Good evening everyone.
My name is Michael and I run Room to Breathe.
Sometimes we can come to this point in the week and we are full of everything that we've already done so far in the week.
We are full of the worries and the stresses,
The responsibilities that is part of everybody's life.
And in tonight's session we are going to give ourselves the opportunity to look beyond the part of us that has to respond to emails or has to cook dinner or has to sit in traffic and to see the part of us that is always there.
After this little introduction I'll guide you into a relaxed state and we'll do some gentle breath work,
Some coherence breathing.
And then we're going to do a type of conscious connected breathing which I call the wave breath.
So basically we're going to be breathing deep into our lungs so we feel movement in our stomach.
And as we continue to breathe we then feel the movement in our ribs and in our chest and then we even feel it in our neck as we fill our lungs completely with air.
We're going to be doing this through the nose so it's not going to be fast,
It's going to be nice and slow and we're going to be getting used to the rhythm.
Then as soon as that wave of breath has risen up our body we're going to let go and we're not going to force the exhale,
We're not going to push it out,
We're just going to relax the muscles that have been pulling the air in and we're going to trust that the breath knows where to go.
And then as soon as we're empty we're going to breathe in to breathe in from the bottom of the lungs,
Feel it all the way to the top and as soon as you're full just letting go.
So we'll breathe like that for a while and I'll be guiding you the whole way through.
You don't need to worry that you're going to forget the technique because I'll be here.
And then we'll get to a point where I'll invite you to do a breath hold.
So after an exhale and I'll give you some warning,
This is going to happen,
But I'll say after your next exhale on empty lungs hold your breath.
So then we'll hold our breath and we're not trying to set any record,
We're not trying to go for the longest time possible,
We're just exploring that space in between breaths.
Then after a little while,
Maybe 30 seconds or so,
I'll say to you if you're ready,
Take a deep breath in and then at the top of that breath hold your breath for a few seconds and then let go.
But any time in that breath hold,
If you want to breathe you can absolutely breathe.
You don't need to wait for me,
In fact if you don't feel like doing the breath hold you don't even need to do the breath hold,
It's just an invitation.
And then we're going to have a few moments of silence for our final song and we come back.
Let's get started.
I encourage you to get into a comfortable position that can either be seated or lying down.
If you're sitting up,
Make sure you feel comfortable,
Your spine is comfortable,
Your neck isn't flopping around.
So just noticing the music as it starts,
Gently for now.
We're going to start by taking three long stretch breaths.
So we're going to breathe in together in three,
Two,
One.
Breathe in through the nose,
Fill in the lungs as much as is possible,
And at the top hold.
And slowly release through the mouth,
Allowing your body to relax.
And let's take another,
Taking a deep breath in through the nose,
Fill in the lungs as much as you can,
And at the top hold.
And then slowly let go through the mouth.
Just noticing any impact that that breath has had on your body,
Your mind.
And let's take a final one.
Taking a deep breath in through the nose,
And at the top hold.
And let's take a sip more breath,
And hold.
And let's take a sip more,
And slowly out through the mouth.
Bringing your awareness into your body.
Noticing how your body feels in this moment.
Noticing your scalp,
The muscles of your forehead,
Allowing them all to start to soften.
Allowing your eyes to relax,
Your cheeks,
Your tongue to let go,
And your jaw to soften.
Feeling the muscles of your neck,
Shoulders,
Allowing them to start to relax.
Feeling the weight of your arms,
Allowing them to get heavier.
Your hands to gently open.
Noticing each individual finger,
Fingertip,
Your chest,
The rise and fall of your ribs as you breathe.
The beating of your heart,
Allowing your abdominal muscles to relax.
Your stomach,
Intestines,
All softening.
Taking your awareness now to the muscles of your back.
Notice if you're holding on to any tension there.
What can you do to relax your back?
Allowing your hips and pelvis to soften.
Noticing your legs becoming heavier.
Becoming aware of your feet,
Your toes,
Your toenails.
Everywhere relax.
And if some tension has returned to a part of your body,
That's okay.
Just notice.
From this relaxed state,
I want you to notice what,
Even with your eyes closed,
You can see.
Maybe it's just darkness.
Maybe there's colors or shapes.
Maybe there's patterns.
But noticing what you can see with your eyes.
Now noticing what you can hear.
My voice.
Maybe there's other sounds around.
