Somatic Breathing Meditation

Breathing Easy and Free is a guided Mindful, Somatic, No -Strain Breathing Meditation that encourages a complete breath pattern. It includes guidance in elongation of exhalation, release of the diaphragm, breathing from the diaphragm as a jellyfish with a shell, rhythm of bottom of breastplate, soft movement of breath in nostrils, fluid pressure change in abdominal, and use of tailbone.

Transcript

Hi,

It's Donna Brooks from Original Body Wisdom,

And welcome to Breathe Easy and Free.

And we're just going to start by locating the base of our rib cage down in the front of your body.

And we're going to take the tips of our fingers,

So not the pressing of your full fingers,

But the tips of your fingers,

And just start wiggling,

Sliding,

Loosening the area under your rib cage where your diaphragm attaches.

This is the area where we can make contact with that important breathing muscle.

So go ahead,

Take your time.

You may already be noticing your breath,

Just drawing your attention to the diaphragm can start to help you breathe a little fuller,

A little more easily.

See if you can get your fingers up underneath your ribs,

But without force,

Just trying to find the jellyfish-like quality of the underside of your rib cage.

And as you're doing this,

Know that really there's nothing to do and nowhere to go.

You're exploring,

But your diaphragm and your rib cage are already working.

They already know what to do.

There may be some tension overlaid that we can ease away,

But you're here,

You're alive,

And your breathing is functional.

It may be that you find some sore spots.

If you find some sore spots,

Just give them a little pressure momentarily,

Two to three seconds on a sore spot.

See if you can help that sore spot melt away so you can start to feel the movement of your lower ribs as you breathe.

So as you breathe in,

Just feel your ribs maybe flaring forward a little bit,

But notice if you can feel them flare on the outside.

And then as you exhale,

Feel like your ribs in front here are coming towards each other and knitting together.

So you're having a nice eccentric or lengthening activity out to the sides as you breathe in,

And a nice knitting and concentric activity as you breathe out.

And for many people,

The breathing out phase of the movement is harder.

So right now,

See if you can extend your exhalations,

Making them a moment or two longer than your inhalation.

In the beginning,

That can mean exhaling with a vocalization of some kind.

It might mean,

Or it might mean making a sound like,

Shh.

For some people,

It means counting as fast and loudly as they can.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

10,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

10,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

10,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

10,

And so on.

So you really get this knitted feeling at your ribs.

And just stay with this for a little while longer,

Inhaling through your nose if possible,

Exhaling with the sound,

Shh,

Just continuing to breathe easy,

Just focusing on that shh,

Or counting any sound you want to make,

Finding your inhalations come in unprompted.

And the main thing is that you feel no strain.

So whatever sound or note,

It can be a musical note that you let out,

You're not trying to force with it,

You're just really finding the end of your exhalation so that your inhalation comes in unprompted.

Your inhalation is almost like a wave wave rising to the height,

Its height,

And then at its height,

It turns to the exhalation,

Shh,

Getting softer and softer as it dissipates.

This is just the natural expression of the movement of your diaphragm,

Still feeling your ribs flare out on your inhalations,

Widening out to the sides,

And you may even feel them widening in back.

So if your lower ribs are extending away from your spine,

The whole rib cage really being more like the covering,

If a jellyfish had a skeleton around the outside of it the way a crab does,

That the descent of the jellyfish's head would just cause the skeleton to expand.

So you're really getting nice and wide on your inhalation and on your exhalation,

This knitting quality,

Shh.

And if you feel like you haven't massaged underneath your ribs enough,

You can always go back and see if those little hooks of your fingertips can go a little deeper underneath as if the underneath area under your ribs is actually softer and more receptive.

You can even start to bring your fingers closer to your xiphoid process,

That bottom part of your breastplate that needs to swing and move as you breathe.

So really gently but firmly,

Patiently,

Without strain,

See if you can bring your fingertips up a little closer to your xiphoid,

Still continuing to feel the ease of your inhalation and the fullness of your exhalation.

And when you've had enough,

You can just let your hands rest and just let your breathing normalize,

Feeling,

Sensing,

Noticing what's changed now compared to when you first started breathing.

You may even find that you feel a little bit of a breeze,

A little bit of a lift forward and down at the base of your breastplate,

Just the way a piece of laundry would be in the breeze.

So that's where the forward momentum of your breath comes from,

That nice billowing of the xiphoid,

As the rest of the ribcage flares out and it's together.

Nowhere to go,

Nothing to do,

Nothing to do,

Just continuing to follow your breath.

