Vishama Vritti - Breathing Techniques

In today’s session, we are going to practice a breathing technique, called Vishama Vritti. The main objective of this exercise is to turn our exhalations twice longer as the inhalations. This practice helps us relax, unwind and work with our breath to improve our overall wellbeing.

Transcript

Hi everyone, Welcome to my meditation channel. My name is Sandra and today we are going to practice together a breathing technique. This breathing technique is called Vishama Vritti and it's basically based on the idea of exhaling twice as long as we inhale. So what we are going to do is we are going to count our breaths. We will be counting from one to four on the inhale and from eight to one for every exhalation. Obviously this technique is a bit more advanced than the ones that we have done previously and this technique can be a little bit difficult at the beginning especially because we are exhaling for quite a long time. So just make sure that you have checked out my other videos in which we have more simple techniques and also you can find a preparation session in which we will be counting from one to four and then from six to one. So that's kind of like the intermediate step before coming to the final Vishama Vritti with the ratio four and eight. So this is a longer session and it's meant to be for people who are somehow already quite comfortable in their breathing and meditation practice. It's going to be a time and space for you to really concentrate on your breath. I will be guiding you at the beginning of the session and then towards the middle and end you will have some more time for yourself, Less instructions from my side. Just hoping that you can really get deep into this practice and feel your breath. We are now going to start by sitting down on a comfortable position. You can take any yoga poses that may work for you today and when you are ready we are going to make sure our spine is long, Keeping that length throughout the session, Relaxing the shoulders down and back and closing the eyes here. Let's inhale together through the nose, Filling our body with energy and exhale through the nose very gently and slowly. We will be breathing only through the nose during the whole session. Inhale one, Two, Three, Four and exhale through the nose eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One. Inhale one, Two, Three, Four and exhale eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One. Inhale one, Two, Three, Four and exhale through the nose eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One. Keep breathing, Keep counting, Inhaling from one to four and exhaling through the nose from eight to one. Inhaling once again, Filling up your belly and chest with some air, Exhaling very, Very slowly, Releasing some air very, Very slowly. Inhale, Imagine the numbers, Keep counting, Exhale, Fill your body, Going very slow, Getting deep into this practice. Keep breathing and counting, Always from one to four and from eight to one. As you inhale, You try to fill up your belly and chest. As you exhale, You remove the air from your chest and your belly as slowly as you can. Imagining the numbers, Feeling your breath, Feeling your body raising and falling as you inhale and you exhale. If at some point you need to count a little bit faster or a little bit slowly, Please do so. Just try to keep the same length, The same distance between numbers and just make sure that you're always counting from one to four and from eight to one to keep with the ratio. Inhaling deeply through the nose, Exhaling for eight counts. At some point, You may feel tempted to inhale for longer. This is totally normal. Just try to stick to the ratio, Counting from one to four on the inhale and from eight to one on the exhale. We want to make our exhalations longer, Twice as long, So that our breathing system has time to work properly. Longer exhalations make our body and mind feel more relaxed. Keep breathing one to four, Eight to one. If at some point you get distracted, That's also okay. We are just going to note that thought or physical sensation, Accept it and let it go. And we are going to focus back on number one and inhale from scratch. Inhaling through the nose deeply, Counting from one to four, Exhaling through the nose, Counting from eight to one. Filling up your belly and chest as you inhale, Removing the air very, Very slowly from your chest and your belly as you exhale. Keep counting, Keep up with the concentration. Inhaling deeply, Exhaling slowly. Two more rounds, Counting from one to four and from eight to one. And when you are done, You can stop counting. Just breathe naturally, Let your body and mind just do whatever they feel to right now. Just whatever they feel like right now. We are going now to focus on the differences before and after the practice. Let's just take some time to focus now on how our body is feeling right now. Notice the differences. Pay attention now to your breath. How is your breath after this session? And finally, Let's look into our mind. How would you describe it right now? Your state of mind, Your thoughts. Very nice. We are going to take one last inhale altogether, Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the nose deeply. You can now open your eyes, Let them adjust. Very good. Thank you so much for your time. I hope you keep practicing this technique so that at some point you will achieve a more comfortable practice, A more natural way of breathing and I will see you here next time for some more meditation and breathing techniques with me. Namaste.