Guided Meditation 6: Whole Body Breathing With The Central Channel

This is a guided Whole Body Breathing with the Central Channel practice, led by Dr. Reggie Ray, Spiritual Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation. In this practice, we visualize the billions of pores in our body opening and receiving the life force of the inner breath, awakening our cells with light. We then breath this prana into the central channel and rest in the brightness of the space there. Reggie teaches on Whole Body Breathing in his book The Awakening Body.

Transcript

This is a guided whole body breathing practice led by Dr.

Reginald Ray,

Spiritual director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation.

In this practice,

We visualize the billions of pores in our body opening and receiving the life force of the inner breath,

Awakening ourselves with light.

It builds on previous guided meditations that Reggie offered in this series for Insight Timer.

We'll begin by lying down,

In most cases having our knees up.

And if you have a yoga strap,

That's great.

So to begin with,

Just take a few moments and let your body just completely relax.

Relax.

Relax.

Let go.

And just let your body open.

.

.

.

.

.

Downward into the earth.

So we'll do a set of 12-fold lower belly breathing.

And for those of you who have not done this,

On the in-breath and on the out-breath,

We're going to keep our attention in our lower belly.

So we're going to pick a point roughly midway between the perineum and the navel,

And a little bit toward the back of the body.

And we're going to just do the practice,

Keeping our attention in that locale.

It doesn't have to be pinpointed right now,

It just has to be a general sense of being in that locale throughout the practice.

We're not going to leave the lower belly at any time.

And if you do find yourself,

Your awareness,

Your thought,

Your attention drifting up to your thinking mind,

Just go straight back to the lower belly and anchor yourself in your lower belly.

Both the in-breath and the out-breath are long and even.

There's no huffing and puffing.

On the in-breath,

We're going to visualize that we're bringing a medium to full in-breath into the lower belly.

Medium to full on the in-breath.

Not super full,

But medium to full.

We're not following the breath from our nostrils down into our lower belly.

We're going to visualize that we're bringing the breath directly into the lower belly.

If it helps you,

You could visualize that you're just breathing in through your skin in your lower belly,

Directly into that point.

Or you could just breathe into that point,

Which is how it's done in the tradition.

You just visualize your breathing into that point.

So medium to full in-breath.

And on the out-breath,

You're going to empty,

Empty,

Empty,

Breathe out,

Breathe out,

Breathe out,

Breathe out,

Empty,

Empty,

Empty,

Empty.

As much as you possibly can,

Visualizing that you're squeezing your lower belly down to zero.

And you are emptying out every last molecule of breath.

On the out-breath,

We apply a lot of exertion,

And your muscles in your lower belly would typically become sore,

Actually,

In the beginning.

We're going to do this several times a day,

So after a while,

In fact,

After just a day or two,

You'll be fine.

But in the beginning,

You could feel some soreness.

If you have any bronchial issues,

Asthma,

Lung problems,

If you have any tummy upset,

You have your period,

You have any lower belly discomfort or difficulty,

You can do the practice in a more gentle way.

Or if it just feels that this level of exertion isn't quite right,

You can do it in a more gentle way.

It works either way.

But if you're into applying some exertion,

I would suggest you do that.

I think it's interesting to find out what happens when we do that.

Okay,

So medium to full in-breath into the lower belly,

And completely emptying out on the out-breath,

Squeezing the lower belly down to zero.

Okay,

So we're going to do 12 breaths,

Please begin.

In the beginning,

You may not feel you're emptying out very much,

And you're probably not,

And there's no problem with that.

You just need to,

Your lower belly needs to warm up,

You need to get used to this.

Okay.

And if you get done before me,

Just do a few more.

And then just like quietly,

And breathe naturally,

And put your attention in your body.

What are you feeling now in your body?

What's going on?

You're feeling space,

You're feeling peace,

You're feeling energy.

What are you feeling?

And where are you feeling it?

Look,

Look,

Look,

Look closely.

What's going on?

