The Complete Breath (Dirgha)

Guided breathwork, based on the yogic practice of dirgha ('long' in Sanskrit). Firstly, we observe any physical sensations, in four areas of the upper body, in conjunction with movement of the breath in the lungs. Once we have established where in the lungs we naturally breathe, we put it all together, and practice the complete breath. The intention of this practice, is to encourage awareness and expansion of the breath within the lungs, in order that we might breathe more fully and deeply.

Transcript

Okay,

So the first breathing practice is known as the complete breath.

First of all,

I'll give you some instructions for how to position your body.

Please note that if you are over three months pregnant,

Or if you have a medical condition that does not allow you to lie on your back,

Then please find a seated position that's comfortable for you,

And just ensure that your back isn't resting against the back of the seat in order that your shoulders can relax down and your chest can be wide.

If you are allowed to lie on the floor or on your bed,

Then just begin by coming down onto your back.

Ease the legs away from the body and allow the feet to be slightly wider apart than your hips.

Let the ankles soften and let the feet fold out to the side.

Place your hands on the floor or the bed beside you.

Draw the shoulders down away from the ears and just let the back sink down into whatever is supporting you.

So the following practice will allow you to discover where your breath is.

And before we do anything,

I'd like you just to watch the breath,

Observe the breath for a few breath rounds,

Just noticing how your body breathes when it breathes naturally.

There is no need to change the breath in any way.

There is no right or wrong in how you breathe.

We're just observing and noticing what's right for you.

As you're observing your breath,

You might like to notice whether the breath feels comfortable for you,

Whether it feels even and regular,

Perhaps noticing whether the in-breath is the same length as the out-breath or whether your exhalation is longer or shorter than your inhalation.

Just becoming more familiar with how your body breathes in its own natural state.

And now please take the middle finger and the index finger of your left hand and place those two fingers just on the top of your collarbone,

Your left collarbone at the base of the neck.

Do the same with the right hand,

Placing the same two fingers of your right hand onto your right collarbone.

Let the shoulders and the arms relax.

And close your eyes if they're not already closed now.

And as you breathe in,

Just sense or imagine your breath moving no further than your fingertips.

So the breath is just moving into the top of the collarbones,

Which are actually at the top of each lung lobe.

You'll notice when you just breathe into the collarbones,

You're not really taking in a very large breath at all,

Just a small amount of air.

You may feel the collarbones move slightly as you breathe in and out.

Small,

Shallow breaths.

And as you breathe in this way,

Just notice how you're feeling.

It may be that it feels quite uncomfortable for you.

When we breathe in this shallow way,

We're informing the body that something isn't quite right.

We don't have enough time to take a big,

Full breath.

And breathing in this way can create a stressed state arousal within the body.

So if it feels uncomfortable,

It's because it actually is.

If on the other hand,

This feels quite normal for you,

Then it's an indication that the breath is very shallow naturally for you and that you may be feeling stressed a lot of the time.

And now we'll move both hands and we're going to take them to the top of the chest,

Placing the fingers,

The palm of each hand onto the chest just above the nipple area so that the fingers of each hand are facing in towards each other.

Again,

Let the shoulders relax.

And keeping your awareness on the part of your body now where your hands are,

As you breathe in,

Sense the breath moving to the top part of your chest.

Sending every breath no further than your hands.

So as you might imagine,

This type of breathing is known as chest breathing.

And again,

It's an indication that the lungs aren't quite receiving enough oxygen and enough air from the outside the body.

So if this feels comfortable for you,

Then again,

It may well indicate that this is your normal breath rhythm,

Your breath intake.

And that's fine,

Just noticing.

We're going to move the hands again.

And this time if you're able to,

Take the palms so that they're resting just underneath the armpit around each side of the body so that the palm of each hand is resting on the side of the rib cage.

Have the hands as high up towards the armpits as you're able to.

Just work with whatever is comfortable for you.

And as you breathe in now,

Sense or imagine that you're sending the breath into each hand.

So into the side of each rib cage.

And notice if you feel any movement here as you breathe.

It's very common not to feel any movement in the sides of the rib cage.

And this can be for a number of reasons.

But again,

It's an indication that you're not receiving as much breath into the lungs as you could be.

So if you don't feel much movement in each side of the rib cage,

Then you might like to press a little harder with the hands and it sometimes encourages the breath to move into that area.

The movement within the sides of the rib cage is often described as a kind of bucket handle.

So if you imagine when you lift a bucket handle away from the top of the bucket,

It moves outwards and upwards.

And that's the same sort of movement that you will feel if you can feel anything in the sides of the rib cage.

Notice how it feels when you breathe in this way.

Does the breath feel deeper?

Does it feel calmer?

Does it feel more fulfilling?

And now we're going to move the hands down into the abdomen.

So placing the palm of each hand over your abdomen so that the fingers of each hand facing towards each other and that they rest just over the navel.

Again,

Relax the shoulders.

Bring your awareness down to where your hands are.

And as you breathe in now,

Endeavour to bring the breath all the way down to the navel.

Notice as you breathe in,

If the fingers of each hand are just touching,

They'll move slightly apart if the breath is reaching down as far as the navel.

Because as you breathe in,

If the breath moves all that way down,

Then the abdomen will swell slightly with the in-breath.

And then it will fall again with the out-breath.

Let all of your focus be on breathing the breath into the body and down to the navel.

Let the focus remain as you take the breath away from the navel and back out the body.

Noticing how it feels when you breathe in this way.

This is commonly known as belly breathing.

And this is the ideal way to be breathing.

When we breathe in this way,

We're informing our parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system that everything is fine.

We're at rest.

We're relaxed.

And so we set up what is known as a virtuous cycle.

The breath is calm and relaxed.

So the body becomes calm and relaxed and then the mind becomes calm and relaxed.

Noticing how you're feeling now.

So there are all the different component areas that we may breathe into without even realizing.

And now we're going to practice a conscious breath.

We're going to try and breathe into all of those areas with the breath.

And this is known as the complete breath.

So if you struggle to bring any movement into any of those areas,

Either the collar bones or the top of the chest,

The side ribs or down in the abdomen,

Then you can choose to place your hands on wherever you struggled to bring the breath to.

Or you can just let your hands rest on the floor beside you.

As you breathe in now,

Follow the movement of the breath down past the collar bones into the top of the lungs,

Down further into the lungs,

Into the chest,

Round into the side lungs,

Into the side ribs and further down into the lungs,

Into the middle of the chest and all the way down into the lower lungs.

Feeling the breath moving down into the abdomen.

As you breathe out,

Release the breath from the abdomen up through the chest and the side ribs,

Up past the collar bones and out through the nostrils.

Again,

Breathing in through the nostrils,

Bringing the breath all the way down through past the collar bones,

Through the chest,

The side ribs and down into the abdomen.

When you're ready,

Breathing out,

Releasing the breath from the abdomen,

The side ribs,

The chest and the collar bones.

Continue to breathe a few more breaths in this way.

Let the breath be as long and deep and full as is comfortable for you.

Once you feel more comfortable breathing deeply in this way,

You might like to notice just generally how your body and mind are feeling.

It's very common to feel very relaxed when doing this part of the practice.

You can continue to breathe in this way for longer if you wish.

If you feel that you've practiced this for long enough now,

You can bring the awareness back to your body,

Allowing the breath now to be unconscious again,

Involuntary,

So the body is just breathing itself again.

When you're ready,

Open your eyes.

Reviews

Wow Sarah! I feel alert and invigorated. I feel calm, relaxed and euphoric. Thank you so much!