Good morning and welcome.
My name is Vinaj and I'm here to take you through a morning meditation practice There are lots of different meditations that allow us to cultivate greater senses of clarity Open the heart stillness and they can be used at any time This meditation in particular is going to lean on three different techniques to allow us to start our day with more energy,
Vitality and a sense of clarity and calm So before we begin this practice be mindful if you have a heart condition or if you are pregnant I invite you to take the first technique in particular a strong breathing exercise very very lightly and maybe even avoid it Okay And when you are ready to begin I invite you to sit in a comfortable chair with your spine in an upright position You can be in bed.
You can be on a couch Just somewhere where you feel like the spine is relaxed upright and alert,
But not too rigid The first technique we're going to explore is actually a yogic breathing technique It's commonly referred to as breath of fire or in the Sanskrit language Kapalabhati What we're going to do in this practice is use our navel to press firmly against the diaphragm and the spine and This is going to expel the out-breath quite rapidly The inhale will naturally come in But our attention and our focus will be on the exhale itself Now we'll go through this very slowly the first round and the second round will move a little quicker Please go at your own speed and in your own pace if I'm going too quick,
Then you can slow it down For those of you that are a bit more experienced in this technique if you wish to speed it up then mindfully speed it up So as you begin the first round you might want to place your right palm over your stomach And just notice how your belly naturally rises and falls It's important for this technique the exhale breath is coming in and coming out of the stomach not your chest If you breathe in and out through the chest you'll begin to hyperventilate so effortlessly exhale through your stomach So it's going to sound like this Okay,
So place your right palm over your stomach Notice the natural flow of your breath inhaling and expanding through the navel And then begin by taking a long deep inhale A little bit of a deep inhale And then a long deep inhale Inhale A long deep exhale out And then we'll take a breath in to begin and start So Take a big breath in Hold the breath at the top for a count of five Four keep squeezing your stomach three Two and then open your mouth big exhale out Ah inhale all the way down your body And then exhale through the nose Close your eyes and just notice if you feel anything Maybe it's a slight vibrancy in your body or a tingling sensation near the face and maybe it's nothing We're going to go into the second round of that You can place your hand on your stomach or not this time,
But I will simply give you a cue And you'll go at your own pace Inhale At your own pace inhale to begin And empty up So So So and then making it a little quicker Take a big breath in And then exhale through the nose Pause at the top five four three two open the mouth exhale out Inhale long through the nose And then exhale through the mouth Keeping the eyes closed And again just begin to notice anything you feel or sense Without any expectation And then exhale through the mouth And I want you to lift your right palm up and with your right thumb gently close your right nostril Your index finger and your third finger in between your eyebrows This next technique is known in yogic practice as nadhi shodhana or alternate nostril breathing It's an effortless technique that aims to balance the left and right hemispheres of the brain And slowly begin to reduce any cortisol or adrenaline that we've cultivated through the initial practice So as you place your right thumb on your right nostril Second and third fingers in between your eyebrows close your right nostril and inhale deeply and slowly through the left And then exhale through the left Pause at the top with your fourth finger close your left nostril and exhale through your right nostril Inhale through your right nostril Close the right nostril and exhale through the left Inhale through the left Close at the top and exhale through the right And exhale through the right in breath through the right Close and out breath through the left Now keep going like this to your own timing Moving at a tempo that feels appropriate for you And as you begin to notice the body calm down Can you allow your attention to focus on the range and the depth of each breath Range and the depth of each breath And then taking your time you'll end by finishing on your left nostril Release the hands onto your lap or onto your palms keep the eyes closed And then exhale through the left nostril Release the hands onto your lap or onto your palms keep the eyes closed And very effortlessly now begin to notice any sounds Sounds Could be the sounds that are the furtherest away Or the sounds that are the closest to you Without analyzing why they are here or where they came from Just simply let sounds come and go And begin to notice the feeling of your skin Notice the physical sensation of your skin The skin that touches your clothes The skin of your face The skin of your face And with all of this going on you'll notice that your body is breathing effortlessly Notice how effortless the breath moves in and how effortless the breath moves out And when you're ready to do so you can let go of all these techniques and just take a moment to notice how your body feels Do you feel more present and alert perhaps more calm and connected Whatever it is take a moment to acknowledge that this morning you spent time practicing meditation Take a deep breath into your heart With a big open mouth let it go You can begin to open your eyes And I wish you a beautiful day see you next time
