I want you to find a comfortable seat.
This can be done seated in a chair or on the earth.
I'm sitting on a block.
You can use a blanket or a bolster,
Anything that allows your hips to be slightly higher than your knees.
Once you've found a comfortable seat,
Begin by either taking a soft gaze or closing your eyes fully.
And then from here,
Take just a moment to settle into your body.
As we're focusing on the practice of the breath,
We'll transition rather quickly,
But it's often nice to spend some time settling into the physical body first as the energetic body is consisting of layers and the first layer is the physical body.
So spending some time within the physical layer is a nice prequel to breath work.
We'll transition right to the experience of the breath.
So I want you to begin by noticing your breath as it arrives.
So noticing the state of your breath by bringing awareness to the pace of your breath,
The depth of your breath.
And at this moment,
No need to manipulate your breath or change your breath.
I want you to start to just tap in and create a mental note of what the breath looks like right now.
Notice if your breath has a feeling,
A sensation,
If it feels light and airy or dense or heavy.
Does it feel fluttery or anxious?
The breath can often contain a feeling.
So notice if your breath has a feeling.
So starting to notice the baseline of your breath.
This is a practice called Anapanasati breath observation,
Breath awareness.
Okay,
Now with this baseline,
With this observation,
We'll start to work with the breath.
So beginning to start to take a slightly deeper inhalation,
Just starting to create a little bit more fullness to your breath and then starting to allow the breath to exhale naturally and just doing that a few times.
So taking a slightly deeper inhale,
Filling the lungs,
Feeling the side ribs expand,
And then allowing the exhale to occur naturally.
So just starting to bring a little bit of smoothness and evenness to the breath,
Feeling out any spaces that feel sticky or stuck.
And now we'll start to add in the count.
So we'll start to move into the practice of Samavritti.
So the practice of Samavritti is equal inhalations and equal exhalations.
So I want you to take a nice deep inhalation that's comfortably full.
And as you do so,
I want you to count the breath.
Now as you exhale,
Exhale to the same count.
Good.
So now inhaling to your count and exhaling to your count.
Now I leave this open because each of us are going to have a different space.
Some of us the count may be four,
Six,
Eight,
Some may be the count of 10.
The key is I want this to be comfortably full,
But not with strain,
Not with effort.
This doesn't have to be the fullest breath ever.
And I want the exhalation to match.
So let's begin with a few rounds of Samavritti.
So inhaling to your count and exhaling to your count.
Keep going,
Inhaling.
And your exhale.
I want you to take a few more rounds.
And at the end of your next exhalation,
Just gently release control of your breath,
Allowing your breath to return to its natural state,
Manipulating your breath.
And now take a moment to observe the mind.
Take a moment to observe your body,
To observe sensation.
Notice any sensation.
And then begin to open your eyes if they are fully closed.
You're welcome to take the practice of Samavritti with you whenever you need it.
This is a extremely safe breath practice.
So whenever you're feeling out of balance,
Feel free to use it even just a few rounds can be extremely effective to sort of bring you back to center.
I hope that this is useful and I hope that it starts to bring some balance into your life.
