Welcome to Medicine Wheel Breathwork Introduction.
Medicine Wheel Breathwork is a combination of breathing exercises,
Energy medicine exercises,
Gentle rocking,
And Medicine Wheel teachings.
On a physiological level,
Medicine Wheel Breathwork opens up the energy pathways in the body,
Increases your heart rate,
Stimulates your organs,
Increases the amount of oxygen in the blood cells,
While it decreases the carbon dioxide,
Calms the nervous system and the mind,
And releases stagnant energy,
Tightness,
Dis-ease,
And trauma held deep within the tissues of the body.
In this session,
You may experience things such as changes in body temperature,
Lightheadedness,
Yawning,
Tingling in the fingers and sometimes your toes,
A freezing up or stuckness in the fingers,
Which is called tetany.
As your body becomes more alkaline,
You may have an emotional release and experience a deep state of calmness.
So it's okay to allow those emotions to release and it's okay if you fall asleep.
As we journey around the four directions of the Medicine Wheel,
We will connect with the teachings of the Anishinaabe,
The Ojibwe people.
Each direction will have a different breathing pattern that goes along with a different teaching.
We have four directions and four breathing exercises that we will go through.
To prepare the body,
Let us begin by lying on our backs.
Bend your knees with your feet flat on the floor and take your arms and give yourself a nice big bear hug.
As you lie here,
Begin to rock the body from side to side,
Creating a gentle rocking movement as though you were rocking a baby to sleep or pacifying a baby.
As we rock the body,
We draw on the teachings of Dr.
Peter Levine,
PhD,
Who teaches that as you rock your body,
You release stress.
And on an energy medicine level,
It activates the penetrating flow of the radiant circuits.
And the radiant circuits are the pathways in your body that jump around the body,
Unlike the meridians which flow in a specific pattern.
So continue to rock your body here.
Before we enter the first direction on the medicine wheel,
Which is the eastern direction,
The eastern direction's medicine is tobacco.
Tobacco is offered up to Creator in prayer.
So take this time now to set an intention or perhaps to say a little prayer before we start the session.
Now begin to slow down your rocking movement.
We're going to prepare to enter into the first direction of the medicine wheel,
Which is the eastern direction.
This is the time of spring and new beginnings,
And it's the development age of the child.
So let's just remove our hands from our bear hug,
And we'll flip our arms into a cactus.
So elbows bent,
Arms at the side,
Palms facing the ceiling.
Just allow your palms to become soft as your thumbs curl in towards the palm,
And all the fingers begin to curl down towards the thumb.
Your finger pads may or may not touch the thumb.
This is the position that a baby holds when it is sleeping,
So that you're making baby fists with your hands.
With your knees still bent,
Just allow your knees to fall open and join the soles of the feet together.
As we lie in this anatomical correct position for optimal energy flow,
We will begin our first breathing exercise.
Breathing in from the earth,
You're going to breathe up from the feet all the way up the inside of the legs,
Over the groins,
The chest,
The armpits,
The palms,
Over the face,
And you're going to exhale down the back of the body,
Back of the head,
Back of the arms,
Over the back buttocks,
Back of the legs.
Inhale up the front inner side of your body,
Exhaling down the back.
And we will continue these breathing exercises for about another minute and a half.
Breathing up on the inside,
And down on the outside.
We're going to stay for one more breath cycle,
Breathing in up the front inner edge of the body,
And breathing down the back outer edge of the body.
Slowly bring one hand over top of the stomach,
Place the other hand on top.
Let your elbows and arms drape along the sides of your ribcage.
Here we enter the southern direction,
The season of spring,
Where fire ignites in our belly.
The medicine here is sage,
Which releases negativity.
We're going to begin breath of fire,
So take a long deep breath in,
Pushing the belly out.
And as you exhale,
You're going to focus on bringing the navel in quick and sharp,
And then your inhale is just natural.
So it sounds like this.
Let breath of fire burn away any impurities,
Just as sage cleanses our space,
Mind,
Body,
Heart.
Keep focusing on the sharp,
Pulling in of the navel towards the spine,
Creating a rhythmic flow of breath,
Similar to the panting of a dog.
I'll leave you here for a little while to continue your breathing.
Continue for 5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
Deep breath in.
Hold the breath at the top of the inhale.
As you push your diaphragm out,
You squeeze your hands into your stomach,
Your arms into your side ribcage.
Holding for 5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
Let all of the air out.
Good.
Now we begin to move into the western doorway of the medicine wheel.
So you can now take one hand and place it over top of your chest.
And we'll begin wave breath.
So the wave starts at the feet.
And as you inhale,
You feel as though a wave is coming up into the pelvis,
Belly,
Chest.
And you exhale.
So let's focus on pelvis and belly.
Breathing in.
Feel the movement at the pelvis and the belly.
A little bit of movement in the chest.
And you exhale.
So it's like two inhales,
Two breaths in,
And one sharp breath out.
And then eventually,
As you continue this wave breath,
There is a fluid movement between those two inhales.
So you don't hear a pause,
You don't feel a pause,
But you still feel that it's coming in like two.
So it's.
.
.
And we'll continue to wave this breath like water,
Journeying into the western door where we are guided to a place of letting go,
Of releasing what no longer serves us and going with the flow.
This is where we learn from our experiences.
The medicine here is cedar,
Which is cleansing and it renews us.
So allow cedar to ground you in who you truly are,
Allowing you to let go and release.
Continue to wave the breath.
And we will do a breath hold in five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Take a long,
Deep breath in through the nose,
Filling up your belly,
Your ribs,
Your chest.
And we're going to hold that breath for 10 seconds.
Holding.
And as you hold your breath,
You're going to squeeze.
Squeeze your feet,
Your legs,
Your core.
Squeezing for three,
Two,
One.
Now release with a screen.
Good.
Now take a normal breath in and out.
We'll go right into the northern direction of the medicine wheel,
The wise elder.
Slow is the breath,
Like a turtle.
You've completed your journey around the medicine wheel.
Just allow your body to do what it needs to do.
Turtle breath.
Barely any movement in the body,
But you allow the breath to come in and out on its own.
Just observe the body.
Be still.
The northern direction of the medicine wheel is the medicine of sweet grass,
Which reminds you to walk softly upon the earth.
For when you walk upon the sacred medicine,
It bends and then it returns to its shape.
Let that bending and returning be a reminder to you that as you release during your medicine wheel breath work dance,
You may be challenged and bent,
But know that you too shall return to the self,
Refreshed,
Renewed,
And so much wiser as the truth of who you truly are is revealed.
Allow the sweet grass to bring in the positive energy and return you to yourself.
Rest in stillness now and feel the prana,
The chi,
The life force energy pulsing through your body now.
Feel every cell in your body,
In your bones,
In your blood,
Being nourished.
Rest now for a while in the stillness that is you.
Start to slowly bring your awareness back to your body,
Your physical body.
Feeling the earth below you and the space around you.
Begin to wiggle your fingers and your toes,
Moving your arms,
Your legs,
Your hands,
Your feet.
Rocking your head from side to side.
On your own time,
Roll over to one side and pause there just for a breath.
And slowly make your way up to seated.
Placing your hands together at your heart center.
And take a moment to be grateful.
Aum Vekersago Minnawaya.
I hope,
I pray,
I wish,
You are well,
You are at peace.
Go with peace,
Love,
And light in your heart.
Always.
Miigwech.
