Week 5 Pranayama

Week five of an eight-week progressive practice building toward the three-part breath (Dirgha Pranayama). Week Five introduces a basic anatomy of breathing and expands upon the 3-part breath practice, using metaphor as a visualization tool.

Transcript

Today we will practice the three part breath using both our understanding of the anatomy as well as the more abstract imagery to help facilitate a broader experience of this breath.

Sometimes in yoga practice metaphors and images are useful to help us get a fuller,

More complete experience of the practice.

So find your way into Shavasana,

Corpse Pose,

Lying on your back with knees supported by a bolster or folded blankets.

See that you have a neutral,

Comfortable spine.

You may wish to have some support under the back of your skull,

Pillow,

Or blanket.

As you lay back,

Soften your shoulders and relax into this position.

Draw your awareness to your pelvis.

Notice your sense of gravity on this part of your body.

Notice the way the earth supports you.

Notice the back of your pelvis,

The bones,

Or the flesh in contact with the floor.

Notice if one side feels more grounded or closer to the earth than the other.

Before you make any changes,

Simply make a mental note of the difference between sides.

Notice too is one hip higher than the other,

Hiked up or positioned up closer toward your armpit.

Again,

Simply noticing this as you take some time to observe and become aware of your body's habitual pattern when you lay on the floor.

Now draw your attention to the front of your pelvis.

Notice one side of your front pelvis closer to the sky than the other side.

Simply noticing without judgment,

With your eyes closed,

Just making a mental picture of your body as you feel into this space.

Now make any subtle adjustments to your pelvis so that it feels more balanced,

More neutral.

It may be very tiny movements,

Breathing naturally as you adjust your bones,

Position of your pelvis against the floor to feel balanced from right to left,

From top to bottom,

From side to side.

Without engaging a need to hold yourself in this position,

See if you can just make an adjustment and allow the body to relax into a more neutral place.

You may notice it may recoil back and that's okay,

Just observe your body's response to these gentle repositioning movements.

Take a few more moments here to adjust and then come into stillness,

Simply watching your breath.

Now draw your awareness up the spine to the area of the shoulders and chest.

Without disturbing the pelvis,

Without removing the physical body in any way,

Simply observe your sense of the shoulders.

Noticing the shape that the shoulders occupy in space.

This is one shoulder up higher than the other.

Is one shoulder out away from the spine more than the other?

Does one shoulder round forward or sink back?

Just notice for a moment here,

Observing your default position of the shoulders after you lie onto your back.

Now again,

Without disturbing the pelvis,

See if you can gently and subtly walk your shoulders down and level away from your ears or spread them apart,

Finding a sense of balance from right to left or perhaps drawing one in a little to balance with the other side.

You feel a sense of playfulness here.

There's no perfection,

Only just an exploration of your experience in this moment.

Maybe different from yesterday,

Maybe different tomorrow.

See if you can keep your face soft,

Your eyebrows relaxed,

Your neck relaxed as you make these observations and these small micro adjustments.

Taking a moment or two more to adjust,

To find a place of balance,

Of equanimity in your shoulders.

And then come into stillness,

Simply watching your breath.

With pelvis and shoulders balanced,

Supported,

Eyes closed,

Breathing,

Coming and going naturally here,

Imagine that you are lying on a beach with your feet toward the ocean,

The sun warming your skin,

Enjoying the sense of being fully supported by the sand as it follows the natural contours of your body.

Feel any muscular holding just melting into the sand,

Relaxing deeply here.

And allow your next breath to come in through your nose,

Feel how your pelvis relaxes,

Your belly gently expands with this first breath.

Pause at the top of your inhale and like a wave coming in and out with the tide,

Allow your exhale to empty you out.

At the very end of the exhale,

Softly engaging the abdominal muscles to hug in towards center,

Big floor muscles lift.

With the next wave coming in,

Fill the pelvis,

Low belly,

Pause at the top of this belly breath and then as the wave recedes,

Emptying out the breath.

Feel like a wave coming in from your feet up toward your belly.

Exhale,

Allow the wave to go out,

Drawing any tension out of your body on the exhale.

Inhale,

The wave comes in,

Just filling up to the belly.

Pause,

Exhale,

A wave goes out,

Emptying you out completely.

Pause.

A few more of these natural breaths.

At your pace,

These belly breaths filling you in from bottom up,

Emptying you out from top down.

We'll gently move toward the belly and middle ribs breath.

So with the next wave coming in,

Inhale to gently fill the pelvis,

Belly,

And allow that breath to expand into the middle ribs.

Pause at the top.

And as the wave travels back out to sea,

Feel the breath empty out.

Ribs draw in,

Belly draws in,

Pelvic floor draws in,

Just gently.

