Breathwork To Bridge Yoga And Meditation
Yoga and breathwork mix in a very potent way. Breathwork acts as a bridge from the active asana practice into meditation. Join me in exploring strong Spinal breathing, followed by Bee's Breath (Bhramari), and then Heart-Centered breathing as we glide into a short meditation.
Transcript
I think the reason yoga feels so good is because it helps us align our mind,
Body,
And spirit all in alignment.
And it also represents a good moment,
That alignment,
To go a little deeper.
So that's what we're going to do now,
Is go a little deeper with some breath work,
Pranayama,
With the intention of settling enough to enjoy a calm meditation for a few minutes at the end.
Just as in yoga,
Anytime you run into a sensation in your body that is a discomfort or does not feel good or makes you uneasy,
You modify.
With breath work,
You can slow your pace,
Slow your intensity,
Pause,
Calm your breath,
And then resume with the group as it feels good for you.
So you're in charge,
Always.
So let's start by first taking a deep,
Clearing breath.
So deep breaths into the belly,
And then release through the mouth.
And when you release,
Let your jaw open and just let the air fall out.
So full,
Deep breath in.
Clear out through the mouth.
And then one more.
So as we land here in this moment,
I'd like for us to all set an intention for this practice.
And if something comes to you that suits your moment,
Please consider that.
Or you might consider finishing the sentence,
I choose.
I choose to be open.
I choose to listen.
I choose joy.
I choose my breath.
I choose.
Take a deep breath in to confirm.
And then we'll start.
We'll start with spinal,
Strong yogic spinal breathing.
And we just went through the yoga practice,
So you're familiar with spinal flexion,
And we got warmed up in the spine.
So the spinal breath involves lifting the chest,
Arching the back.
You can even push off on your knees a bit.
Take a full,
Deep breath into your belly.
And then when you exhale,
Cat pose basically.
Pull forward.
Pull on your knees.
Exhale.
All the breath out.
During this breath,
Though,
It's a strong breath.
Strong.
Breath in.
Strong breath out.
So all together as a group,
We'll start with ten.
Ten strong spinal breaths.
So exhale to start.
So remember,
Full,
Deep breath into the belly as you lift the head,
The neck,
Shoulders,
Arch.
Full exhale.
Release all the air.
Push all the air out as you round forward.
Pull your knees.
Three more.
And then release that breath.
Calm.
Resume a calm,
Paced breath.
Continuing in through the nose,
Out through the nose.
Notice how your body's reacted just to those ten breaths.
You might feel a bit of buzzing or tingling in the arms,
Across the front of the chest.
Just notice.
In our second round,
We'll do 15.
Exhale.
And start.
Continue.
Inhale.
Arch.
Exhale.
Contract.
Inhale.
Arch.
Exhale.
Contract.
Full,
Deep breaths.
This breath allows us to open the system,
Opens your full energetic system.
Let's all enliven your circulation.
Obviously,
Enliven your breathing system,
Detoxification process.
Fully alive.
Three more.
And again,
Resume a normal breath.
Calming.
Noticing all the sensations.
Noticing anything you may feel.
Let's do a body scan.
Head to toe.
See what's different.
And as you scan,
Soften.
If you find any tension,
Tightness,
Soften.
Breathe into that and soften.
For our last round of spinal breathing,
We'll do 21 breaths.
As long as it feels good for you,
Continue with the group.
Exhale.
Fully open your chest.
Inhale.
Contract fully to exhale.
Fully open.
Exhale.
Contract.
Just five more breaths.
Keep going.
Imagine the opening in all of your systems.
Feel that expansion.
Last two.
Inhale.
Fully exhale.
And upright and resume a calm,
Deep breath.
Notice how you feel.
Notice any physical sensation or emotions that come up.
Feel your breath work.
Moves on a lot of levels.
Feel elevated heart rate.
Feel your heart beating a little quicker.
Cross your chest muscles.
Down into your arms.
Feel the backs of your hands on the tops of your legs.
Continue with slow,
Deep breaths into the belly.
