Part 1: Breath Work

Breath is life and learning how to use breath to sleep better, think more clearly and love more deeply are the benefits.

Transcript

Part 1. Introduction to Kinetic Mindfulness. Breathwork. Greetings. Find a place to spend the next period of time without being disturbed or as much as possible. Find a comfortable seated position or if you're laying down, Just absolutely lay down. Wherever you are is perfect. This section is on breathing. The most important thing that we have is breath. The most valuable thing we have is breath. For without breath, Nothing else is possible. And so the foundation for all mindfulness practices, Stillness and meditation is the breath. The beautiful thing about these breathing tools is that you can use them in what I call the marketplace of living. So in your daily to do stuff, You can absolutely use these tools to help you find balance, Less anxiety, More clarity. And so at this time I'm asking you to get comfortable. Put down everything that you have in your hands. And just be still. The best way to be still is to find your breath. It's just a matter of acknowledging and being aware of your breath. Noticing the inhale and the exhale. The rise of the chest. On the inhale and the contraction of the chest. On the exhale. The ebb and flow of life. Sure, You may have a lot of hundreds of thoughts running through your mind right now. The key in this practice is to begin already to move past the chatter and just focus on the breath. What is my breath doing? What is he talking about? Let me find this breath. Inhaling and exhaling any way you choose. During this breathing process, Allow yourself to notice if there's any place in your body that is expressing any discomfort. Take a deep breath and breathe into that area and relax even deeper. The breath is your guide. The breath is your foundation. It is the life force. And the beautiful thing is, When we learn how to dance with it, When we learn how to appreciate it, Life becomes more vibrant, More brilliant, More powerful, And more loving. What is the inhale and the exhale? What do they feel like? What do you get from that? What's the texture of the breathing process for you? What's the temperature of the inhale if you breathe in through your nose? And what is the temperature of the exhale breathing out of your nose? You can notice the same thing with your mouth, But the nose it seems to be more prevalent. The difference in temperature. Inhaling and exhaling. On your next inhale, Inhale very deeply and hold it for a moment. Just feel the high energy of that inhale moving through your essence, Your body, Your mind. And when you release an exhale, Stay empty and feel that comparative difference in the emptiness of the exhale. Now as you move forward into breathing normally, Finding your new breath, I will give you some instructions and they will go something like this. I'll ask you to inhale deeply and then we're going to guide through a three count exhale. So I'll say inhale and you'll inhale deeply and then I'll say exhale three, Two, One. And by the one you should be empty, So let's try that. Get ready and let's inhale and exhale three, Two, One and breathe. Notice any difference in your body or your energy field. Get ready and let's inhale deeply and exhale three. Two, One. Now inhale on a count of five. One, Two, Three, Four, Five. Open your mouth and let it out. Find your breath. What is your breathing pattern like now? Can you appreciate it? Inhale deeply and let's exhale three, Two, One. Inhale one, Two, Three, Four, Five and hold two, Three, Four, Five. Open your mouth and let it out. Now find your new breath and breathe. Notice the difference in your experience. Where is your focus? Get ready to inhale and let's go. Inhale, Exhale three, Two, One. Inhale one, Two, Three, Four, Five and hold two, Three, Four, Five. Release two, Three, Four, Five and breathe. Find your breath. Get ready to exhale. Inhale deeply. Now let's exhale three, Two, One. Inhale one, Two, Three, Four, Five and hold two, Three, Four, Five. Let it out two, Three, Four, Five. Stay empty two, Three, Four, Five and breathe. And breathe. And breathe. Find your new breath. How is your body? Is everything comfortable and everything relaxed? At this point, Continue breathing and listen to the facilitation and it's like this. When you put this CD in, Was there something that you were going through? Has there been something on your mind, A thought, A feeling, An idea that no longer works for you? It seems to be getting on your last nerve. It seems to be a bother. Sometimes it can become very destructive. If you've got a thought like that or an idea like that that you would like to transform, I invite you to bring it forth to the forefront of your mind, Not with a sense of fear, But with a sense of mastery that now you're going to transform that thought, The energy of that thought into an energy of something that you would rather think. You see, That's what this whole thing is about, Transformation. Being in a stillness state, A mindful state, We're being asked to be mindful of what we're feeling. Now, If it looks like a person or a place or an event in the next few moments of silence, That's