And whatever is going on,

See if you can melt into it.

Melt your conscious mind into it,

Into your body.

Okay,

So we're going to do a second set,

And this time,

When you're breathing in,

It's the same thing,

Medium to full in-breath into the lower belly.

And when you breathe out,

Please tighten your anal sphincter,

And pull up on your perineum,

And roll your sacrum into your mat.

And then when you breathe in again,

Completely relax,

And you can feel your lower belly,

So the lower belly puffs out a little bit,

And roll the top of your hips toward your feet.

In other words,

The opposite of rolling your lower back to the floor,

And so your sacrum lifts off the floor on the in-breath.

And then the out-breath,

Once again,

Tighten the anal sphincter,

Pull up on the perineum,

And roll your sacrum into the floor,

Into the earth,

Into your mat.

Doing that actually releases a lot of the blockages in our breathing system,

Strangely enough.

It assists the out-breath when we roll the hips back and forth like that.

Okay,

So 12 more breaths,

Please begin.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Again,

If you get done before me,

Just keep doing until I finish.

And then once again,

Just relax,

Breathe naturally.

And put your awareness in your body.

And moving on,

In your legs,

Your arms,

Your torso,

Your head,

What do you feel?

And if you have any part of your body that's having problems of any kind,

Injury,

Illness,

Inflammation,

Just direct the energy in your body to that place.

Whatever you feel in your body,

Whatever dynamic flow you feel,

Bring it to that particular area.

Okay.

Okay,

So take a few moments and if you're ready,

You can sit back up.

Okay.

So we're just going to sit here for a minute before we do the next step.

And I'd like you to just imagine that you're breathing in through all your pores into your body.

And what you're breathing in is breath,

Energy,

And awareness,

Breathing it in.

Because the space actually contains all of that.

It contains physical air.

It contains prana,

Which is the inner breath.

And it contains awareness.

That's the nature of the space that we move through.

So we're breathing that into our body through all our pores on the in-breath.

On the out-breath,

Just be present in your body.

You're not breathing out through the pores.

Just be present on the next in-breath,

Breathing into the body through all the pores.

Now what I want you to notice is there's an energy flow in your body from doing this 12-fold breathing.

And when we breathe into the pores,

It actually enhances the energy flow.

It makes it stronger and more vivid and brighter.

See if you can see that.

We're breathing equally into the whole body,

Into the toes,

The crown of the head,

The fingers,

The torso,

The arms,

The legs.

So there's no.

.

.

We're not aiming at anything.

We're not doing anything with the chakras right now.

We're simply breathing into all the pores equally into the energy flow in our body.

Notice that with each in-breath,

The energy flow,

If you want to call it that,

This liquid electricity,

This liquid awareness that's flowing in our energy pathways in our body becomes more heightened.

See if you can see that.

The slower you breathe,

The more impact there is actually.

The slower you breathe in through your pores.

See if you can see that.

Okay.

Okay,

So we're going to do one more set of 12-fold lower belly breathing,

Sitting up,

And it's basically the same instruction.

Okay,

So when you're ready,

You can begin.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

And then let's do one more breath altogether.

Medium to full in-breath,

Complete out-breath.

At the end of the out-breath,

Keep breathing out.

Keep imagining you're breathing out for a few seconds,

And then hold the breath out until it becomes uncomfortable.

Okay,

So one more breath.

And then just breathe naturally and relax.

And once again,

Put your attention into your body and see if you can feel the energy flowing throughout your nowadays or your energy pathways.

And I want you to notice that whatever you're feeling,

You may be feeling very,

Very tired or very anxious or very bored.

Whatever you're feeling on a relative level,

Notice that the energy flowing through your system is completely even,

Completely pure.

In a sense,

You might say,

My body feels empty,

But the energy of the emptiness is actually quite vivid,

Quite bright,

And completely even.

And it's not tied up with your personal relative experience at this moment,

If you see what I mean.

