Thank you for joining me for this short practice,
Combining mindful movement and Kundalini breathing.
Today we're going to start in a standing position.
Just take a moment,
Shift your weight from side to side,
Front of the foot,
Middle of the foot,
And heel.
Moving your weight side to side,
Forward and back,
So you come to a balanced,
Comfortable center.
Keep the joints nice and loose here.
You can bounce a few times if you need to,
Just to loosen everything up and prepare for your practice.
When you're ready,
We're going to begin by just moving the head from side to side,
Keeping the rest of the body still.
Turn your head all the way to the left,
And then slowly all the way to the right,
And back again.
Continuing on this movement for a couple minutes here,
Loosening up the neck.
This movement helps relax neck muscles,
Which releases pressure on the brainstem and the vagal nerve.
It helps to bring your nervous system back into balance.
Your eyes can be open,
Closed,
Or softly open.
Whatever is most comfortable for you.
A couple more slow side-to-side movements here before we move on.
Okay,
So let's bring the head back to neutral,
And now let's continue the side-to-side rotating movement.
This time we're going to be rotating from the hips,
Instead of the neck.
So turn,
Twist your entire upper body to the left and to the right,
Left and right,
Side to side,
And just let your arms hang loosely by your sides.
Maybe as you rotate,
They move out away from the body,
And your hands,
Your arms move around,
And your hands softly slap your low back over the kidneys.
You rotate.
Have fun with it.
It's like a kid in a playground.
Powerful Qigong movement,
Excellent for stimulating the kidneys and bringing energy into the body.
So a few more rotations here,
Allowing your arms swing freely as you rotate left to right,
Side to side,
Gently slapping your hands over the kidney area as your arms swing.
When you're ready,
Start making the movement smaller and smaller,
So you finally come still,
Facing forward,
Your arms at your sides,
And move your legs out.
Now take a wide-legged stance,
Bring your arms out and up over your head,
Like you're gathering a ball of energy out from the sides,
Wide as your arms can go,
And all the way up over the head,
A great big ball of light.
As you breathe out,
Just bend at the knees,
Bring your arms down,
Open your mouth,
Stick out your tongue,
And hiss.
It's called the breath of Kali.
It's a powerful breath for releasing energy,
Tension,
Any blocks in the body.
We're going to do this breath two more times,
Arms up,
Slowly over the head,
Gathering that big beautiful ball of light.
As you're ready,
Arms down,
Knees bend,
Tongue out,
And hiss.
Have fun with it.
Release any negative energy or tension you've been holding on to,
Anything you want to get rid of that you've been carrying around.
And final time here,
Before we make our way to the floor,
Arms up,
Gathering in everything good and bright and loving,
Attracting it towards us here,
And arms down,
Knees bend,
Tongue out,
And hiss.
Releasing any negativity,
Frustration,
Anything you don't want to hold on to anymore.
It's all gone.
Just hiss it out on the breath.
When you're ready,
Come down to a comfortable sitting position.
Either be on a chair,
Across legs,
On the floor,
On a meditation bolster,
Whatever you prefer.
I'm going to do some kundalini breathing here.
Wherever you are,
I suggest you place your hands on your knees.
Your eyes can either be softly open or closed,
Whatever is more comfortable for you.
Initially,
We're going to start in stillness,
Just practicing some large breaths in and out through the nose.
When you're ready,
Breathe in through the nose.
Nice,
Long,
Full,
Deep breath.
Filling the stomach,
Side ribs,
The chest,
Your entire torso filled with air.
And then feel the breath reverse.
Breathe slowly out through the nose,
Long,
Full exhale through the nose.
And again,
At your own pace,
Just a couple minutes here,
Relaxing into the breath before we add movement.
On your next inhale,
Like you,
Tilt your chin up,
Look at the sky.
Push your pelvis back,
Your chest forward,
So that you're arching your spine forward.
You take in nice,
Big,
Full breath through the nose.
As large a breath as your body can hold.
And then on the exhale,
We're going to reverse that movement.
You're going to tuck your chin to your chest,
Tilt the pelvis under,
And push the chest back.
So you're doing a little C-curve with your spine,
Sucking the tummy in,
Collapsing the chest and the chin down,
Towards your lap.
You push all the breath out of your body.
Breathe in,
Chin to the sky,
Pelvis back,
Chest forward.
And exhale,
Making that C-curve of the spine,
Tilting the pelvis and the chin towards each other,
And pushing the mid-back backwards.
As you hollow out your tummy and your chest,
Pushing all the air out of the body.
I'm going to continue with the snake-like spinal movements.
As you breathe in and breathe out at your own pace.
Nice,
Big,
Full breaths here.
Using the movements of the body,
Help the breaths become even larger.
Leave you for a few minutes here.
Practice at your own pace.
We will be working up an extended breath hold.
There's no reason.
Breathe through the mouth,
Or rush the breath in any way.
Just immerse yourself.
These large,
Nasal breaths,
And the movements,
The forward and backward movements of the spine.
Very good.
About five minutes here.
There's no need to rush.
Feel the spine and all the respiratory muscles loosening and opening.
This mindful,
Breath-connected movement.
Breathing out,
Dropping the chin,
Rounding the shoulders forward,
Bring the pelvis forward,
Push the spine back,
And reverse.
Breathing in,
Chin up,
Shoulders back,
Pelvis back,
Inflating the chest.
Movement is excellent for opening the spine,
All of the energy centers in the body.
Releasing tension around the vagus nerve,
Bringing the entire nervous system into balance.
Just another minute or so.
Focus on the breath.
On the next exhale,
Exhale all the air out of the body.
Hold with empty lungs.
Just holding the breath of the body here.
Neutral spine.
Relax into it.
Send your awareness out and feel the changes in your body.
You might feel a bit of warmth or tingling,
Maybe a floating sensation.
Anything you feel is acceptable.
It's all your body telling you.
You've had a wonderful practice.
I'm thanking you for the attention you're bringing.
Continue the breath hold if you can.
When you do have to breathe in,
Breathe in through the nose calmly and hold the breath,
The air in the body.
There's no rush.
You can continue for empty lungs breath hold.
Just breathe in.
Now if your body tells you you're ready.
It's not a competition.
A few more seconds here.
Relax stillness.
And when you're ready,
If you haven't already,
Nice big calm inhale through the nose and hold the air in the body now with full lungs.
Feel the difference.
What does the breath hold on full lungs feel like compared to an empty breath hold?
Is one more comfortable than the other?
What does your body prefer?
Feel the energy we released coursing through your body.
As you continue to hold the breath as long as possible here.
Nice,
Relaxed breath hold.
Now,
In your own time,
When the body's ready,
You can release the breath hold through the nose and give the breath back to the brainstem.
Just observe the body breathing.
No need to take any action.
Make any changes here.
Just relax,
Observe.
And continue to sit here as long as you desire,
Soaking up benefits of your practice.
When you're ready,
Again,
Open your eyes.
Stretch,
Yawn,
Any movement into the body.
Thank you for joining me today for this mini mindful movement and kundalini breath heart practice.
Thank you for allowing me to guide you.
Namaste.
