Breathing With The Eyes Of The Heart.

Witnessing our breath with the eyes of our heart allows us to attune to our inner world, to notice the intelligence of breath moving through us and our response to the form of pranayama techniques—can we do this with kindness, non-competitively, with deep, deep compassion? This practice moves us between observing our breath unfold in its own natural way and watching as it moves to accommodate our pranayama practice. How do we meet ourselves here and in all ways of being?

Transcript

And Kaye said good morning. Let's take our seats and get ourselves comfortable. We're going to do a gentle breath practice today. Our intention for this week is loving kindness. So we'll open up our practice with an intention to meet whatever comes in our practice with love and kindness. I have a long history of pranayama training and I also have a history of asthma, So. Um. . . I really feel very. . . Are protective, Careful around birth practices. I know what it's like to not be able to breathe and I know what it's like to feel rising panic and difficulty in breath. So. . . My practice is always very kind. Very forgiving. And non-competitive. You'll have your own relationship with breath. And so this practice might be an invitation just to meet that. Learn a little bit about. How you feel about brunch. And how breath feels. Okay, So let's start by grounding, Just making contact with the ground. And your seat. Letting your hands be heavy in your lap. And allowing some space for your spine. So your spine can be tall. And we'll make contact with the sensation in the body. The rise of the in-breath. And the drop of the out-breath. Turning your awareness toward your breathing. Almost as if you're watching your breath with the eyes of your heart from inside Perhaps we begin just by noticing the patterns. Patton of. . . Each stage of breath. The drawing in of the in-breath. And pause. Where the lungs are full. The surrendering of the Alba. And the paws. Where the lungs are empty. There's four distinct moments in the breath. The activity of the in and the out breath. Is stillness. That lies between. They feel like Susans to me. In breath of spring. New energy, New life. The fullness of the hold. When lungs are full. The summer. Flowers. And long days. And walks. The autumn of the exhale. As leaves fall. The ground receives. All the nourishment. And the quiet of winter. In the emptiness. At the end of the exhale. So simply being with. These moments of breath. Brings us to the cycles of life. The cycles of nature. The cycles of womanhood. The cycles of our body. The changing nature. Of our reality. Playfully, We can explore expanding the breath. So meeting each of these points in the breath cycle with encouragement to be deeper. Longa. As you try to expand your breath. You might notice what comes in. The thoughts. The wonderings. The sensations. You might notice where the comfort lies and where the difficulty lies. We can bring some movement into the practice by taking the right hand Laying the palm on your lap, Palm facing upwards. And as you breathe in, Raising the palm up in front of you. It doesn't need to go too far, There's no need to strain anything, But just naturally raising the hand as you breathe in. And then as you hold with the lungs full, Slowly turning the palm so that it starts to phase downwards. And then as you exhale, Letting the palm slowly fall towards the lap. At the end of the exhale. Slowly turning the palm in the stillness of your breath. To face upwards again. And the next in-breath, The palm raises. As you hold the palm tense. As you exhale. The palm moves towards your lap. And in the stillness of the hold in emptiness, The palm begins to turn. Face upwards. Let that breath and movement continue for a while. And when you feel ready to, You can just let your hands come rest in your lap again. And let your breath return to wherever it's naturally wanting to move toward. Stay with your heart. Perhaps stay with the eyes of your heart. And just witness to your breath as it orients itself in its own way. How does that look? And we can play with another breath practice. We can take that inspiring invigorating valoma breath. Stay with your heart. Allow yourself to witness your practice from inside. Viloma is very simply three short in-breaths, One long out-breath. Those three short in-breaths are almost like sipping tea, Except you're breathing through your nose. That's little sharp intakes of breath. That move up through the body so the first perhaps fills the belly. The second comes to the diaphragm. The ribs, And the third comes up to the collarbone. And then the long exhale takes you all the way down. Too empty. Empty through the collar, The ribs, The diaphragm and the belly. And you'll have your own rhythm, Your own timing. For me, It usually is a little bit like in-breath, In-breath, In-breath, Long out-breath. In-breath, In-breath, In-breath, Long out-breath. See how you go. Keep it playful. Enjoy! We'll do that for a few minutes. Might find you stop that practice quite naturally. If you haven't already, Then maybe take a pause. Come back to your heart space and witness your breath orienting itself. Within its own intelligence. How it wants to learn. Maybe you want to take a moment to Just wriggle and move through the body. Again. Perhaps make contact with ground. Maybe a moment just to notice. Maybe you're a little bit clearer on how the land lies in your interior world. Staying with the heart. And the eyes of the heart. Noticing if you have access to kindness. Toward yourself. Non-competitiveness. A deep compassion. Offering the fruits of our practice to ourselves. To each other. Unto all beings. Namaste.