Just try to be with that underlying energy flow through the limbs,

Through the torso,

Through the head.

And then please notice that the energy,

This underlying energy is a little bit more,

We could say,

Concentrated along the inside of your spine.

You know,

We're coming into the body,

So we're not in,

It's not like we're in the spine itself,

The spinal column,

But we're just in front of the spinal column.

There's an upward flow of this energy that goes from the perineum up just inside the spine,

Spinal column in the body,

Up to the top of the head.

It's a little more concentrated than in the limbs.

See if you can notice that.

Just moving up,

Moves upward.

Now once again breathing in through all the pores,

But this time bringing the breath into this core,

Bringing the breath through all the pores into this corridor,

This up flow,

Right in front of the spinal column in the body.

This is our core.

This is the core of our person,

Breathing in and dissolving everything that's going on with us into that,

You could say,

This corridor of space,

But space that is highly bright.

The more you breathe into it,

The more try to be in it yourself,

Be in it,

Be with it.

You're dissolving yourself into it actually on the in-breath,

Breathing in through all the pores.

Your eyes are open,

You're very aware of the room.

You're basically receiving all your experience,

But you're dissolving everything into your core.

This column of emptiness that runs from the perineum up along the,

Just inside the body from the spine,

Just in front of the spine,

Up to the top of the head.

Breathing into it,

Bringing the breath in from all the pores,

Letting it brighten,

Letting it open.

This is the core of our body.

This is the core of our body.

This is the core of our body.

So,

Eyes open and set your gaze back in the central channel.

Let the central channel,

Let this open corridor of space be what's looking out through your eyes,

Not your superficial,

Hungry gaze.

But it's the core that is looking and seeing.

So your eyes are open,

But you're resting in the core.

You're not actually looking anymore,

But you're seeing.

You can help yourself by breathing into that part of the central channel,

Breathing into that part that is right back in front of your cervical vertebra and the back of your skull.

So,

That's the core of our body.

So,

That's the core of our body.

So,

That's the core of our body.

It slips away and you can just come back.

Okay,

You can all relax.

Okay.

You're really beautiful.

You appear as you are.

Okay.

The tremendous sense of presence,

The sense of being at home in your body.

The expressiveness that wants to come out through your limbs and your voice,

Your face.

Okay.

Okay.

So,

Continuing,

But in a less maybe intentional way,

Just letting yourself be with your core,

With your central channel,

With this corridor of space,

This upward flow of energy that permeates the body really permeates everything down to every single cell is connected with this core.

But it's more intense in the core.

It's more empty and it's more bright.

And again,

Breathing in through all the pores of the body into our core.

Okay.

You see,

It's very strange when you do that you're very empty and you're very present.

And you're very grounded.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Well you guys really showed up,

Didn't you?

You really are quite stunning.

Reviews

Tremendous

This practice always has a profound effect on my whole state of being. I finish feeling peaceful, heart centred, deeply present and embodied. Very beautiful.

So helpful

🌿

Masterful guidance into the body, beautiful techniques.

Very much making me feel alive,. Definitely coming back to this one!

Incredible insight within myself. Thank you.

Blessings I found it to be very supportive, Namaste Michael

Another strong practice. Recomnended

Thank you for bringing me to my own inner peacefulness.

WOW. Profound. It feels wonderful to rest in deep awareness, energised and very comfortable. Thank you.

Excellent thank you 🙏

Interesting
Thanks

A succinct approach to experiencing resting in awareness. Thank you

All I AM for... ⛩✨✨😑✨✨⛩... unexpectedly and strangly enought....

Thank you so much Dharma Ocean 🤩🙏!

Unique experience to be looking out through the eyes of the central channel! My body is full with awareness and emptiness at the same time.

Excellent meditation. I liked the visualization of breathing in through the pores and focusing on the inner core. I felt a palpable difference in the quality of seeing when I let the core look out through my eyes. This is certainly a practice I will return to. Many thanks!

I liked all the breathing exercises. 🙏😀