Now and again we can end up in a bit of a rut.
Everything around us stagnates.
No movement forward or backwards.
If you ask for some advice,
Either from a person or the AI,
They'll tell you to get out a bit more.
Go and make some new contacts.
Pick up a new skill,
A new hobby.
Go somewhere new.
Go on a creative date.
But all these things,
All well and good,
But they take a little bit of time to organise.
Might cost you a little bit of money.
So let me introduce you to something you can do today for free.
And that's simply to think about breathing in a different way.
Instead of breathing in and out,
To breathe up and down.
This guidance is all about the breath.
But perhaps a breathing pattern you've not come across before.
We're all used to the idea of breathing in and breathing out.
Let's just do that now,
Just to energise the lungs.
So take a deep in-breath and really exhale all the old stale air from your lungs.
And what we're going to do in this exercise is learn about the yo-yo breath.
The breath doesn't come in and out,
But that goes down and up.
So take a deep breath in.
And on the out-breath,
Imagine the breath is going down into your root.
On the in-breath it comes back up from your root,
And on the out-breath it goes down again.
Just relax into that pattern for three and four up and down breaths.
And on the next in-breath,
You can imagine that the in-breath starts at the base of your diaphragm.
It goes up all the way to your crown,
And on the out-breath it comes down again,
Back into the base of your diaphragm.
And just ease into that pattern for three or four up and down breaths.
If you watch someone who's masterful with the yo-yo,
You'll quickly see that the yo-yo doesn't just go up and down.
It can go sideways,
Or even diagonally.
So let's just play with the yo-yo breath right now,
And imagine it starts again at the bottom of your diaphragm.
And on the next out-breath it goes out to the right.
On the in-breath it comes back in again.
Imagine the breath goes outside the body,
And comes back in again.
Let's try that again.
So we imagine the breath on the out-breath goes out to the left.
If you can,
Imagine it goes right outside your body,
And then it comes back in again.
Now this is all imaginary,
But it's actually moving your chi around in an unusual and innovative way.
So let's imagine now we're going to do a yo-yo cross.
We're going to become masters of the yo-yo breath.
So breathe in,
And on the out-breath imagine the yo-yo breath goes down.
Breathe in again,
And on the out-breath imagine it goes out to the right.
Breathe in again,
And imagine it goes out to the left.
And in again,
And on the out-breath imagine it goes right up to your crown.
And just repeat that pattern,
Playing with the yo-yo in any direction that you'd like.
Let's play some more.
Imagine on the out-breath the yo-yo goes all the way down,
Past your root,
Down your left leg,
And into the floor.
On the in-breath it comes all the way back up again to the diaphragm.
On the next out-breath it goes all the way down your right leg,
Into the floor,
All the way back up again to your diaphragm.
And then the next out-breath it goes up through your right shoulder,
Back down again to your diaphragm.
And on the next out-breath it goes up to your left shoulder,
All the way back down again.
And until the music fades,
Just play with the yo-yo breath.
