Hello and welcome to day 15 of Insight Timers Building Healthy Habits Challenge.
Let's take a moment to get settled.
Close your eyes,
Take a deep breath in and exhale out.
Let's dive into today's healthy habit.
Breathwork is one of the most efficient and effective tools for releasing old unwanted habits to create space to anchor new healthy ones.
This session is about your relationship with your breath and how it can help you let go of what's no longer serving you so you can attract more of what you really need.
My name is Susan Ubari,
Founder of Breathe in Paris,
And welcome to this dynamic breathwork meditation as part of Insight Timers 31-Day Challenge.
Today I'll be guiding you on a conscious connected breathing technique called Two-Stage Pranayama,
An active form of consciously working your breath to bypass the mind and enter a different state of awareness.
Let's start by finding a comfortable and private place to lie down flat on your back,
Covering yourself with a blanket.
Place your right hand on your belly,
Left hand on your chest,
And gently close your eyes.
Your body is completely at rest.
Tune into the sensations within.
Now bring your attention to the breath.
Taking three deep breaths to ground ourselves.
Inhaling and exhaling.
Entering and settling.
Coming into this moment.
Now continue to take deep,
Slow breaths into your belly through your nose.
Hello breath.
Where do I want to be a year from now?
What habits do I need to build or break to help me get there?
Set the intention to allow the breath to give you access to receive answers and give you clarity today.
All the answers lie within me and I have clarity on what I need to do.
Continue to breathe consciously as I explain to you the technique.
Two-stage pranayama is powerful and energetic and requires conscious engagement with a circular pattern of breathing.
You'll be breathing entirely through the mouth following the beat of the music.
Two energetic inhales in and one gentle exhale out.
The first inhale is in the belly.
The second inhale is in the chest.
The exhale releases it all at once.
And then you do it over and over in a circular connected pattern.
This technique can be compared to a short but high intensity workout and could lead to unusual physical sensations which can be expected with this style of breath work.
It's possible that you feel dizziness,
Tingling,
Dry mouth,
Cramps in your hands,
Extra hot or cold.
While two-stage pranayama is incredibly safe and effective for most people,
It is not advised if you're pregnant,
Have a history of aneurysms,
Cardiovascular problems,
High blood pressure,
Or have had recent physical injury or surgery.
If in doubt,
Simply breathe calmly through the nose and go at your own pace.
Please consult your doctor and come back to try this technique when you're ready.
For those of you doing this mouth breathing,
At any time you experience anxiety or intense discomfort,
Feel free to come back to a natural nose breath.
Listen to your body,
Listen to your breath,
And adjust the practice accordingly.
But I have faith in you.
Try to do the whole session and come back to it every day.
It will get easier the more you make it a daily habit.
That's what happened to me and to thousands of my clients I've been coaching all over the world.
This practice is my go-to daily high-performance habit.
And what about you?
Are you willing to make breath work a daily habit?
If you are,
I guarantee you,
You'll get to where you want to be in a year and maybe even earlier.
Why?
Because breath work can help you better cope with stress,
Boost your energy and self-esteem,
Calm your mind,
Spark your intuition and creativity,
And release stuck emotions stored in the body.
This practice also helps to develop patience,
Non-judgment,
Curiosity,
Resilience,
Mental endurance and courage to step boldly outside of your comfort zone.
Precisely the qualities you need to build new healthy habits and make lasting change in your life.
Are you ready?
Come back to your intention,
Breathe a deep inhale in.
All the answers lie within me.
Let out an audible sigh,
Release your intention down into your feet as you anchor yourself into the Earth's energy.
And I have clarity on what I need to do.
Remember,
You'll be breathing through your mouth the whole time.
Two inhales in and one exhale out.
Follow the rhythm that I propose to you,
But if it's too fast or uncomfortable,
You can always slow it down and then come back again.
Belly chest exhale,
Belly chest exhale.
In,
In,
Out.
All the answers lie within me.
And I have clarity on what I need to do.
All you need to do is focus on the breathing,
The rhythm and let everything else go.
Belly chest exhale.
Beautiful.
Let go also of any need to be perfect.
Relate the qualities of curiosity,
Of fun,
Of relaxation.
And you'll notice pretty quickly just how powerful this breath is.
So it's totally normal if you already are feeling physical sensations throughout your body.
You're shaking yourself up,
The energy,
Your cells,
Your memories,
Your bad habits.
It kicks in pretty fast.
It's totally normal.
Embrace these feelings and observe in non-judgment.
Tap into your resilience and why you're here.
You're connecting to your spirit as you breathe on every breath.
We're doing three songs in approximately eight minutes.
We've almost finished the first song.
Beautiful job.
You're going to keep going all the way to the end.
Stick together.
All the answers lie within me.
And I have clarity on what I need to do.
Take a deep inhale in and hold it there at the top.
Light as a feather.
And exhale it out with a sigh.
Let's go right back into this two inhales in and one exhale out.
What is it that you're needing to let go of today?
Allow each exhale to be a release,
A release of your fears,
A release of any pent up emotions,
Any burdens you may be holding onto.
Over time,
Bad habits become obstacles weighing us down.
Acknowledge that they are no longer serving you and let them go on the breath.
Let's go into a breath hold now.
Breathing into the belly,
Filling up the middle chest,
Opening the ribs,
And then filling the upper chest.
Relax into the space you just created.
Thank you breath for bringing me what I need today.
Just hold it lightly.
And now let it all out.
All your worries,
Any old unwanted patterns and habits.
And we're going to come back to the two stage pranayama.
This is the last song.
All the answers lie within me.
And I have clarity on what I need to do.
In this attitude of openness and acceptance,
You can be healed and help others also to be healthy and whole.
Beautiful breath.
Beautiful experience.
As you come back to a natural nose breath,
Stay in this position,
Lying down,
Eyes closed.
Drip your attention through your body,
Gently tuning into the sensations,
Connecting to what's happening within.
Whatever came up for you today,
Please know that that was exactly what you needed.
And each time you come back to breath work,
It's always different.
Use this breath work experience and take it out into this new year.
Breath work teaches us that taking risks is the one way to move forward.
It reminds us that yeah,
We might not be good at something.
We might even fail.
But if we never try,
We'll never know.
We can't become what we need to be by remaining what we are.
The breath is there at all times.
Hello breath.
Where do I want to be a year from now?
What habits do I need to build or break to help me get there?
So,
Wherever you're at right now in your life,
Whether you know where you're going to be next year or you're feeling a little lost,
Or you know what habits you need to change and they're weighing you down and have become obstacles,
But you really don't know how you're going to do it.
Indulge in the freedom of connecting to your breath as often as possible.
The answers lie under the layers to your soul.
Tap into the space that you can create through breath work.
Just like the waves of the ocean,
The breath is always there,
Like the North Star guiding you on your path.
And now that breath work has landed on that path,
Keep it there.
Remember that a year from now,
You may wish you had started today.
Follow me on Insight Timer so you too can make this practice your daily habit.
As Socrates has said,
The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old,
But on building the new.
Take a moment to reflect on what word came up for you today.
Share it in the comments.
We'd love to hear from you.
Be a catalyst for positive change,
One breath at a time.
Thank you,
Breath.
