Welcome to your practice.
Find your way into a comfortable seat and close your eyes.
Begin to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
In through your nose,
Out through your mouth.
In through your nose,
Out through your mouth.
Allow your belly to become softer and more relaxed as you do this.
If the belly is soft and relaxed,
You will receive more air into the bottom lobes of your lungs where there is a better chance for oxygen exchange.
This oxygen exchange can then fuel all of the cells in your body.
So with a belly that's soft and expansive and relaxed,
Continue to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
This softened and relaxed belly also helps to activate the vagus nerve.
This nerve wanders up through the belly,
Through the chest,
To the central nervous system and to the brain.
And it quiets the body and slows the heart rate and improves digestion.
Helps to relax our muscles and lower blood pressure.
And it also has a hand in quieting the mind,
Reducing activity to the amygdala,
Which is a part of the brain that registers fear and anger.
The vagus nerve is really the antidote to our fight or flight response,
That stress response in the body.
In through your nose,
Out through your mouth.
One branch of the vagus nerve connects with centers in our brain that make it easier to connect also with others,
To bond.
So when breathing slowly and deeply with your belly soft and relaxed and allowing yourself to come back to balance,
You're quieting this fight or flight response and improving the activity in all the glands in the body as well as the nervous system,
The endocrine system,
Improving immunity,
Decreasing inflammation in the body and making it easier to connect with other people to feel a closeness,
Which also helps in relieving stress.
In through your nose,
Out through your mouth.
Feel a ripple effect of softening your abdomen and then letting other muscles relax as well,
Maybe into the low back,
Around the pelvis and your legs and feet,
Up around your chest and your shoulders,
The arms and the hands,
Muscles in the neck and the face,
The jaw around the eyes,
Feeling your whole body relaxing with each breath that you take.
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
In through your nose,
You can say to yourself soft.
And as you breathe out through your mouth,
You can say belly,
Reminding you to keep the belly soft.
Take a few more quiet moments to do the soft belly breathing,
Continuing to relax,
Decreasing the stress and increasing our immune function.
Out through the mouth,
Soft on the inhale,
Belly on the exhale.
If thoughts come in,
Let them come and let them go and just return your awareness to your breath,
Soft belly breathing.
No matter how often the mind wanders,
Just gently bring your attention back each time.
Breath coming in and breath going out.
All right.
You you you you Bring your attention back and Come to some comfortable breaths bring your palms together in front of your heart and take a moment to truly thank yourself Thank yourself for setting this time aside to Bring yourself more health and vitality.
I Hope that you return to this practice and namaste
