Planting Seeds Of Gratitude (Live Breathwork Session)

Recorded on February 25, 2024 on Insight Timer, this breathwork experience guides you through a process of relaxation, connection with gratitude as a remembrance of our relationship with all things, and planting seeds for a beautiful future. The practice is a simple three part breath that you'll do lying down with your eyes closed, breathing into the belly, then into the chest, then exhaling. The invitation with these sessions is always to be gentle with yourself, take breaks whenever that feels right, and allow yourself to accept each aspect of the experience as it arises. Enjoy!

Transcript

Hi there and welcome to this breathwork practice that was recorded here on Insight Timer live on the evening of February 25th,

2024.

One of the themes that emerged over the course of this practice that we did together was gratitude.

So I'll just kind of introduce the space by saying I'm really grateful that you're here,

However you found your way here,

Really grateful to get to spend this time with you and the practice that we'll be doing is a really simple three-part breath.

You'll be breathing all through the mouth,

Laying down on your back with your eyes closed and it's simply two inhales and an exhale.

So you'll breathe into the belly and then into the chest and then release.

There's no particular pace you need to go at.

The invitation of this space as you may know is always just to follow your intuition and pay attention to what your body is telling you.

If you need to slow down,

Slow down.

If it feels beneficial to speed up or deepen the breath,

You can do that and if you ever need to take a break please feel free to do so.

The invitation is to center connection with the breath rather than any particular outcome and see where the breath may want to lead us during this practice.

Thank you again so much for being here and I'll send you off to the recording.

Have a beautiful practice.

I'll invite you to just take a nice slow breath and release it.

I always like to release it with a sigh and again just a nice slow breath release it with a sigh.

It's always nice to remind ourselves at the beginning of a practice like this especially after a big full moon.

It's safe for me to feel my feelings and it is safe for me to be in my body.

It is safe for me to feel my feelings and safe for me to be in my body.

Take a nice slow breath in and release it.

And let's start the breathing together.

So breathing all through the mouth,

Into the belly,

Into the chest,

And releasing.

And into the belly,

Into the chest,

And releasing.

Just remembering that the first few minutes of this practice really are just about finding your rhythm with the breathing for this practice.

So every time we engage with the breath it's as if we're meeting it for the first time.

So as we breathe,

Breathing into the belly,

Into the chest,

And releasing.

And see if you can engage your curiosity.

So if you've done this a lot,

See if you can discover something new about the way your body breathes.

And if you're new to it just stay curious.

Sometimes I find if the mind is really busy at the beginning of a practice it can be useful just to think the word inhale,

Inhale,

And release.

Inhale,

Inhale,

Release.

So as we move into the space together there's an invitation to allow the moon to be present with us.

And the tides,

The way the tides wash in and wash out just like the breath washes in and out of our body.

So if you want to you can even add that layer of imagination to this as you breathe in.

It's a tide of oxygen and energy just moving in and out of the body.

And just like the waves never stop moving,

Washing in and out,

So the breath is constantly moving,

Constantly dancing.

And so with each breath just become aware that we're actually connecting with a vast ocean of constantly moving energy and molecules that moves through trees and oceans,

Clouds,

Even the moon.

And you can take in just a little more breath,

Two or three percent more oxygen into the belly.

And just for fun let's see if you can take the breath a little bit more deeply into the belly,

Just like a couple inches behind the belly button and a couple inches below.

And if you want to you can even connect the breaths.

So that the inhale begins right before the exhale ends.

And just letting the exhale be a simple release.

Just noticing how your body is experiencing this moment.

Maybe there's some areas that feel really open and flowing and others that feel you may notice are a little bit constricted or tight.

And all of that is exactly right.

There's nothing to fix.

We're just breathing and noticing.

We're breathing with the moon and with the ocean and with the tides.

And there's an invitation present for any like sediment or anything in our body,

Our cells,

Our hearts or our minds,

That is ready to be released into the ocean.

You can just allow it to go.

We don't need to know what it is.

Just inviting anything that's ready to leave.

To just wash out with the next wave of breath.

It might be some of those heavier feelings that have served their purpose and told their story.

Or it might be like a moment of joy we've been clinging on to.

Like a life raft in a storm.

It's okay to let those go too sometimes.

Stay with the breath if you can.

Remember you can always take breaks.

As we continue to just allow the breath and energy,

Moon and ocean,

To help our body just easily let go of anything that's ready to leave.

We'll also invite a bit of integration.

That anything that is ready to be fully absorbed into our cellular memory,

Into our hearts,

That it kind of be absorbed.

So you can imagine if you want to,

The breath is a river of energy just moving through the body.

And as it does,

Maybe it brushes up against some of those places that may be experiencing constriction.

And just like a river,

It may wash against them and open them up.

And as it does,

It just helps your body and your spirit,

Your heart,

Your muscles,

Your organs integrate any experiences where information,

Joy,

Learnings,

Even grief.

Just allowing it to fully absorb to whatever extent is available into your being.

And so often we try to fully understand things before allowing them to integrate.

What if just for now we all help and support each other and let it go of the need to fully understand.

And just allow the breath and the moon and the oceans to support us and help us.

Yeah,

You're doing great.

Stay with it.

You'll just be breathing for about six more minutes or so.

And there's kind of a question bubbling up in the space,

Which is simply what would it be like to move through the world with this sense of letting go and letting come.

That when things are ready to leave,

We just allow them to wash away.

When things are ready to come in and integrate and change us,

Be changed by us,

That happens with ease.

Stay with the breath.