Just noticing what you can hear in your ears.
And now let go of the sound and come to the scent you can experience at the moment.
What scent is in the air?
Maybe you think there isn't a scent,
But just see if you can find one.
Now letting go of the scent and becoming aware of any taste in your mouth.
Notice the sensations of your skin.
Notice where you're touching the surface beneath you.
The different types of texture,
Clothing.
You can feel at the moment of that sensation of touch and coming back to what you can see with your eyes closed.
And keeping your awareness on what you can see,
Also becoming aware of what you can hear.
Keeping your awareness still on what you can see and hear.
Notice what you can smell.
And if you lose one of the senses,
Just notice and bring it back into your awareness.
And now add in to what you can see and hear and smell.
Also becoming aware of what you can taste.
And now let's add the final sense.
The sense of touch,
Sensations on our skin.
And now let go of all the sensations and bring your awareness to your breath.
Notice how you're breathing in this moment.
We're going to start breathing to the count of four.
I'll count you in to start.
Breathe in slowly and deeply.
Let's all inhale together.
In three,
One.
Inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
Two.
Inhale and keep going at this rhythm.
And as you breathe like this,
Feel yourself letting go of all the expectations of you.
All the demands.
And we're going to start taking the wave breaths now.
So breathe in through the nose,
Breathe deeply into your stomach.
Slowly fill in the lungs,
Watching the movement of breath rise up your body.
And as soon as you get to the top,
Just letting go.
Not pushing or forcing,
Just releasing.
And as soon as your lungs are empty,
Starting the process again.
We're just familiarising ourselves with the rhythm.
Breathing through the nose,
From the bottom of the lungs all the way to the top.
Trusting the exhale knows where it needs to go.
And if you start to think things like you're not doing it right,
Just trust that you are.
You're breathing exactly as you need to breathe.
And as you breathe this way,
Noticing any emotions that come up.
We don't need to do anything with them.
Just notice.
Notice what's alive in you right now.
Noticing if you can breathe any deeper.
Fill in your lungs any more.
Notice if you can breathe any slower.
If your mind started to wander,
Just notice.
Bring it back to your breath,
Back to your body.
And as the music changes,
I invite you to still breathe in slowly,
But through an open mouth.
Notice how breathing through an open mouth feels different.
We're still not breathing fast.
We're still filling the lungs as much as we can,
As slow as we can.
But being curious as to how it feels,
Doing this through an open mouth.
And you can change back to your nose whenever you feel like you want to.
Keeping your awareness on your breath.
Noticing what arises.
In about a minute or so,
We're going to go into the breath hold.
After an exhale on empty lungs,
But for now.
And after your next exhale,
When your lungs are empty,
Hold your breath.
Knowing you can breathe whenever you need to,
But just exploring the stillness.
And if you're ready to,
You can take a deep breath in now.
And hold at the top.
And just breathe in however feels comfortable for you now.
And as we stay here in this silence for a few moments,
Notice in the version of you beneath all the expectations and labels.
The version of you that's always there.
Notice in what's ready to be seen.
Notice in what you would like to bring back with you out of the silence.
And what you're ready to leave behind.
And if there's an intention you'd like to set,
You can do that now.
Because as the music starts,
We know that's our signal that will soon be coming back.
For just taking a moment to remember everything that's happened.
If anything.
Bring in some small gentle movement now to your body.
Maybe just by smiling,
Moving the muscles of your face.
Maybe pulling some weird faces.
Maybe you want to take a couple of deep breaths.
Maybe you want to stretch your fingers,
Your hands.
Maybe a gentle neck roll.
Maybe you want to stretch your limbs.
Maybe you want to tap your face,
Your chest.
If your eyes are still closed,
Just remembering what the room looks like around you.
The colours,
The shapes,
The objects,
The textures.
The light,
The dark.
And when you're ready,
You can open your eyes and have a look round,
See how well you remembered.
Now whether you decide to go to sleep after this session,
Or you're about to get up and carry on with your day.
Just remember that sometimes we can move a lot of energy when we do this breath work,
So make sure you look after yourself.
Make sure you get plenty of rest.
Plenty of nourishment and hydration.
And I often think most importantly,
Make sure you treat yourself with as much compassion as you treat others.
Those you love.
Thank you very much for being part of today's session.
It's been lovely to have you all here and I hope to see you again soon.