Avoiding the tendency to over-effort or try too much and instead just enjoy this natural rhythm,

This gentle engagement.

Inhaling the pelvis,

Belly,

Ribs expand circumferentially opening and broadening.

Pause.

Exhale emptying out slowly and completely.

Ribs,

Belly,

Base.

And like a wave washing over your body,

Allow your breath to cleanse you out softly,

Emerging into the tight spaces and then letting go completely on every exhale.

Inhale pelvis,

Belly,

Ribs,

Pause.

Exhale ribs,

Belly,

Pelvis,

Pause.

Inhale pelvis,

Belly,

Ribs,

Pause.

Exhale ribs,

Belly,

Pelvis,

Pause.

Always following your own rhythm,

Your own natural experience,

Engaging gently but not over-efforting.

Feeling a sense of loving kindness toward your body,

Toward your place on this journey of learning about yourself,

Your anatomy,

Your breath.

And your next inhale comes,

Fill the pelvis,

The belly,

The ribs and allow it to expand into the chest,

The upper chest without causing any tension or contraction of the neck.

The jaw remains soft and as you exhale,

Empty out the chest,

The ribs,

The belly,

Pause.

Taking this full three-part breath,

Following the image of the wave washing in over your body on the inhale and receding,

Flowing out to sea,

Emptying you out on the exhale.

Inhale to fill,

Belly,

Ribs,

Chest.

Exhale to empty,

Chest,

Ribs,

Belly.

Inhale to fill,

Belly,

Ribs,

Chest,

Pause at the top and then exhale to empty,

Chest,

Ribs,

Belly,

Pause as the warm waters wash over you on the inhale and then wash out to sea on the exhale,

Following this image,

Breathing the full three-part breath,

Continuing at the rhythm that feels most nourishing to you.

Continuing with the three-part breath,

Feeling each section of your body expand on the inhale,

Relax on the exhale and then drawing in at the end of the exhale.

Let go.

If your mind wanders,

Which is natural,

Simply draw your attention back to the breath,

Back to the image of the wave washing in on the inhale,

Filling up belly,

Ribs,

Chest,

Pausing at the top,

And then emptying out the ribs,

Chest,

Belly,

Following your breath and the image of the wave.

Now,

A final that comes into your mind,

Moving forward with your breathing,

Into your body,

As you continue to work with this three part breath,

Noticing any areas in the body that may feel challenged to open,

To spread,

To stretch,

And perhaps mindfully inviting a little more sense of expansion into that space.

For you it may be in the ribs,

Perhaps in the back of the chest,

Perhaps the collarbones in the area,

Perhaps the belly,

Maybe the pelvis.

And as you exhale,

Can you,

At the very end of your exhale,

Draw in just a little more,

Just a small amount of increased engagement at the end of your exhale.

Inhale,

Expand,

Pelvis,

Belly,

Ribs,

Chest.

Exhale,

Let's go.

Chest,

Ribs,

Belly,

Pelvis.

Continuing to work with this imagery,

With this breath.

Finding more space where you can.

Letting go a little deeper where you can.

Drawing your mind back to the breath if it wanders.

Knowing that in life distractions arise,

Whether they are internal or external,

And all you need to do in these moments is draw your focus back to the breath.

Inhaling to expand,

Exhaling to let go and then draw in.

Make a wave washing over your body.

Cleaning out,

Clearing out anything that does not serve your highest purpose.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Inhale,

Feel the pelvis descend,

Broaden the belly,

Widen creating space for the diaphragm to descend,

The ribs to expand,

The chest to broaden.

Exhale,

The chest relaxes,

The ribs knit together drawing in the belly toward the spine,

The pelvic floor lifts.

Over and over like a wave washing over you.

Inhale to find the expansion,

Exhale to empty out.

Everything supported by the earth beneath you,

Cradled,

Held.

The face,

The neck,

The hands,

The arms uninvolved,

The legs heavy and restful.

As you find your next two deepest fullest rounds of the three part breath.

Allow your next exhale to be longest fullest most complete exhale and then return to your natural breathing.

Letting go of any control of the breath and with a curiosity just notice if there are any changes in your baseline breath and your natural breath here after having practiced a half hour of this full three part breath.

Taking just these moments to observe the state that you're currently in.

Reviews

Wonderful!!! Thank you🌸💜

So good! I got so deep into my breath I didn't even notice the noisy air conditioner. And the time flew. These are great breath focused meditations and I love the waves analogy. Without effort you can certainly feel the waves of breath moving in and out. Thank you so much! 🌊

Thank you. This was an incredible meditation, and the three part breathing became a wonderful flow for me. I was able to inhale deeper into my chest as I progressed, and it also started feeling quite natural. This was completely relaxing and centering. I look forward to more meditations. 🦋🙏🏼♥️