Hello everybody and welcome back.
For today's practice you can either get started seated or you can start laying down on your back in Shavasana.
If you were starting in a seat then feel free to sit up on a couple of blankets,
A pillow,
Meditation cushion,
Or bolster.
You can also sit on a chair if you would like.
And if you're choosing to lay down you'll come into Shavasana,
Legs extended out in front of you,
Arms by your sides.
Feel free to place something underneath your knees like a rolled up blanket or a pillow,
Something underneath your head,
Something over your body,
And something over your eyes if you would like.
Now after the breath work portion if you are seated and you would like to switch to laying down then you are more than welcome to do so or you can stay seated for the entire practice.
Once you have chosen your position allow yourself to get comfortable.
If you're in a seat let your legs be heavy towards the floor.
Feel your sitting bones root down into your seats.
If you are on your back just let every touch point that is either on the floor or being supported by a prop just let them soften and become heavy.
And then take a slow breath in through your nose and then just give it a sigh out of your mouth.
And then inhale into your nose,
Sigh it out through your mouth.
One more inhale and then let it go.
And just within these next few breaths as you settle into your breath in your body just take notice of your general surroundings using all five of your senses.
Notice any sounds from nearby or afar whether subtle or obvious.
Notice any smells.
See if you can feel the air quality on along your skin or maybe feel the fabric of your clothing or what is beneath you whether it's your hips or your entire body.
If your eyes are closed notice any colors or shapes or images within the blank space or if your eyes are open just notice what you're focusing your attention on with sight.
And then just notice any tastes within your mouth.
And then once you've noticed these things and you've acknowledged these stimulation points these sense objects allow your mind to slowly turn away from them leaving them where they are knowing that they will probably still be there.
And then let your mind start to climb inwards into your body and then just notice any body sensations maybe you're feeling tingling sensations anywhere or soreness tightness maybe even pain and just acknowledge that.
And then just start to notice with your senses your inner senses your breath moving in and out of your body.
Notice where the breath travels to notice what expands what softens and closes off.
And then allow yourself to notice your headspace the traffic of thoughts going through your head.
And just see every thought like a car just passing by and going off into the distance.
And then coming back to your breath take a slow breath in through your nose and keep your lips sealed as you take a slow breath out through your nose.
Again inhale a slight pause here to feel and then out through your nose let it go.
At the bottom feel the empty space and then another slow breath into the top.
Another pause at the top maybe mentally take another sip of air in and just notice.
And then slowly let the breath go out through your nose.
And at the bottom pause maybe taking a mental sip of air out.
And then inhale for the count of four three two one pause four three two one exhale four three two one pause four three two one inhale four three two one pause four three two one exhale four three two one pause four three two one inhale five four three two one pause five four three two one exhale five four three two one pause five four three two one inhale five four three two one pause five four three two one exhale five four three two one pause five four three two one inhale four six five four three two one pause six five four three two one exhale six five four three two one pause six five four three two one inhale six five four three two one pause six five four three two one exhale six five four three two one pause six five four three two one now continue holding the breath out and as you hold notice any places of tension that are building and see if you can allow yourself to soften just hold that space for your body and then take a slow breath in all the way to the top pause at the top and hold same thing notice if anything tenses up here especially in your upper body soften through your shoulders your neck and your jaw and then just allow the breath to go out through your nose pause at the bottom and then inhale all the way to the top fill your sides your front your back up and down pause at the top just witnessing the energy rising and falling and then exhale let the breath go at the bottom holds now unless you're pregnant or dealing with abdominal discomfort draw your lower belly in and feel your navel rise up towards the direction of your chest cavity this is called udiyadabhanda or a belly lock and then relax your belly take a slow breath into the top at the top holds and then tuck your chin in just ever so slightly to engage a light jaw and arabanda or throat lock release that and then exhale slowly let the breath go at the bottom hold engage udiyadabhanda if it's safe and then release your belly slowly breathe in pause at the top and hold engaging jalandharabhanda lightly release jalandharabhanda slow breath to the bottom again hold at the bottom maybe engage udiyadabhanda if it is safe for you and then release slow breath in at the top pause light jalandharabhanda here sealing the energy in your torso and then release and breathe out holding at the bottom now as you hold here within the space of your mind imagine your lungs are like a big vessel of empty space and then as you take your next breath in imagine that vessel being filled up with water at the top hold the vessel seals that water of energy in and then as you exhale the vessel empties the water out slowly with ease at the bottom hold and then inhale fill the vessel with the water pause at the top empty the vessel as you breathe out and as you hold see if you can take a mental sip of air out and draw that lower belly