Small Moment, Many Times
Dear friends,
It is essential that we rest. In the presence of fear, anger and uncertainty, creating moments of conscious rest is a way to assert personal power over what you can control: yourself. I recorded this short, breath-centered, guided meditation as a form of respite from your scrolling. Set aside 10 minutes to lie down and be led through a series of 3 patterns of breath. If you’re having trouble sleeping, do it before bed in a dark room. Your body will thank you.
Transcript:
This is a short, breath-centered guided, meditation
Created with the hope of
Providing some respite from a chaotic world
By
Quieting and centering the mind
Calming the body
Soothing the nervous system
Lie down on your back
Close your eyes
Get comfortable
And take a deep breath in
Smooth and easy
Bring awareness to the space around you
With your ears, find the noises
With your closed eyes, see the light, see the dark, the engagement between the two
Loosen your jaw
Loosen your face
Loosen the whole scalp
With your skin, feel the temperature of the air and the pressure of fabric
Sense your body
The front
The back
The right
The left
Place your right hand on your belly
Below the ribcage and above the navel
Place your left hand on your chest
On the breastbone, in line with the heart
Without changing anything,
Notice your breath
The speed
The depth
The quality
Notice which hand is moving more,
The right hand belly?
Or the left hand chest?
Perhaps is relatively even between the two?
Or perhaps you can’t even really tell, and that’s okay too
Begin to shift the energy of the breath
More toward the belly
Feel your right hand being moved more by the breath
Than the left
The rise and fall of the abdomen
The incoming breath
Flooding the bottom of the lungs
Sucking in air like a vaccuum
Imagine the dome-shaped muscle at the base of the ribcage
The diaphragm
Attaching itself to the inside of the base of the ribcage
From front to back
Left to right
Feel these deep belly breaths
Being guided by the
The diaphragm
Expanding down with the inhale
Displacing your abdominal contents
And effectively lifting your right hand with the inhale
And lowering it with the exhale
The whole ribcage expanding
The muscles between the ribs expanding
Become familiar with the sensations of an expansive belly breath
The inhale, stimulating and nourishing
The exhale, releasing what you don’t need
There is inevitably a space between the in and the out
As direction and energy shift
Prolonging the time spent in this space is what’s called a “retention”
Retention is a chance to savour the air that you’re breathing
It distributes the energy taken in on the inhale
And allows us to exhibit restraint and control
Over our physical body
We will continue with these belly breaths
Adding in a small retention
Both at the top of the inhale
And the bottom of the exhale
The holding the breath should be easy
With out tension or strain
Our first pattern of breath will be rectangular
6 counts to inhale
A 3 count retention
6 counts to exhale
A 3 count retention
Then begin again
I’ll keep count for you
Before we start take a big breath in at your own speed
Then let it all out completely
And begin
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
1, 2, 3
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
1, 2, 3
6x
Return to a normal pattern of breath
Notice what came up
Notice what you’re feeling and how you’re feeling it
Then let it go
There is so much in this world that we cannot control
Our breath is sacred
Because it is something we, for the most part,
Can control
As said by “B.K.S. Iyengar”
“The brain is the instigator through which the respiration and the three mental functions of thought, will and consciousness are regulated”
The breath is a direct line of access to the nervous system
By way of stimulation of nerves, and interpretation of brain
It’s a link to our cardiovascular system
Delivering oxygen
Expeling carbon dioxide and other unnecesary bullshit that can be harmful to the body
With fascial attachments to the stomach, large intestine, the liver, pancreas and kidneys and the
Diaphragmatic breaths provide a link between breath and the digestive, urinary systems
The lymph system as well
A collection duct for lymph fluid, called the cisterna chyli, lies just below the diaphragm
Making the breath an effective pump of lymph fluid
Our solar plexus chakra lies at the center of the body,
Affected by the movement associated with the belly breath
Stimulating your personal power, confidence and will
Let’s start our second breathing pattern
Viloma breath
Which breaks the inhale up into 3 equal parts
A brief retention between each part
Followed by one long, continuous exhale
With no retention before beginning the next interrupted inhale
That pattern will follow:
In
In
In
Ouuuuuuuutttttt
Before we start take a big breath in at your own pace
And release it completely
And begin
In
In
In
Ouuuuuuttttt
6x
Return to a normal pattern of breath
Notice what came up
Notice what you’re feeling and how you’re feeling it
Then let it go
We breathe our whole lives
We can get better at it, or worse, over time
Our own personal capacities
Can expand and improve
We can be brought to life
Over and over and over again
By returning to the breath
Our final pattern of breath will be single nostril breathing
Remove your right hand from you belly
And place the pointer and middle finger in the space between the eyebrows
Giving your thumb access to your right nostril
And your ring finger access to your left nostril
For single nostril breathing
You’ll take a full cycle of breath through one nostril
Switch to the other nostril at the top of the inhale
Then take a full cycle of breath through the other nostril
We’ll begin on the right side
But before we start
Take a deep breath in at your own speed through both nostrils
Plug your left nostril with your ring finger
And exhale through the right nostril
Inhale through the right nostril
At the top of the inhale, switch from right to left
Exhale through the left nostril
Inhale through the left nostril
At the top of the inhale, switch from left to right
And begin again with the right nostril
Continue with this pattern of breath
In and out through a single nostril
Switching at the top of the inhale
For the next minute or so
I’ll stop talking
And let you breathe
…
Remove your hand from your face
And place it back on your belly
Return to a normal pattern of breath
Notice what came up
Notice what you’re feeling and how you’re feeling it
Then let it go
Stay in this space
Quiet and still
As long as you need
Thanks for joining me
With love,
Sincerely