Welcome to the lower belly breathing practice.
This is an excellent practice for two things.
One is any bit of discomfort or pain in the lower back.
It's also an excellent practice for relaxing and bringing the mind outside of thoughts,
Ruminating about worries or past or future events,
And really being able to bring our awareness deep into our body.
So taking a position on the floor,
Lying down on your back.
For this one,
It's essential to use a very specific posture.
You're going to bring your feet flat on the floor with the knees up.
The feet will be just a little wider than hips,
And the knees are gently touching each other as if you're creating a series of triangles.
There should feel what I call a Goldilocks spot in terms of the distance of your heels to your buttocks.
If it's too close,
You might feel a little strain on your knees.
And if it's too far away,
You might feel a little strain in the lower back.
We want to feel the back very nice and aligned in a kind of flat aligned position throughout the back.
So play around,
Find this right position that feels your body completely aligned and at ease.
Feet flat,
Knees together.
The hands will be on the sides of your body,
Palms down.
So the key of this practice is all the attention is going to be below the rib cage and above the pelvic floor.
So we're essentially have unhooked our awareness from our mind.
So if you've been working a lot or studying or some type of deep conversation or problems in your life,
And you're really been in your mind and your thoughts and worries,
It's time to drop it as if you're unhooking your awareness from your mind,
And you're dropping it into the lower abdomen.
So dropping that attention into the lower belly,
There's three things we need to focus on on the inhale and three things on the exhale.
So let's empty out,
Empty out with an exhale.
And as we breathe in,
Feel the belly swell.
The lower back arches just a bit off the mat,
And the pelvic bone pushes into the mat.
As you exhale,
You're shrinking the belly,
You flatten the back,
And the pelvic bone would gently tilt off the mat or floor.
And again,
Inhale,
Belly swells,
Back gently arches,
Pelvic bone goes into the mat.
And as you exhale,
Shrink in the belly,
Navel to spine,
Flatten the back,
And really engage the core,
Exhale more than you're used to,
And let that pelvic bone tilt just very slightly off the mat.
This is called pelvic tilt in a lot of yoga practices.
So I'm gonna do one more with you,
And then we're gonna do a couple minutes on your own.
Inhale,
Belly swells,
Back arches,
Pelvic bone into the mat.
Exhale,
Shrink in the belly,
Flatten the back,
And then exhale more than you're used to,
Engage the core just a bit,
And let the pelvic bone gently tilt off the mat.
And take a couple minutes on your own.
If the mind wanders,
No need to judge yourself.
Don't get frustrated,
There's nothing wrong.
Just note it.
Open,
Curious,
Bit of humor.
And then drop the mind,
Drop the awareness back to the lower belly area.
Another key aspect of this practice is focus on those exhalations.
Let the inhale be natural,
Somewhere between 70% and 80% effort.
And on your exhale,
Exhale more than you're used to.
Really engage the core.
Just feeling the lower abdomen becoming completely empty at the bottom of the exhale.
Let's do four breaths on your own,
And begin.
We're gonna do one more altogether.
So exhale wherever you're at.
Take an exhale,
Empty the belly out.
Empty out,
And begin.
Swelling on the inhale.
And then as you exhale,
Completely full exhale.
When you think you're done exhaling,
Exhale a little more until there's absolutely nothing left.
The abdomen is completely empty,
And you've engaged the core.
And hold the breath for 10,
9,
8,
7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
And relax.
Let the palms go up to the ceiling.
Just be in the body.
Let go of the technique for a couple breaths,
And we'll do one more round.
Okay,
And get ready for one more set.
We're gonna bring the palms facing the ground again.
Feet are flat,
Knees are up.
Start with an exhale,
Empty out.
And begin.
Inhale,
Belly swells.
Back arches.
Pelvic bone into the mat.
Exhale,
Shrink in the belly.
Flatten the back,
Pelvic bone tilt off the mat,
And really engage the core this set.
So really get used to exhaling more than you used to.
And kind of connect to this feeling of this pelvic tilt.
It's a great healing practice for the lower back.
Great practice for the breath.
And let the mind completely unhook from thoughts,
Emotions,
Worries.
Dropping all of your awareness into this lower belly.
And on your own,
Continue for another couple minutes.
Taking three more breaths like this.
Once again,
No judgment if the mind wanders,
But just drop it back into the lower belly.
As soon as you note the wandering,
And begin.
And we're gonna do one more all together.
Take an exhale,
Wherever you're at.
Exhale,
Exhale,
Exhale.
Empty.
And breathe it in.
Belly swells,
Back arches,
Pelvic bone into the mat.
As you exhale,
Shrink in the belly,
Flatten in the back,
Let the pelvic bone tilt off and engage the core,
Emptying.
Connect with that emptiness inside and hold.
10,
9,
8,
7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
And relax.
Let the palms go up to the ceiling.
Keeping the mind with the body still.
Keep it all in that lower part of your torso.
Just surfing the breath now.
Surfing the breath and every exhale,
Just feel yourself relax just a bit deeper.
And you could stay with this relaxing breath for as long as you need to.
Staying in this very comfortable lying down position.
At any time you want to move into the side position,
Fetal.
Slowly drift off.
Just listen to your body.
Just surf the breath right now.
All of that awareness in the body,
Out of the mind.
Just letting go,
Letting be.
As you drift off.
