Welcome,
I'm Chetan Amiyan,
A positive mental health and wellness coach and the founder of Yoga for the Soul Retreats.
I'm going to guide you in a foundational breathing practice to really calm your mind so you feel grounded.
And it's wonderful for a frayed nervous system.
The best way to really appreciate this practice and get familiar with it is by lying down.
And once you are more familiar with the practice,
And if you prefer to sit,
Please do so.
But come down lying on the back.
Best to have the head aligned with the neck and spine.
If you do need to use a thin cushion to support the neck,
Do so.
And popping a couple of pillows under the knees can really allow you to surrender and soften through the lower back.
Cover the body to stay warm.
And just check that the spine,
Neck and head's aligned.
And if comfortable,
Have the arms down beside the body,
Yet not touching the body.
With the palms facing up or slightly in.
And bring the awareness to the heels.
See that they're evenly placed,
That the weight is balanced,
Left to right butter.
The shoulder blades align,
Head centered.
And become aware of one's natural breath,
Natural quality to the breath.
Notice where the breath sits within the body.
Is it the abdomen,
Chest,
Maybe even collarbone?
Simply be aware.
Notice if it's deep and slow,
Or shallow and fast.
Does it feel even or uneven?
Be aware of the inhalation,
The exhalation.
And rest the awareness at the abdomen.
Notice the movement of the abdomen with the natural breath.
Be aware of the natural rising and lowering of abdomen with the breath.
And here,
Introduce a mental count to the breath.
From nine back to zero.
Abdomen breeze in nine,
Abdomen breeze out nine.
That's one natural breath.
Abdomen breeze in eight,
Abdomen breeze out eight.
Another natural breath.
Continue the mental count backwards.
If zero is reached,
Or count is lost,
Begin again at nine.
Cease the count.
And begin to mentally count the length of the inhalation and the count of the exhalation.
Inhaling one,
Two.
Exhaling one,
Two.
Whatever the natural count may be,
Counting the length of the inhalation,
Count the length of the exhalation.
A natural breath without altering or changing.
One may find that the count naturally increases.
If this occurs,
Allow that to be.
And moving into a one to one ratio of breath to the higher count.
If the natural count of inhalation was to a two,
And the natural count of exhalation was to a three,
They both would become now a count of three.
Inhaling one,
Two,
Three.
Exhaling three,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Whatever the count may be for you,
A mental count of the length of inhalation,
The same count to exhalation.
And allow the exhalation to lengthen by one or two counts.
If the inhalation was to a count of three,
Exhalation becomes a count of four or five.
If it feels comfortable to do so,
Moving into a ratio of one to two.
If the inhalation was to a natural count of three,
Exhalation would be to a count of six.
If it's more comfortable to drop it back to a count of two on inhalation,
And exhalation at four,
Do so.
Make this the final round.
Cease the practice.
You have the option to remain lying,
Or if you wish to end the practice,
Start to move back into your day.
Take the awareness down to your feet and begin to wiggle your toes.
Wiggle your fingers.
Bring some movement into your ankles and wrists.
A little roll of your head from side to side.
And any stretch you'd like to connect fully back into your body.
And when ready,
Turn to your right side.
Have a couple of breaths here before getting up and moving back into your day.
