Week 3 Pranayama

This is week three of an 8-week progressive series of practices leading to the three-part breath or Dirgha Pranayama. This week's practice will introduce the pelvic floor breath. Many people find it most helpful to sense this region of their anatomy while in Balasana / Child’s Pose.

Transcript

Today's practice begins with a pelvic and belly breath and moves into an expansion of the belly breath toward a two-part breath encompassing the pelvis,

Low belly,

And the middle ribs.

If it is possible for your body,

Find your way into Balasana,

Child's pose,

With a bolster or blankets supporting your belly chest and a blanket behind your knees or in front of your hip creases or under your head as needed for your comfort.

Know that eventually you will be comfortable staying in a static posture for the duration of our half-hour practice,

But for today be sure to honor your body and move as you need to into Sukhasana,

Seated pose,

Or Shavasana,

Corpse pose at any time throughout today's practice.

So settle into your body and scan from your head to your toes,

Allowing any tension that you find along the way to just melt out of your body on an exhale.

Perhaps using an open-mouthed exhale to facilitate a deeper letting go in these first few moments of practice or at any time you encounter a buildup of tension.

Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.

In Balasana,

Child's pose,

Allowing your shoulders to round forward and your forearms to be completely supported by the earth beneath you.

Feel your low back lengthening and broadening,

Allowing gravity to spread the skin around your spine and your hips to sink closer and closer toward the earth.

From this relaxed position,

Begin to cultivate a simple awareness of your breath.

Notice in this position how your breath moves into and out of your body.

Notice if there are any new areas that can spread and expand with breath and if there are any areas that perhaps feel more constricted in this position.

Just taking the next few moments to simply explore and observe.

And now,

Ever so gently draw your attention down to the base of your pelvis,

Your pelvic floor,

The area of the perineum.

The pelvic floor is like a bony bowl at the base of your spine with a muscular hammock hung across the bowl.

The structure of the bowl supports the action of the muscles as you breathe and as you move through your day.

Over the next few inhales,

See if you can feel this muscular area.

If you're in Balasana,

Child's pose,

It's horizontal to the floor.

Does this area expand and descend as you inhale?

Does it feel static?

What is the quality of this pelvic floor region in your inhale?

Is there a density that you feel or sense there?

Simply notice the action of your pelvic musculature as you breathe naturally.

Noticing the action of the muscles on your inhale.

Noticing the front region of the pelvis,

The back of the pelvis,

The area of the tailbone.

And over your next few exhales,

See if you can discern the movement or sensation in this muscular area.

When you breathe out,

Does your pelvic floor draw up and in towards center?

Does this area remain relaxed?

Does it move at all?

Noticing the front of the base of your pelvis.

Noticing the back toward your tailbone.

If there's any activity that you can sense,

And it may be very subtle with the length of your exhale.

And if it's not happening for you just yet,

If your sense of this region feels really cloudy or unclear or maybe it feels like there's no movement at all,

That's okay.

Just maintain a sense of curiosity knowing that there is no right or wrong as you observe here gently with compassion,

Just noticing your experience of the pelvic breath.

And maintaining this awareness of your pelvis,

The entire region,

The pelvic bowl from side to side,

Front to back,

Without over-efforting,

Without striving.

Just notice if you can begin to facilitate some very gentle,

Very compassionate movement.

And see if you can feel as you inhale an expansive feeling of down and out on the inhale.

Almost as though you're filling up the bottom of the pelvic bowl with your breath,

Visualizing that expansion.

And then on the exhale,

Sensing just a relaxation of those muscles and then a sense of very gentle drawing up and in on the exhale.

So down and out,

Expansion as you inhale.

Softening and then up and drawing in as you exhale.

Taking your time and maintaining that sense of curious exploration as you expand into the pelvic region on the inhale very subtly,

And as you exhale,

Softly drawing up and in just at the very end of the exhale.

Inhale down and out,

Expanding.

Exhale up and in,

Softly engaging.

And just notice if other parts of your body are trying to help with this movement,

With this breath,

And see how soft you can allow your shoulders to be.

Even your ribs,

Your belly,

Your back,

Uninvolved.

Focusing on just the gentle movement in your lower pelvis,

Spreading on the inhale and drawing gently in on the exhale.

Continue at your own pace with this pelvic breath,

Softly awakening an awareness of this often neglected region of our body that is so important in efficient healthy breathing.

Down and out to expand on the inhale and then drawing in and up as you exhale.

And if you're still working with your experience of the pelvic breath,

If it feels like it still requires your fullest concentration and focus,

You may choose to continue with this practice.

Continue breathing down and out as you inhale and up and in as you exhale,

Just allowing my voice,

My instruction to fall into the background and continuing with your own practice.

It's equally beneficial if this feels like it still requires some of your attention to just continue working with the pelvic breath.