in and then release slow breath and fill the vessel with water when the water reaches the brim hold and then let the water pour out at the bottom hold notice the empty space and then inhale fill up hold at the top and release pause at the bottom hold at the top and release pause at the bottom now inhale just a third of that vessel hold inhale a second third of the vessel hold fill up to the brim pause light jhala dharabandha here to seal the energy in release jhala dharabandha release a third of the breath and hold another third of water pours out and hold the vessel empties hold another mental sip of air out and then inhale just a third pause another third of water fills the vessel and the vessel fills to the brim and then release a third another third of water empty out completely another drop of water out and then inhale a third second third of your vessel up to the top hold your edge feel your edge exhale a third second third empty out inhale a third a third of water pours in second third another third of water pours in fill up to the top the water fills to the very edge of that brim of your vessel and then a third pours out and then another third pours out empty your vessel of every last drop of energy hold that empty space feel that empty space and then fill it up with the third and then another third all the way to the top feel the wholeness of your vessel filled and then release just a third hold release another third hold release another third hold empty all the way out hold now feel that empty vessel of space an infinite space where possibility and opportunity is possible and then as you inhale a third a third of the water pours in and then another third of water comes in and then the water fills your vessel every single space up to the very brim pause maybe just take one more sip of air in and then open your mouth and with a sigh just let it all go and then just take a moment to do absolutely nothing and simply observe if you are seated and would like to transition onto your back and move into shavasana i invite you to do so now and as a reminder if you lay on your back you can place something underneath your back and then you can move into shavasana and as a reminder if you lay on your back you can place something underneath your knees something underneath your head something over your body and maybe something to cover your eyes once you've readjusted yourself just take a moment to just notice the touch points that you have with the floor beneath you notice the spaces that have contact with the floor or a prop and just allow those places to be heavy and then notice the spaces that don't have contact with the floor that may be hovering in the air or just floating barely above the ground and through those subtle spaces can you just allow yourself to soften and let them melt towards the floor and let them melt towards the floor once you've reconnected your body back to your space reconnect your body back with your breath just noticing the rise of the inhale the fall and the float down of the exhale and just seeing the motion of your body with this breath like the motion of an ocean wave coming in and out of a shore and then just notice the back of your feet the backs of your legs the backs of your hips and your pelvis notice your lower back your mid back and your upper back notice the back of your arms and your shoulders the back of your neck and the back of your skull and then as you inhale imagine a wave washes from your heels all the way up to the very back of your head and then as you exhale the wave recedes back into that ocean shore so just feeling the back of your body as you inhale the wave sweeps from underneath you and then exhale the wave floats back into that ocean and just stick with this imagery this feeling and this feeling of feeling and this awareness for a few rounds of breath so and then take a moment to notice the tops of your feet the tops of your legs your shins your thighs notice your belly your chest the fronts of your shoulders the fronts of your arms and notice the space of your face and then on your next inhale imagine that wave washes on the top of your legs the top of your torso washes over to the crown of your head and then as you exhale the wave recedes back allowing you to melt further into the floor and sticking with this awareness of your body the front of your body awareness of your breath breathe that wave up the front of your body to the very crown of your head and then let the wave recede as you exhale and just a few rounds of breath here and then just notice the entirety of your body not just the back of your body the front surface of your body but the internal space of your being and then just notice that space like an empty vessel the same vessel that you noticed for your lungs in our breath work just feel the emptiness of space within you a space that is holds room for possibility and opportunity for wholeness and then as you breathe in fill that vessel from your feet all the way to your pelvis and then as you exhale the water recedes and your legs your pelvis and your feet empty from your feet the water fills your vessel all the way up to your hips and exhale the water empties out just a couple more breaths here from feet legs and pelvis and exhale emptying your lower body so and then on your next inhale take your awareness to your pelvic floor your lower body filled with water and as you inhale from the pelvic floor the water rises and fills up all the way to your chest your heart space your shoulders and then as you exhale your upper body empties out of that water just to your pelvic floor your legs still stay filled so as you inhale awareness of breath rises from your pelvis all the way to your heart space your shoulders and then as you exhale just your upper body empties of that water of energy and just a couple more rounds of breath here just breathing from your pelvic floor to your heart space and your shoulders and emptying out so And with your lower body filled and your torso filled with that energy of water,
Start your awareness at your shoulders and the base of your neck.