Feel your seat on the floor.
Now that we've opened all of our systems,
Calming them,
We're going to harmonize clear with a simple method called Brahmari or bee's breath.
So with bee's breath,
Inhale through your nose.
And you exhale also through your nose,
But while humming,
The sound a bee would make,
Buzzing.
Mmm.
You hold that for your entire exhale.
And you then breathe in a normal,
Deep breath.
Mmm.
And continue with the buzzing,
Humming voice.
So we'll go for maybe 10 breaths.
Just give it a go.
Inhale.
Mmm.
Mmm.
As you continue with the bee's breath,
I'll just share that you might notice that you can alter where the vibration is occurring.
For me,
It tends to occur in my head first,
In my nasal area.
Then with attention,
I can also move it to my chest,
To my heart,
Which feels really good.
You might experiment.
Notice where it is for you.
Find a place that you would like to feel that resonance.
Two more.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Resume a normal,
Calm breath.
Slow inhale,
Slow exhale through the nose.
And notice if anything changed for you after this breath.
Does it feel any different than after spinal breathing?
For me,
My body softens more.
It starts to get more quiet.
Beautiful stillness growing.
Mmm.
Let's try another round.
This time a little longer.
Maybe 15 breaths.
Or easy on the numbers.
I'll guide you.
So let's first take a deep breath in and an exhale.
And then a base breath.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Again,
A full inhale through the nose,
And then humming as you exhale through the nose.
So notice what moving the resonance around in your body,
How it feels.
Find a place that feels wonderful for you.
Continue.
Five more.
Five more breaths.
Mmm.
Mmm.
Again,
This breath is calming,
Cleansing,
Harmonizing.
Last one.
Mmm.
Just resume a slow,
Through the nose,
Exhale the same through the mouth.
After two rounds of base breath,
You notice something.
Find it.
Find what it is for you.
Feel it.
Mmm.
Suck it in.
It's beautiful when you land in it.
Lighten your breath even more.
Just calm in your breath.
Just ever so lightly through the nose.
Just a long breath,
But still just really lightly.
With this beautiful resonance we've generated in the heart space,
Head space,
Now move into our final heart coherence breath.
You're right there already.
Light inhale.
Super light exhale.
We're going to add some tension with this and add a layer of imagining that with that inhale,
Breathe in from every direction into your heart.
When you exhale,
That light,
Soft,
Gentle breath.
Exhale in every direction out from the heart.
So we're going to continue that.
Inhale into the heart.
Exhale out.
Not a lot of technique here,
But just relax into it.
Inhale lightly.
Exhale in every direction from the heart.
Just continue inhaling into the heart.
Imagine it coming from every direction.
Above you,
Around like a starburst.
Exhale out in every direction.
When you exhale,
Your next exhale,
Imagine that exhale going out further.
Beyond the building you might be in.
Not beyond the trees.
Beyond the rivers and lakes.
Beyond the mountains and the oceans.
Exhale out beyond the atmosphere.
Exhale out beyond the stars.
With a soft breath,
Just enjoy the stillness of the stars.
Now in that stillness,
Imagine your favorite dance move or somersault as a child.
Just play it out.
This one,
This one you're connected with,
Just play with it.
There's no limits.
There's no fears.
It's always just a breath away.
If your mind starts to wander off,
Distractions,
Focus on what you're feeling.
Focus on your seat on the floor.
The weight of your hands on your legs.
The weight of your shirt on your shoulders.
The weight of your eyelids on your eyes.
A few more minutes of quiet.
As you're ready,
Deepen the breath into the belly.
And then exhale,
Intending it out your roots,
Out your seat,
Into the ground,
Into the earth.
And a deep inhale.
Exhale,
Focusing down,
Down,
Into the earth.
As you're ready,
Take some slow,
Gentle movements across the fingertips,
Through your neck,
As it feels good.
And then gently open your eyes.
That includes our breath work session for today.
I hope you found some connection at a minimum with your breath,
Your body,
But hopefully something deeper as well,
With yourself,
Your true nature.
Namaste.
