Hello,
My name's Michelle.
Welcome to today's breathwork practice.
This practice is a balancing breath which is called Samma Vritti Pranayama.
It comes from the yoga tradition.
It's going to be a great daily practice or perhaps you might choose it when you're feeling emotional,
Stressed or out of balance.
Firstly,
Establishing your posture.
You can do this balancing breath sitting up on a cushion or a chair or perhaps lying down.
You might also do it whilst walking.
Whichever posture you're in,
Ensuring the spine is long and if it feels available,
Maybe closing down the eyes or if not then just softening the gaze down.
Just taking a few moments to settle into your chosen posture.
Perhaps feeling your seat on the cushion or the chair,
Your legs or feet against the floor or if you're lying down,
Feeling all of the places where the body meets the surface beneath.
Feeling that you're well supported.
So now invite the awareness to rest upon the breath,
Softening the belly and breathing in and out there.
We're going to begin counting the length of the inhales and the exhales and gradually extending them a little.
It's important not to strain the breath here and you can choose the length of the count that suits you on this particular day.
Also notice there's no breath holding in this practice.
So breathing out now and on the next inhale count one,
Two,
Three,
Four and breathing out two,
Three,
Four.
Breathing in two,
Three,
Four.
Breathing out two,
Three,
Four.
Breathing in two,
Three,
Four.
Breathing out two,
Three,
Four.
And keeping this steady rhythm going for a few moments.
And now if it feels available to you we can extend the length of the count up to five.
Just of breathing out here and then breathing in two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Breathing out two,
Four five breathing in two three four five breathing out two three four five I'm just keeping that going let your own count for a few more moments and if that length of the breath feels comfortable you might carry on with the five counts perhaps you might like to try and extend the length of the breath one more time so we're counting up to six so breathing out here and breathing in two three four five six breathing out two three four five six breathing in two three four five six breathing out two three four five six I'm keeping that going if that count of six feels a little bit too long if the breath feels strained in any way then it's perfectly fine to carry on counting to four or five this balancing breath is really great for helping to soothe the nervous system lowering the heart rate and reducing anxiety and if you have a little bit longer today you could carry on this practice as long as you need to for now we'll draw the practice to a close so gently letting go of any counting just allowing the breath to return to its own rhythm perhaps just tuning in to how you feel just observing any effects of the practice so thank you for practicing this balancing breath with me today hope to practice with you again very soon