And then as you inhale,
From that space,
Water continues to fill into your arms and all the way to the tips of your fingers.
And as you exhale,
Your arms empty of that water of energy just to the line of your shoulders and the base of your neck.
So inhale awareness from shoulders to the tips of your fingers and the palms of your hands.
And then exhale from the palms of your hands and your fingertips,
Take the awareness of water back to the lining of your shoulders and your neck.
And just a couple of rounds of breath here.
From shoulders and neck to the tips of your fingers.
And emptying the space from the tips of your fingers to the linings of your shoulders and your neck.
And with the space of your legs,
Your torso and your arms now filled with water,
Bring your awareness to the base of your neck.
And then as you inhale,
Fill the water from the base of your neck just to the base of your skull.
And then exhale,
Just feel the water come down from the base of your skull just to the very base of your neck.
So inhale from the base of your neck,
Filling your throat.
Then exhale down to the base of your neck where your neck meets your shoulders.
And just a couple of rounds of breath with your awareness in this space.
And from the base of your skull,
Fill the water from the base of your skull to the very point where your third eye lies,
That space between your brow.
Then as you exhale from the space of your brow,
The water empties down to the level of the base of your skull,
The top of your neck.
And then inhale from the top of your neck,
Base of your skull to the very level of your third eye.
And then exhale from your third eye down to the base of your neck,
The base of your skull.
A couple more rounds of breath.
And with the space between your toes all the way up to your third eye and even the space of your arms filled up with water and energy.
As you inhale from your third eye,
Let that water pool up to the very crown of your head.
And from the very crown point of your head,
Let the water just slowly recede to the level of your third eye.
So inhale from third eye to the crown of your head.
And exhale from crown of your head to your third eye.
A couple rounds of breath.
And then as you take your next exhale,
Allow your entire body to empty out of that water and energy.
And then as you inhale,
Like a big wave rolling in,
Let that energy fill you up from your feet,
Your legs,
Your torso,
Your arms,
All the way up to the very crown of your head.
And then exhale,
Just let that energy fill you up and then exhale,
Just let the water empty out from the crown of your head to your feet.
Inhaling from feet to the very top of your head,
Feel that vastness of space within you.
And then exhale,
Let that empty space completely empty out.
Just take a couple of rounds of breath here.
After your next inhale,
And you've imagined yourself filling your vessel with water,
On your exhale,
Allow the breath to escape but keep your water vessel full.
And then just let your breath settle into a rhythm that is much more subtle.
No longer a rolling wave,
But simply a still ocean surface.
An ocean surface that is clear and blue and vast and serene.
And like a gentle rolling wave,
Allow your breath to sweep across the vast space of your body.
And then as you exhale,
Just let that water that fills your vessel,
Allow it to just settle.
Start to notice the touch points that you have with the floor beneath you.
And allow that sense to bring your attention to your general surroundings using all five of your senses.
As you become more aware of your surroundings again,
Just let yourself notice and recognize where you are in this moment.
Not just physically,
But emotionally,
Mentally,
Energetically.
And then just let yourself notice and recognize where you are in this moment.
Start to bring some movement back into your body and starting at your fingers and into your toes.
And like a rolling wave,
Allow that movement to wave throughout your body.
Whenever you're ready,
Draw your knees into your chest,
Roll to one side or the other and slowly press yourself up to find a seat.
Once you're in your seat,
Draw your hands at your heart center and bow your head down towards yourself just an acknowledgement of your efforts and your energy and giving yourself gratitude for showing up for yourself today.
Thank you so much for sharing your practice.
Namaste.