not what you're looking for. Those things only came to stir up something in you. The feeling is in you. The thought is in you. The belief is in you. The energy is within you. So that which you are feeling in yourself that you want to get rid of, That no longer works for you, Bring it up, Find it, Discover it, Uncover it, And breathe. Once you have that, Sit as tall as you can in your chair. I usually invite you to sit on your chair and not in your chair, So sit up as erect as you possibly can. Unless you're laying down, You should do your thing. But if you're sitting in a chair, Sit up as tall as you can and just find your new breath. So the transformation of energy is what we're doing. There's a three-step process in kinetic mindfulness. There's the letting go stage. There's the recreation stage or reframing stage. And then there's the commitment stage. Right now, We're in the letting go stage. Then we'll move into the newer stage, The reframing stage. And what I mean by that is we're just dealing with energy. I'm only energy, You're only energy. You're hearing my voice because of the vibration of energy. So energy is what it's all about. And you can't get rid of energy. Energy is life. Energy is, That's what it is. And so what we can do though is repackage the energy. So let's say you've had a thought for years of fear or doubt or guilt. Well, The feeling that you're feeling is more than just a word. It's simply the energy that you're holding in your belief system. And that energy over time can become very, Very toxic, Both to the mind, The body, And the spirit. And so what we get to do is face that toxicity and transform it into life-giving energy. And that's what we're about right now. And so this thought or idea that you've brought forth, We're going to put it in a sentence because we work with words. And the mind is a part of this. And so we want the mind to understand what we're doing. And so fill in the following statement if you choose. I absolutely let go of, And then fill in the blank of that which is no longer working for you, That energy. I absolutely let go of, Fill it in, Now. So it sounds like this. I absolutely let go of fear now, Or doubt, Or blame, Or whatever it is. I absolutely let go of now. Now once you have that sentence, And I'll give you a few moments, We're going to do something with that. Breathe. Open up. Breathe. Now that you have that sentence, I want you to inhale it and exhale it seven times. So you're inhaling the sentence, And then you're exhaling the sentence. So it's for seven breaths, But it's actually 14 times. So seven is the number of completion, And we're doubling up on that. Hang in there. Do it. Inhale it and exhale it. And be. Inhale it and exhale it. And be. Good. Now get ready to inhale, And let's inhale and exhale. Three, Two, One. Inhale. One, Two, Three, Four, Five. And hold. Two, Three, Four, Five. Release. Two, Three, Four, Five. And stay empty. Two, Three, Four, Five. And breathe. Find your breath. Find your breath. Bring in your statement. Find your breath. Now sitting tall, With your chin up. Inhale deeply. And now with your exhale, Drop your chin down towards your chest. Three, Two, One. Roll your shoulders up and back, Sitting as tall as you can, Feeling that energy begin to move. See, What happens is we carry so much weight, So much energy of confusion and doubt and betrayal and anger and resentment and to-do lists and not-to-do lists and all of that stuff in the head and the shoulders. And so the first thing we want to do with the physical body is open up that area. And that's what we're about. You know that area is the bridge between the head and the heart, The yin and the yang, The thought and the feeling, The tributary of life. Inhale, Exhale, Three, Two, One. Inhale, Head up. And exhale, Chin down. Continue that movement. Inhaling up. And exhaling down. Now in that movement and while you're moving, I want you to know that this is our first breath-to-movement process. So you're even more engaged and focused on this transformational process. You're breathing, You're moving, And now I'm going to ask you to infuse your statement on the way down and on the way up. Continue doing that until you hear the bell. Now once you hear the bell, Don't stop abruptly. Continue whatever movement you're finishing and then complete with your chin towards the chest. Breathing, Moving with your statement. Now with your chin down towards your chest, Take a deep breath and exhale, Three, Two, One. Begin very slowly and I'm going to instruct you on the first one with a count of 15, Moving your right ear towards your right shoulder. So take a deep breath. Chin is still down into the chest. On the exhale, Begin to move very slowly. If you're there already, That's too fast. Come on back. Three, Four, Five. Breathing while you're moving. Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen. And now the ear should be over the shoulder. Don't bring the shoulder up to the ear. It's not about contact. It's just about a point of reference. Take a deep breath here and feel the opening on the left side of your neck and breathe into that. On your next exhale, Take your left arm and stick it out about 45 degrees towards the floor on the side. When you do this, You can feel an extra opening in that neck area. Breathe. Relax your legs. Relax your jaw. Anytime the chatter wants to come in, You just simply use the tool of your statement. I totally let go of now. Inhale deeply. Release the arm. Inhale deeply. And as you exhale, Begin to move the head very slowly, 15 count, Towards straight up. So we should be at four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, And fifteen. Bring your shoulders up to your ears and squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, And then let them down. Sitting up tall. Find your new breath. So listen very carefully. Sitting the way you're sitting, If you brought both arms straight sideways. In other words, My biceps are straight down, But my forearms, My wrists, And my hands are sticking out. So it looks like a 45 degree angle on both sides of my body. So my right arm is going down and out to the right. My left arm is going down the bicep and the rest of the arm is going out in the hands and fingers to the left. So you have two right angles right here, Right? Find your breath. Inhale deeply. And as you exhale, Lift your arms, Your fingers, And your hands straight up towards your ears, All the way up. And then cross your arms in front of you. And you'll feel your shoulders rolling forward. And then as you bring your arms down, They're still kind of touching, Your hands, I'm sorry, Touching. Bring them down. You'll feel your shoulders rolling down the front. Then open your arms back up to that L position again. And then lift them up, Shoulders up, Arms are still straight out. Then you bring the hands towards each other in the front of you. And then you bring the hands and the arms down. Again, Opening up, Bringing it up, Crossing it up, And bringing it down. Now, Inhale up, And exhale down. Inhale up, And exhale down. Continue that flow until you hear the bell. You're absolutely breath to movement. You're finding a dance with your body and your breath. Bring in that statement. Good. Shoulders are down, You're sitting in your normal position. Take a deep breath. Exhale, Left ear towards your left shoulder. Remember, You have 15 seconds to get there. We're probably at 8, 10, 12, 14, 15. Deep, Deep, Deep cleansing breath. Feel that stretch on the right side of your neck. And then once you do that, Remember to take that right arm out at that 45 degree angle. Feel that extra opening in that side of the neck. Remember the work we're doing here, Folks. We're opening up the neck and the shoulders to release all of that pent up energy. So that we can absolutely be in that freedom that we're creating to be what we want, Do what we want, Create what we want. Inhale deeply. Exhale and release that right arm. Inhale again and begin to move chin towards chest. Slowly. Seven. Eleven. Thirteen. And fifteen. Deep breath here with your chin towards your chest. And exhale. Inhale again and begin to move the left ear back towards the left shoulder. Everything that we do, You're still moving, I'm just talking, So count to fifteen. Everything that we do in kinetic mindfulness or the yoga that I teach, Yogatation, Is done on both sides. Balance is also a key to successful living. Balance. And once you get to fifteen, Take a deep breath and feel that beautiful opening and how much it's different than the first time, Hopefully. And then you take that right arm out at a 45 degree angle. You know what to do. Breathe. Inhale deeply on the exhale. Release that arm. Inhale again. Exhale three, Two, One. Inhale. Begin to move the head towards straight up. You have fifteen whole seconds or two very deep breaths in the process of moving from the one position to the other. Once you get your neck straight up and you're sitting up tall and straight, This time I want you to, Your biceps are straight down to your elbow. Now I want you to take your forearms, Your hands and your wrists and cross them in front of you. Now sitting up, Take a deep breath. Exhale three, Two, One. Inhale. Now pick up the arms, The wrists, The hands straight up towards your ears. Up, Up, Up. Keep breathing. Up, Up, Up. And hold them there for a minute. And just squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze. Inhale and exhale by opening them up. And then once they're open, Drop them down and you can feel your shoulders coming down your back. So crossing them up in the front, Lifting them up to your ears, Opening them up and then dropping down your back. Crossing up, Lifting up, Opening up, Bringing them down. Keep that flow going. Inhale up and exhale down. Continue that flow until you hear the bell. Deep breath right where you are. Inhale deeply. Exhale, Begin to move your right ear towards your right shoulder. Breathing, Breathing, Breathing, Breathing. Once you get to 15 or two complete deep breaths and your ear is over there, Take a deep breath and feel the opening. Then on your next deep breath, Take that left arm out at a 45 degree angle and feel it open even more. You're doing fantastic work right now. Inhale deeply and release that arm. Inhale deeply again and begin to move that chin towards your chest on a 15 or a two, 15 count or two. Hold deep breaths. Once