A New Kind Of Kindness In Our Breath Practice

Can you notice the voice within as you practice your meditation or breath? I know for myself that so often it is the voice of an authoritarian who feels absolutely certain that her way is the best way, and it makes me smile. What would it be like to be with the knowing, the intelligence within the cells of the body and to try out trusting their wisdom? What if we sat beside ourselves, the parts that don't want to soften, to open, to drop and to come to understand their ways as brilliant and beautiful? This practice invites you to try a whole new way of kindness in your breath practice, I hope it nourishes your heart.

Transcript

Good morning. Okay, So welcome, It's lovely to be here with you. Is take a moment to get ourselves settled. Finding ground. Feeling. Feeling the support of the floor or the chair or the bed, Sofa, Whatever it is that's holding you. Allowing it to hold you. There's a kindness. In allowing the holding. And there's a kindness in acknowledging it's not always so easy. To allow holding. So the invitation is here. How does it feel? Can you trust the ground? You might notice how your body responds to the invitation to be held. Perhaps. It's a sense of dropping, Of becoming heavy. It may be easier to do that some days than others. When we're feeling uptight, We hold ourselves up tight. And it's difficult to drop. Do you see how easy it is to come into your practice with ideas of how we should be? Like our mind is the big boss, Instructing the body to behave, Open up, Relax, Drop, Get heavy. And that authoritarian lens. Can be so alive in our inner world. Perhaps a practice of noticing that. Is worth something. Maybe instead. We can start to acknowledge. The organs of the body. As equals. The sensation of the tissue. Intelligence. Maybe if the body is feeling uptight. There's intelligence there. Rather than making it wrong. Maybe we come alongside it. And befriend it. How would that be? If the body isn't wanting to drop. Or find ground. Rather than shouting the instructions louder to ourselves. Can we sit down beside? Like a friend. I know, Okay. I'll be here with you. I'll be here with you in the contraction. As well as the expansion. I'll be here for the update. As well as the softening. There is a kindness. Grounded in trusting. That the body knows what it's doing. And there's a kindness. In realising that trusting is hard. And so being with none, Not trusting. Has value too. Let me move into a place of allowing, Allowing what's here. And finding the ways that we're not allowing. How is it feeling now? How is your jaw? Your teeth. Your tongue and your throat. How is your scalp? And your spine. And your pelvis. How does it feel for your hands to rest? And your feet. To notice the ground. If I suggest that the breath moves through the nose, How is that for you? And if it feels Like the time is right, Maybe starting to expand the breath. Perhaps it began as something quite light. With a bit of intention. Maybe it can begin to deepen. Let's move towards the simplest of breath practices. Circular breath. So if your mind and your body want to play with your breath, Then you can visualize a circle, A large circle in front of you. For me, It's always a golden circle. Almost the outline of an eclipse. Where the sun shines around the edges of the moon. And the breath traces the outline. Be nice to begin a pranayama practice with a deep exhale like a I don't know. Clean slate. So a nice deep exhale. Then from the bottom of the circle we start to take the breath in as we move up the side of the circle. Heading towards the very top as the lungs are full. As we come over the crest of the circle we just hold the breath. And then on the downwards movement. Moving towards the bottom of the circle is the exhale. And along the base. Holding. With the lungs empty. We move between these four stages. With a seamless grace. Sometimes the breath wants to be chunky and boxy. The invitation with this practice is to let it flow. To smooth out the corners. The truth is it's often not that smooth and not that balanced. Like there's often areas of the breath that are long and slow and deep and then parts that are shallow and quick So this perfect circle that we began with might become something a little bit wobblier. More of the outline of an amoeba. You can let it. There's no one asking for perfection here. Unless you want perfection. Which is your breath wand. Will you listen to it? Do you trust it? Our intention for this whole week. Has been equanimity. So as we thread that intention into our breath. Maybe it does settle into something. I don't know, More balanced? Let's play with a few rounds of Valoma. So we'll start with breathing in three short breaths, Breathing out one long. And we'll do that a few times. So breathing in, Breathing in, Breathing in, Then exhaling. And taking a pause. Allowing some space to notice how that feels. And then we can reverse the Vilema. Taking three short exhales and then one long inhale and do that a few times. And they're making pawls. And let ourselves feel that. And we can invite our breath. To show us. How it would breathe. Trusting the breath to know. Interested. In learning the ways of the birth. Like visiting a new culture. Being a guest. At the house of your breath. And just sitting and learning and watching to understand. And then coming back to the sensation of the body and just noticing your relationship with ground. Maybe a need to stretch. Perhaps the breath deepens. An invitation for something of the kindness in your practice. To be present like a thread throughout your day. Offering the fruits of our practice to ourselves. To each other. And to all beings. Namaste