And I'll invite you just to,

As you breathe,

Whatever else is going on,

Bring into your awareness with the breath someone or something for which you are profoundly grateful.

Maybe it's your own heart,

Maybe it's a loved one or a pet,

A tree,

The moon,

Whatever it is.

Let each breath be an exchange of gratitude for this being,

Whatever,

Whoever it may be.

And as you express gratitude for it with the breath,

See if you can also allow yourself to receive gratitude in equal measure.

And just notice what,

If anything,

Shifts as we explore this relationship of gratitude.

And we can kind of,

If you want to,

Just imagine that this gratitude that you may be exploring is like a small kind of fractal point of a much larger network of reciprocal gratitude-based relationships happening all around us all the time.

Stay with the breath if you can,

Belly,

Chest,

And exhale.

So the tree and the bird dancing in gratitude,

The sun and the moon,

Earth and sky.

And if we want to,

Just be aware that every time we breathe,

25,

30,

000 times a day,

We are engaging in this dance of gratitude and mutuality with the trees,

The birds.

And if we ever feel alone or like we're trying to carry it all ourselves,

Just taking a few breaths into that connection can help us remember that we're never really alone.

I'll invite you just to breathe a little bit more into your heart.

Just breathing into the heart,

Into the back of the chest,

The area between the shoulder blades.

And just allow the heart to open a little bit and soften.

Everything can soften and receive a little bit of gratitude from the ocean,

From the tides,

From the trees.

Gratitude just for your breath,

For your courage.

For your heart.

For the wisdom you carry that is so deep you may not even realize that you're carrying it.

And see if you can just allow your heart to open a little more,

Even if it's just a crack.

Allow a little bit of that gratitude in.

And if you want to,

You can allow it to wake up something,

Something really beautiful that's been maybe just waiting for this moment to wake up.

A dream,

A color,

A flower.

Just another breath or two.

And when you're ready you can transition to a resting breath.

That's just a single inhale,

Either through the mouth or the nose,

And release.

These next few minutes are just your chance to continue integrating,

To receive even more.

You can allow your body to get a little bit heavier,

Just letting all the work go.

Everything you've been carrying just for now,

Set it down.

Like there's a beautiful blanket settling over you.

Maybe noticing the color of the blanket,

The texture.

If you want to,

You can just imagine as you continue to allow yourself to settle onto the earth,

To be embraced.

You can imagine just gentle energetic roots growing from your body into the rich soil beneath us.

And you can imagine,

If you want to,

Just becoming aware and allowing yourself to be transported to a beautiful space in nature.

Feeling the soil beneath your feet,

Your hands,

A breeze against your skin,

Noticing how this beautiful space in nature smells,

Sounds.

And as you kind of explore this space,

Notice that there is a spot not too far away where it looks like the soil has been prepared for planting.

And as you approach this plot of soil,

You become aware that this is a very powerful space and that whatever seeds you may want to plant here will be fertilized by spirit,

By breath,

By gratitude,

By love,

And will take root and grow.

So when you're ready,

You can just imagine reaching into your heart and taking a seed of whatever you'd like to take root and grow.

Greater ease,

Peace,

Gratitude,

Whatever it might be.

Just allow yourself to plant it with great intention into the soil,

So gently pressing it,

Feeling the soft earth around your finger.

Maybe holding your hands over it in a gentle prayer.

And then if there's something else that you'd like to plant,

You can take that from your heart or maybe your throat.

Maybe there's a creative project you've been wanting help with,

You can plant that as well.

Maybe there's five,

Ten things that you,

Seeds that you want to place gently in the soil.

Whenever it feels right,

You can also expand your awareness to the hundred or so other people who may be planting in their own gardens,

Their own soil.

Knowing that all of these gardens are related,

And they all get energy from the same places.

And take a moment to imagine how beautiful it will be when all of these seeds begin to break through the ground,

Find the light,

Share their unique energy and fruit with the world.

And when you're ready,

You can maybe pass your hands over this plot of soil again,

Watering it with the breath,

Which can become rain.

And just really gently begin bringing yourself back to your body,

To the space.

Letting those roots that connected you with the earth just kind of slowly come back into your body,

Knowing you can always find them again.

And if you haven't already,

You can bring the breathing to a more natural place.

And just be aware as you breathe in,

This is me inhaling.

And aware as you breathe out,

This is me exhaling.

And I'll invite you to just bring yourself back as slowly and gently as feels right to you.

I always like to wiggle my fingers and my toes a bit,

Reorient to the room,

Get some water,

Maybe do a little bit of journaling.

I want to send you a huge thank you for joining us in this breathwork practice,

And hope you'll return either to this one or any of the other guided sessions here on Insight Timer whenever that feels most useful.

Thank you again for being here.

Hope to see you again soon.

Reviews

This offering is so soothing. I am amazed at how the repitition of gently, rhythmically breathing can be so comforting. Thanks, Michael 🙏🏽❤️

Grateful for these energy-shifting explorations

Beautiful gratitude practice 💗

Love starting my day off with gratitude and planting seeds ✨thank you so much for posting these love sessions!

Thank you so much Michael. 🙏 Your work is so beautiful and powerful. ✨

I'm so grateful that these LIVE sessions are made available here! It's really an amazing practice to do often. Thank you Michael for sharing your magic 🫶✨️

So Grateful for Michael, and grateful you are now able to post your lives. Everyone of your sessions is amazing and I always find myself in tears, releasing unneeded energy.🙏🏻🤍

Loved this practice, the tide and the seed planting. May all of our gardens flourish!