Or if you feel that this pelvic breath is coming naturally to you,

Please continue to follow my voice,

My suggestions as we progress through the rest of today's practice.

Again,

You can choose to continue to work with the pelvic breath and sometime in the future progress or continue to follow my suggestions.

So as you inhale,

Filling the pelvic bowl with your gentle breaths,

Allow that inhale to continue to spread into your belly.

Pause.

Exhale to soften and add the very end of your exhale.

Feel a drawing up and in with the pelvic floor and add a drawing in of the navel toward your spine.

This is not a forceful movement,

Rather a very gentle engagement,

Inviting the subtle action of the lower abdominal muscles and pelvis drawing in and up.

So inhale into your pelvis,

Allowing that sensation of expansion to spread into the belly.

Pause.

And exhale softly,

Lifting the pelvic floor up and belly button in at the very end of the exhale.

Gently extending this breath to first encompass the pelvis and the belly.

And allowing the exhale to soften and very gently engage at the very end of the exhale.

And remember at any time if you feel that you're creating more tension,

Simply return to your natural breath or use a few open mouthed exhales to return to a state of relaxation and you can regain that pelvic breaths anytime.

Inhaling down and out,

Spreading the belly.

Perhaps you can even feel the low back lift broaden,

Expand.

Find a pause at the top of your inhale,

Keeping your jaw,

Your neck soft.

And exhale slowly,

Emptying out.

And at the end of your exhale,

Feel that ever so gentle engagement of the pelvic bowl lift in the navel in toward spine.

Exhale to feel an expansion of your pelvis,

Your belly.

Pause.

Exhale to soften and let the breath go.

And at the end of your exhale,

Feel a gentle lift of the pelvic floor and navel in.

Pause.

Inhale to expand.

Pause.

Exhale to draw in.

Pause.

Inhale to expand.

Pause.

Exhale to draw in.

Pause.

Feeling as you continue at your own pace this pelvic belly breath,

Feeling the soft tissues,

The abdominal organs,

The core musculature receiving a gentle internal massage simply from the subtle yet full movement of your breath.

Inhale to expand.

Pause.

Exhale to draw in.

Pause.

Continue with this nourishing breath at your own pace,

Absorbing the energy that's in your belly,

The benefits of this fully oxygenated breath of these nurturing movements of your pelvis,

Your abdomen.

Exhale.

You can simply continue practicing with this pelvis and belly breath,

Inhaling to expand,

Exhaling to draw in.

Or you can continue following my voice and expanding this breath even further.

As you continue breathing in to expand your pelvis and belly,

Begin to allow the expansion,

Invite this expansion to extend up into your lower ribs,

Keeping your neck,

Your shoulders,

Your chest soft as you fill and expand your pelvis,

Belly and low ribs.

Exhale,

Feeling your body gently empty out and at the end of the exhale,

Lift the pelvic floor,

Draw your navel toward your spine and gently knit the lower front and side ribs together.

Allow the inhale to come deep into your pelvis,

Belly and expand into your low ribs.

Pause.

And then allow the exhale to empty you out.

At the end of the exhale,

Softly draw your pelvic floor up,

Navel in and lower ribs toward center.

Experiencing a full,

Gentle expression of this lower body breathing.

The pelvis,

The belly,

The ribs,

Expanding on the inhale,

Extending a pause and then drawing the ribs,

The belly,

The pelvic floor toward the center on the exhale.

Allow your face and shoulders,

Eyebrows to remain soft and uninvolved as you continue breathing in this way.

Expanding the pelvis,

The belly,

The ribs on the inhale and letting the breath empty out,

Followed by drawing of the ribs,

The belly,

The pelvis all toward center.

Inhale to expand,

Exhale to draw in.

Inhale to expand,

Exhale to draw in.

Continue with your own pace.

Noticing how this breath becomes more and more natural as you continue to practice.

Cultivating your inner awareness,

Your inner ability to remain present,

Aware of sensations in your body as you breathe in this way.

Inhale,

Feeling a sense of expansion,

Of downward and outward movement.

Exhale,

Softening the body and drawing everything inward and upward.

Inhale to expand and exhale to draw in.

Enjoying a few more of your deep inhales,

Your exhales to the lowest,

Slowest,

Smoothest rounds of this belly,

Chest,

Pelvis breath.

And then slowly after your next full complete exhale,

Just let go of the breath.

Let go of your controlling or guiding of the breath,

Completely relaxing and simply allowing your natural breath to take the lead for you.

Become effortless,

Softening your shoulders,

Your legs and your face.

Reviews

Delicious! Thankyou Jessi 🙏

Love it! Thank you

I am really loving these simple but deeply calming breath meditations. This one is very good with such good focus on the movement of the breath through the lower body. Very nice instruction. I'm glad there are more. Thank you. 🙏☮️🔆