Balancing With The Breath

We use alternate nostril breathing (Nadi Shodhana) to reveal our state of balance; the balance between physical, mental and emotional aspects of ourself, left and right, inner and outer. We become quiet in breath balancing pose, hands under the armpits, focusing on the breath in the nostrils. The breathing exercise is a tool to reveal where we might choose to rebalance.

Do not perform nadi shodhana if you have cold or fever or blocked nose.
Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

Transcript

Make ourselves comfortable putting our body somewhere where it can be still for a little while. So let's put our feet underneath our knees where our feet and our legs are in neutral and take a few deeper breaths straightening our spine a little bit as we inhale exhale we can soften our shoulders a little bit soften our forehead and our jaw and settle into our seat a little bit. Balance balance between alert and relaxed. Let's take a few breaths there doing what the breath wants to do as we bring our attention inwards. So let's take our breath balancing pose. We'll leave our legs comfortable and we'll put our hands underneath our armpits with our arms crossed and our arms there's plenty of room for our chest to expand and our arms are showing us the expansion and contraction of our chest. Take our focus to our nostrils and observe the breath flowing through the nostrils. If your mind wanders we just notice some return. Let the breath be comfortable the body relaxed. Gradually as we become quiet and still. The breath will become a little slower. Close your eyes. Andale, Again. Noticing where the mind wanders to. Can we get a sense of the balance between our nostrils? Are we able to observe that? Can we get a sense of the balance between our nostrils? And at the same time being alert for any mental commentary, Any judgment of our performance, Shoulds, Shouldn'ts. Can we get a sense of the balance between our nostrils? Let's release that practice now. We can release our arms. Take a few relaxed breaths as we prepare for our alternate nostril breathing practice. So with either hand we can place the two first fingers between our eyebrows. Take a breath and as we exhale we're going to close one nostril and breathe out and in through the other nostril. When we breathe out we can swap. And the out breath we swap. And if you find one of your nostrils is blocked you can just visualise the practice. Preparing to finish now when you've worked evenly. And lower your arm and rest. Feel how that feels. Noticing how it feels physically. Vocal reaction. Emotional. And then with all of those things as a whole functioning together. How is our balance between the mental, Physical and emotional? Are we dominated by one aspect now or in general? Returning to the breath and the body. Assuming that first round of alternate nostril breathing felt good for you we can do another round if not just visualise the practice without blocking your nostrils. So you can use your other hand if you want to encourage balance. Put your first two fingers between your eyebrows. Taking a breath, When you're ready to exhale closing gently one nostril. Exhaling, Inhaling. On the out breath, When the in breath is finished we swap over. When the in breath is complete we swap over. When the in breath is complete we swap over. And completing the practice when you're ready. Resting our arms. Resting our body in our breath. Resting our experience. Noticing our balance between the aspects of our being. Our right and left. Physical, Mental and emotional. Inner world and outer world. Completing the observer of our balance. And if we desire some rebalance. So we'll capture that thought if any rebalance would help us. We can take a few deeper breaths, Energising breaths as we begin to return to the outer world. Allowing the energy to flow into our body. Our arms and our legs becoming energised. Our feet, Our hands, Our arms, Our legs. Having a little stretch if that feels comfortable. And returning to our waking world. Thank you for practicing with me.