Hello,
Welcome.
I'm Alex from Moon Valley Yoga.
Peace is something that we could all use a little more of at this time of year,
And indeed any day of the year.
And that's our practice today,
Breathing into peace.
And breath awareness is a great tool to cultivate a sense of deep peace.
So find a comfortable seated position,
Maybe lie down on the floor if that's available to you right now.
Let your spine be long,
Let your body feel heavy,
And your shoulders relaxed away from your ears.
Wherever you are in your breath cycle,
Empty your air and take a breath in through your nose,
Filling up.
And then just sigh out through an open mouth.
Allow yourself to arrive in your practice.
Allow yourself to arrive in your practice.
And bring one or both hands to your lower belly.
Then begin to tune into the sense of movement of your belly as you breathe.
As you breathe in,
Belly pushes out against your hands.
And as you breathe out,
Belly moves away from your hands.
And you might need to move your hands to find a good spot to really feel that movement.
Allow yourself to really tune in to that movement.
As you breathe in,
Belly fills,
And as you breathe out,
Belly moves away from your hands.
And maybe it helps to think about your belly as a balloon filling up with each breath in.
And balloon deflating as you breathe out.
Just keep that going for a few rounds of breath.
Just noticing the movement.
Your belly against your hands.
Two more breaths here.
Breathing in,
Belly fills.
Feel that connection of belly to hands.
Breathing out,
Belly falls away from hands.
Do that one more time,
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
And then move your hands to your ribcage,
Either side of your body.
And begin to tune in again to that sense of movement.
And here,
The ribcage moves out toward the sides of the body with each breath in.
Feel your ribcage push against your hands as you breathe in.
And move away from your hands as you breathe out.
Breathing in,
Ribcage expands.
Breathing out,
Ribcage moves away from your hands toward the midline of your body.
We'll do that a couple more times.
Breathing in,
Ribcage expands.
Breathing out,
Ribcage moves away from your hands.
One more time,
Breathing in.
And breathing out.
And then move your hands up toward your collarbones.
So you can feel the palms of your hands at the top of your chest,
Your fingers just resting lightly on your collarbones.
And notice the movement at the top of your chest as you breathe in,
Your fingers just moving away from each other slightly.
And just the inhale.
And on the exhale,
Your fingers moving back toward each other.
Breathing in,
Collarbones separate.
Breathing out,
Collarbones move back together.
Just doing that a couple more times.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Breathing in,
Collarbones separating just a little.
Feel the stretch of your skin underneath your fingertips.
And breathing out,
Feeling your fingertips moving back together.
We're going to put all of that together in what's called a three-part breath.
Each inhale,
Breathing into your belly,
Breathing into your ribcage,
Breathing up to your collarbones.
So you're feeling that sense of breath filling from the base of your body all the way up to your collarbones.
So get comfy,
Shoulders relaxed,
Spine is long.
Exhale out all your air.
Take a breath in through your nose and sigh out through an open mouth.
And we'll begin to fill up on this next inhale,
Breathing into belly,
Ribcage,
Collarbones.
Breathing out,
Collarbones,
Ribcage,
Belly.
Breathe in,
Belly,
Ribcage,
Collarbones.
Breathe out,
Collarbones,
Ribcage,
Belly.
Breathe in,
Belly,
Ribcage,
Collarbones.
Breathe out,
Collarbones,
Ribcage,
Belly.
In,
Belly,
Ribcage,
Collarbones.
Breathe out,
Collarbones,
Ribcage,
Belly.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Out.
In,
Out.
In,
Out.
In,
Out.
Keeping that going for just a few more rounds of breath.
Belly,
Ribcage,
Collarbones,
Collarbones,
Ribcage,
Belly.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
One more time here.
In,
Out.
Take a breath in.
Breathe out all the way here,
Pulling your belly button in towards your spine,
Squeezing out the air.
And then take a slow breath in.
Sigh out.
Deep piece of the running wave to you.
Deep piece of the flowing air to you.
Deep piece of the quiet earth to you.
And deep piece of the shining stars to you.
Deep piece of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep piece to you.
Until next time.
Go gently.