you finish and your chin is down, Drop your hands to your side so your arms are just falling to your side. Take a deep breath here. Exhale, Three, Two, One. Inhale, Arms up over your head, Chin goes up and you look up. Once you get here, Stretch up high, Stretch, Stretch, Stretch and breathe. Remember your statement, I totally let go of now. Inhale here, Release the arms back down. I totally let go of now. Inhale up. Looking up, Exhale down, Arms down, Chin down. Inhale, Chin up, Arms up. Remember your statement, You're really dancing with life right now. Exhale, Arms down. Keep doing this until you hear the sound of the bell. Breath to movement. Beautiful. Be mindful of your experience right now. Be mindful that you're transforming. Be mindful. So put your hands in a receiving position so if they're on your legs, Just turn your palms up and breathe. I'm going to ask you to dive into your imagination, Which I call your image in action. And let's inhale deeply and exhale, Three, Two, One. Find your breath. Now bring forth your statement, I totally let go of now. I totally let go of now. I let it go. I let it go. I let it go. Take a deep breath. And within yourself just say, I let it go now. I let it go now. And as you do that, Feel the energy of that release beginning to move down your right shoulder, Down your right bicep, Down through your right elbow, Down through your forearm, Through your wrists, Into the palm of your hand. Feel that energy forming a little ball in the palm of your hand. Now as you breathe and you're releasing this energy of pastness, Of uselessness, Of old stuff, The ball that you begin to see is just a small ball, But it's really a darkish looking ball. It's kind of heavy actually. See if you can image that as you continue to repeat and release that statement, I absolutely let go of. I absolutely let go of. Breathe. Make the statement. Release the energy down into that ball in your right hand resting on your leg. Can you feel that? Can you see that? Releasing it, Releasing it, Getting it out. Hmm. Hmm. Inhale deeply and exhale three, Two, One. Inhale one, Two, Three, Four, Five and hold two, Three, Four, Five. Release two, Three, Four, Five. Stay empty two, Three, Four, Five. Find your new breath. Feel the beauty of the breath, The power of the breath, The magnificence of the breath. How valuable the breath is to you. And as you breathe, Begin to think of how the breath brings us peace and the breath brings us joy and the breath brings us most of all possibility and potential. And so this idea of breath work begins to show itself as it begins to move down your left arm. So think of lightness, Think of joy, Think of peace, Think of Thanksgiving, Think of happiness, Think of wholeness, Think of prosperity. Think of all of these things or none of these things or one or two of these things. But as you breathe, Allow the energy of that thought, Of that energy being breath moving down your left shoulder, Your left bicep, Around your left elbow, Down your forearm, Your wrist and yes into the palm of your hand. But this ball seems to be much bigger and yet much lighter. And as you continue to say these statements and express these words that mean something to you, Peace and joy, And you feel in your image and action this energy moving down your left side into your left hand and this big ball is sitting there and it's very light and it's very light in color as well. It's almost clear, Like opaque. And so you've got these two balls now. You've got this small dark heavy ball in your right hand and you've got this light airy powerful ball in your left hand. See that now. Feel that now. Now like I said before with a sense of mastery, Pick your hands up off of your legs but they're still pointed straight up. You're still holding both balls. You're just holding your hands out. And feel the weight of the two balls and the energy therein. Inhale and exhale. Three, Two, One. Now turn your hands towards each other and then begin to move your hands very, Very slowly. Do not touch towards each other and see if you can feel the absorbing energy of the ball in your left hand absolutely engulfing and transforming the ball in your right hand. Feel that energy. And when you get kind of close just stop and feel what's going on right there between your hands. And just know that as we inhale again and exhale three, Two, One, Bring your hands together and feel the transformation. And as you do begin to rub your hands as kind of a conclusion to that process. Knowing that the transformation has been made and that you are living in the light and you are in a position to create what you want right now. Rub them harder and rub them faster. Rub them harder and rub them faster, Faster, Faster, Faster. Rub them, Rub them, Rub them faster, Faster, Faster, Faster. Create some heat in those hands. And when you feel that heat, When you feel that that heat is absolutely risen and this heat, This fire has eliminated anything out of your life in terms of that thought. Then stop and then take your hands and put them over your eyes and feel the energy. Breathe, Breathe, Breathe. Complete the following statement. I only allow greater, Fill in the blanks, In my life now. I