Welcome back for day 3 of breathing to thrive.
Today's session will be about enhancing the primary breathing muscles to create a more powerful respiratory system.
After day 1 and 2 your awareness of your breath should be developing and how to breathe deeper,
Slower and lighter breaths.
For today's session sitting up is optimal to getting comfortable in a seated position,
Making any adjustments you need.
And we'll begin in a similar fashion just connecting with the breath,
Taking a little control of your breath.
Nice deep inhale through the nose,
Long slow steady exhale through the nose.
Feeling the movement deep down in your belly with your chest remaining relatively still.
Breathing in for 4 seconds and exhaling for 6 seconds.
In order to strengthen our primary breathing muscles we're going to use a technique called Ujjayi breath.
During Ujjayi breathing we make a soft snoring or ocean sound in our throat.
We do this by relaxing a muscle called the glottis in our throat and that creates that resonance but also the resistance,
Just a light bit of resistance so your diaphragm and abdominal wall need to work a little bit harder.
So when you practice this technique breathing outside of the practice becomes a lot easier.
Through Ujjayi breath we breathe in and out through the nose,
And for the moment it'll just be on the exhale that we make the soft snoring or ocean sound.
So that soft sound should last the length of your exhale each time and then taking a nice gentle inhale afterwards.
If you can't find that sound it may help for you to actually open your mouth,
Place your hand in front of your mouth and pretend you're fogging up a mirror.
Keeping the hand there but closing the mouth.
And then continuing creating the same resonance in the throat.
And then continuing with your Ujjayi breath.
And this Ujjayi breath will really engage those muscles in the deep core stabilizing your pelvis giving you extra strength in your movement too.
Now after your next three exhales I want you to return gently to the natural rhythm of your breath.
Just observing any sensations that remain around your throat and noticing how both your body and mind are feeling.
So this is the first level of resistance we've applied and then we'll move on to our second.
This is a breathing practice known as alternate nostril breathing.
And because we reduce the airflow down to one nostril our diaphragm and abdominal wall need to work slightly harder again.
To practice alternate nostril breathing we take our right hand and it's the thumb and ring finger we use to open and close the nostrils in an alternating manner.
We begin by bringing the thumb to close over the right nostril gently and we inhale through the left.
Then we close the left with the ring finger and exhale through the right.
Exhale left.
Inhaling left.
Close the left.
Exhale right.
Inhaling right.
Closing the right and exhaling left.
Continuing in this same pattern.
Inhale left.
Exhale right.
Inhale right.
Exhale left.
Inhaling and exhaling for four seconds.
And after your next exhale keeping your eyes closed and relaxing your hands on your lap.
And just observing any sensation at the tip of your nose,
Behind your forehead.
Noticing how you are feeling.
And we'll repeat this practice again.
This time inhaling for four seconds and exhaling for six or eight seconds.
Whatever feels most comfortable for you and if you wish adding in your ujjayi breath as well on the exhale.
And after your next exhale.
Next exhale.
Relaxing the hands once again.
And keeping your mind inside your body.
Moving your awareness around.
Whether it's the nose,
Inside the head or down through your chest.
If you'd like to do one more round of alternate nostril breathing with ujjayi breath please feel free to do so.
But otherwise that brings today's practice to a close.
Thanks again for taking part in the course and I look forward to our next session.