Then after your breath has normalized,

Regulated,

Notice if it's possible for you to breathe in and out through your nostrils.

And if not,

Follow this nice long exhalation that you've already established through your breathing.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

As you exhale,

Just let your breath flow.

And then,

Plug up your nose again,

Moving your head.

If it hurts you to move your head around,

You could always get up and just walk.

And remember,

It's a gentle movement.

It's non-stressful.

Just stay with it as long as you can.

When you need a breath,

But you're not starving for one,

Let go.

Take in another breath.

See if you could let the exhalation go now through your nose,

A little bit longer than the first one.

And then,

Plug your nose up again.

And once again,

Moving your head gently,

Firmly.

So,

Of course,

I'm not doing this exactly as you because I'm speaking,

But you're not letting any air in or out until you need a breath.

And then,

Let the breath come in through your nose,

Out through your nose.

Once again,

Plugging your nostrils,

Moving your head.

Most people need to do this four to six times,

But you might want to do it longer.

You can.

Some people,

I feel like their nose was clear to begin with,

And it was easy to breathe in and out.

Just realizing that as you let go and allow your next breath to enter,

That air is all around us.

And your nostrils are set up in a way so that they just gently guide puffs of air up into the back of your face,

Into your pharynx,

And really into your sinus cavities.

So,

That just happens very softly.

What you're trying to see is if you can let the exhalations be a little bit longer than the inhalation.

So,

The inhalation just kind of puffs on in as if it's just clouds of air.

Your nostril hair is sort of spinning them up into the back of your face and your throat,

And then letting the air escape through your nose,

Feeling still the knitting in your lower ribs at your diaphragm.

So,

Lightness coming in as the diaphragm descends and the ribs expand.

And as you exhale,

The diaphragm knitting and this upper part of your transverse subdominous muscle is also knitting,

Right?

So,

Kind of a band from the back of your rib,

Lower back area around to your ribs in front.

Just that muscle really helping you get a full and deep exhalation.

So,

Without strain,

How much can you lengthen your exhalation to your inhalation?

Can you feel really like it is this wave?

Your inhalation comes in slowly at first,

Building.

It doesn't even have to build high.

You don't need to breathe deeply to get a good breath.

You just need to breathe fully.

So,

Letting your inhalation raise and then following it to the exhalation,

Exhalation,

Exhalation,

Maybe even finding a pause,

A breathing pause at the end of your exhalation.

That doesn't cause strain.

It just seems like a natural stopping point.

Of course,

Some people prefer to have counts with this.

You can certainly count in two,

Count out two,

And pause for two.

Count in two,

Count out two,

Pause for two.

Just decide what gives you the most fullness of breath,

The most depth of breath in your upper abdominal,

Lower rib cage area without strain.

And whenever you're done focusing on a particular practice,

Just let your breathing normalize and enjoy anything that feels lighter,

Easier,

Fuller,

Or makes you happier.

And feeling that as you inhale,

You're actually putting pressure in your abdominal organs.

They're moving down towards your pelvic floor and your pelvic floor is widening to accommodate that downward pressure of your abdominal organs without strain.

See if you can feel movement in your pelvic floor and know your tailbone,

Just like your xiphoid,

Weighs a little bit down like a heavy sheet,

But swings outward as if a breeze is just catching it so it can move back into space.

So you have this xiphoid process and your tailbone just gently swinging out with the inhalation,

Helping you create room for the wideness,

The roundness of your thoracic diaphragm and your pelvic diaphragm.

Still breathing through your nose if possible,

Still seeing if you can lengthen your exhalations gently,

Maybe even falling into a breathing pause at the end of the exhalation.

And notice that there's also a little bit of a breeze coming in through your throat.

So the air just circulates up through your nostrils behind your face,

Coming down into the area of the vocal cords,

And it's just gently fluttering your vocal cords.

So just as we had our xiphoid process and our tailbone being swung out like a breeze on a wet sheet,

Can you feel your vocal cords separate and lift as you inhale,

Come closer towards each other and lengthen on your exhale.

So just gently,

Easily,

If one piece of this doesn't resonate with you,

Or you want to go back to the very beginning,

Massaging your ribs,

Feeling your ribs knit together or flare apart,

Go to what works for you.

Just feeling the gentleness and clarity of your breath as all these different mechanisms in your body are working,

Your lungs are just very gently expanding and condensing,

Almost as your pelvic floor,

Your thoracic diaphragm are expanding and condensing.

And really each and every little tiny cell in your body is expanding and condensing,

Taking in what it needs,

Discarding the rest,

And you're supported and cared for by your own breath.

Thanks for watching.

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