only allow greater in my life now. You're filling the blank with the opposite of what you've let go of. I only allow greater in my life now. Breathe, Breathe, Let it come from your heart, Not your head. Once you get it, Inhale it and exhale it with five breaths. So that'll be 10 times. Inhale it. I only accept greater love in my life now, Whatever it is for you. Exhale it. I only accept greater peace in my life right now, Whatever that is for you. Enjoy. Thank you. Thank you. Deep breath. Find your seated position. What are you mindful of in this moment? Being mindful means you hear everything around you. You smell, You taste, You know where you are in this moment and you're just in it. You're not judging it. You're not responding nor reacting to it. You're just in it. You're the observer. What do you observe right now? As you observe, Put your hand on your stomach and begin a belly breath. What do I mean by that? Simply as you inhale, Inhale into your stomach, Expand your stomach on the inhale and then contract your stomach on the exhale. See if you can do that. Inhale and with your hand there you can actually feel it. It helps. And exhale, Contract. Now once you get this little groove going, On the next exhale squeeze the air out so that when you inhale again into the stomach it's a little bit deeper. Go for it. And remember if you ever feel distracted bring in your statement, I only accept greater in my life now. You are the master now. Now put your other hand on your chest. And the same process on the inhale expand your rib cage, Opening it up and then as you exhale contract your rib cage. Inhale, Expand your rib cage. Exhale, Contract your rib cage. Get into that now. Remember your statement. Once you have the mechanics going, Put your statement in there. On the inhale and on the exhale. And while you're breathing, If you haven't tried it yet, I invite you to try Ujjayi breathing, Meaning that you inhale through the nose and you exhale through the nose. And as you inhale through the nose you drag that air over your vocal cords and you have an inner sound going on that sounds to me aquatic. So you really focus now. Ujjayi breath, Chest breath, Statement. And let's bring it all together with one hand on your stomach and one hand on your chest. On the next inhale into your chest. Allow that air to expand into your belly so that the whole torso is expanded. And then as you contract your stomach and exhale, Then the chest contracts as you exhale. Inhaling chest, Allow it to move into the stomach, The whole torso. Exhale begins with the stomach and then into the chest. Expand chest, Expand stomach. Contract stomach, Contract chest. Keep going with that. It's called the wave breath. So you combine the wave movement of your body through breathing and the Ujjayi sound within. You see why I call it an aquatic experience. Enjoy. Until you hear the bells. Bells. Find your new breath. In your final statement, Before you go into deeper mindfulness and meditation in this stillness process, Take a deep breath and exhale three, Two, One. Inhale one, Two, Three, Four, Five and hold two, Three, Four, Five. Release two, Three, Four, Five. Stay empty two, Three, Four, Five. Find your new breath. So we've released the energy from an errant thought. We've created new packaging for that energy in a new thought. And now it's time to commit to that thought. So many times we just get rid of the old and pump in the new. But we have to commit to that new. We have to embody that new. And so as you breathe, I'm going to give you a statement and you fill in the blank as it works for you. I must become the place where, And fill in the blank, Happens. If it's peace, If it's joy, If it's love. If I've been creating a statement about love, I would say something like this. I must become the place where love happens. And you can even power that up by saying, I choose to become the place where love happens. I choose is a very, Very powerful statement. I choose to become the place where, Fill in the blank, Happens. What I'm saying is I become that which I seek. I become a safe runway for the airplane of my new thought to land gracefully into my life. Bringing me more joy, Greater stability, Longevity, Happiness, Laughter, Prosperity, Understanding wisdom, And yes, Great health and relationships. And so from this point forward, Enjoy the sounds and the mindful creation that you have allowed. Thank you.

Reviews

This is like a meditation with soft movements, and I had to sit up to follow the instructions in a good way.

The journey itself was beautiful. I cried and laughed, and felt seen and heard. Slow shoulder movements with breathing was great and felt like it opened something.

David has a wonderful voice, soothing and supporting. I loved this. Thank you. 🙏

This was an incredible meditation to come across just by chance. I can’t remember how I found it, but it was so, so special. Thank you.

Outstanding 🙏🏼

David, I really enjoyed this practice. You have a calm and encouraging voice and the breathwork was very helpful in quieting my thoughts. I will return to this and listen to the rest of this series on Insight Timer.

I come back to David’s series over and over. Transformational.