Resilience is the ability to mentally and emotionally cope with a crisis.
Did you know that there is something right under your nose to help you with resilience?
It's free of cost,
A gift we all enjoy and unites us.
It is your breath.
Since breathing is something you can control and regulate,
It is a valuable tool for deepening your resilience.
We are looking to examine and enhance four qualities of your breath.
Deeper,
Quieter,
Slower and more regular.
Let me repeat that.
Deeper,
Quieter,
Slower and more regular.
In this meditation,
I will guide you to examine and enhance the four qualities of the breath.
This is Suresh.
Thank you for joining me today.
Start in a seated or lying down position.
Keep your back straight.
Start by just noticing the breath.
The inhale,
The pause,
The exhale,
The pause and the cycle repeat over and over again.
I'll go silent and repeat this for the next 30 seconds.
Inhale,
Pause,
Exhale,
Pause.
Now,
You need to change your breath.
Let it arrive the way it is.
And if it is helpful to you,
You can use the words in or breathing in on the in breath and out or breathing out on the out breath.
One more breath cycle.
Inhale,
Pause,
Exhale,
Pause.
And start to notice how you feel after this short practice.
Next we are going to focus on the inhale.
Start by taking a deep inhale for a count of four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four and exhale.
Focus again on the inhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Keep repeating it for the next 30 seconds or so.
Just focus on the inhale and really start to move the air in and out of the lungs.
You can increase the count to six or eight if you would like an additional challenge.
How did that feel for you?
Next we are going to focus on the exhale.
We can control the exhale much more than the inhale.
This may be a bit counter intuitive but to get more air into the lungs you can focus on getting more air out of the lungs.
Start by inhaling and then exhale out for a count of four.
You can do it four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
You can even start to deepen it.
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Do it one more time as deep as you like.
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Now resume your normal breathing.
This practice of making your exhalation longer also uses your intercostal muscles and you can really feel the effort.
Now examine your breath again.
Remember the four qualities of the breath,
Deeper,
Quieter,
Slower and more regular.
Keeping a kind and a curious mind,
Note what qualities are shining through in your breath.
No judgment,
Just curiosity and kindness.
Next you will combine the inhale and exhale and hide a hold to create the breath of resilience.
You are going to inhale for a count of four.
Hold the air in your lungs for a count of six and exhale the air out of your lungs for a count of eight.
Remember four,
Six,
Eight.
Count of four for the inhale,
Count of six for the hold and count of eight for the exhale.
You can start whenever you are ready and you can repeat it for four counts.
You can use your fingers to keep the counts.
Use your right finger for keeping the count of the inhale,
Hold,
Exhale and the left finger for keeping count of the cycle.
Remember in this breathing technique you inhale quietly through the nose and you exhale audibly through the mouth.
Let's get started.
In.
Hold.
Exhale.
Exhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Exhale.
Now you can continue your normal breathing.
Staying still,
Notice what quality is about the breath is your mind picking up.
I'll let you stay here for a couple of minutes.
Here let's do this.
Thank you.
Thank you for joining me today.
Consciously changing the way you breathe appears to send a signal to the brain to activate the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system which can promote feelings of calm,
Relaxation and mental clarity as well as enhance your resilience.
The breath is referred to as prana,
The life force in Sanskrit.
The practice of regulating the breath is called the pranayama.
Let me conclude with a Sanskrit verse from the Patanjali Yoga Sutra on the benefit of the breath practice.
Tatha kshiya te prakasha avaranam.
Tatha kshiya te prakasha avaranam.
Pranayama lifts the veil covering the light of the true self.
May the prana be with you and may you build more resilience with your breath.
Until next time,
Namaste.
You
