Welcome to today's short breath work practice,
Where today we're going to be performing a three-part breath.
And so for today's session I'm going to invite you to be seated and to allow yourself ten minutes here where you can be undisturbed and can take this time for yourself to open the breath,
Soften the body,
And maybe to quieten the mind.
And so I invite you,
If it's comfortable,
To gently close your eyes,
Or if it's more comfortable to have the eyes open,
Maybe just having your gaze downward.
And we can begin just by noticing our posture,
Adjusting the body to be as comfortable as you can be,
Feeling the connection to the surface beneath you,
And tuning in to a sense of grounding and support from that surface below you.
I'm also going to look to allow yourself to sit tall,
Taking on a posture of dignity,
Elongating the spine,
Gently tucking the chin,
And then just tuning in to your breath as it is now.
Nothing to change for now,
Simply bring in all of your awareness to the breath as it comes in through the nostrils,
And it goes back out through the nostrils.
And as you follow your breath in and out,
Just noticing where you feel the breath the most alive in your body,
And noticing,
Too,
The quality of the breath as it is.
Is it short or long?
Is it fast or slow?
And is that breath shallow or deep?
We're going to be performing a three-part breath,
And so for the first part of the breath I'm going to invite you to place a hand or both hands around your navel,
And as you breathe in through the nostrils,
See if you can bring that breath down into your hands,
Feeling your tummy expand with the inhale,
And then the tummy relax with the exhale.
So breathing in,
Almost like filling a balloon,
Exhaling,
Emptying the balloon,
Allowing the breath to deepen,
And noticing again the rise and fall of the belly with each breath.
And now as you continue to breathe deeply,
I'm going to invite you to gently place your hands on your lower ribs,
And as you breathe down into the belly,
Notice how on the inhale your ribs expand outward,
And on the exhale your ribs come back in.
So breathing in,
The ribs come out,
And breathing out,
The ribs come back in.
And as you feel the movement of the ribs with each breath,
You might notice the 360-degree quality of the breath,
The breath in the front of your body,
The sides,
The breath in your back.
And now I'm going to invite you to place one hand again on your belly,
And the other hand up around your heart space,
And as you breathe in again,
Feel the rise of your belly,
Feel the gentle lift of your ribs,
And then allow the breath to come right up into your heart space.
As you exhale,
Emptying the chest,
The ribs,
And the belly,
As you inhale,
Filling the belly through the ribs up into the heart space.
And just continuing with this three-part breath,
At a pace that feels comfortable for you.
Belly,
Ribs,
And chest.
Exhaling chest,
Ribs,
And belly.
And as you exhale,
Just continue to relax your shoulders,
Soften your jaw,
And to bring a quality of gentleness to each full breath.
And as you continue with each three-part breath,
See if you can remove any effort,
And allow this to be easy,
Allow the breath to breathe you,
Belly,
Ribs,
Chest.
Exhaling chest,
Ribs,
And belly.
With these last few full three-part breaths,
With each exhale,
See if you can soften a little down the front of your body,
Softening the throat,
Softening the sternum and the chest,
Softening the belly,
And then allowing your breath to return to whatever feels most comfortable,
Allowing yourself to find a rhythm and a depth of breath that feels good for you in this moment.
Just noticing how you feel in your body now,
Noticing how you are in your mind,
And maybe just anchoring in any feelings of groundedness or calmness that you may have cultivated here with this three-part breath,
Knowing it's always here for you,
You're only ever a few deep breaths away,
And full breaths away from your center,
Again feeling your feet on the ground,
Feeling the support beneath you,
Allowing a bit of movement through the body,
Whatever way you want to move,
Or whatever way your body wants to move you,
And when you feel ready,
You can slowly and gently open the eyes.
I hope you enjoyed today's practice,
Thank you for being here with me,
Hope to practice with you again soon.
