Hi there and thank you for joining me.
In this short practice today we're going to be practicing a pranayama called Valoma pranayama,
Where we're going to essentially be separating the inhale into three separate parts and taking really long,
Slow,
Elongated,
Relaxed exhales.
This pranayama is really really good at busting down stress and just helping to release,
To calm,
To restore a sense of balance and relaxation through the body.
One of the really beneficial things about this practice is that we can do it throughout the day whenever we feel like we need it.
It's best practiced between about three to five to maybe even ten minutes.
The ten minute option I would personally do before I was going to bed or even if I was lying down in bed on my back and ready to go to sleep.
So in this practice it's going to be short and it's going to be sweet.
I want you to find a comfortable seat.
Take a few deep breaths,
A few really exaggerated exhales,
Maybe some deep sighs.
Feel free to roll your shoulders around,
Move your back around,
Move your neck around,
Move your body in any way that it feels good just before you come to a settled position.
The practice is extremely straightforward but it can have really really profound effects on helping us to restore a state of calm and to really just lower our stress levels before they get too high and before we get too reactive.
That's all before we begin.
Take a really big nice inhale,
Fill up the lungs as much as you possibly can and release a really slow,
Steady,
Silent exhale through the nose.
And when you're ready,
I want you to start to breathe into the belly and then pause,
Hold the breath for a second,
Breathe in a little bit more into the sides of the ribs and then pause and breathe in a little bit more,
Not right the way to the top,
Just a little bit more and then pause.
Hold the breath for 5,
4,
3,
2,
1 and release a slow,
Steady exhale through the nose.
And we're just going to repeat this practice for about 2 to 3 minutes.
Breathing into the belly,
Pausing for however long is comfortable,
Breathing in a little bit more into the sides of the ribs and filling up the lungs a tiny bit more and pausing again,
Breathing in a little bit more into the sides of the ribs and filling up the lungs a tiny bit more and pausing again,
Breathing in a little bit more,
Not right the way to the top,
We want to leave a little bit of a space at the top of the lungs so we can feel relaxed for that 5 second retention.
And then a slow,
Slow,
Steady,
Silent exhale through the nose.
Really elongating it as much as you possibly can while keeping that exhale relaxed and soft.
And just keep going,
Focusing on all that space that's being created on each inhale and all of that softness within the retention and that softness within the exhale.
Try and keep the shoulders relaxed,
The body relaxed throughout the whole process.
Relaxing the muscles of the face and trying not to brace too hard on the retentions,
We want to keep them quite soft and relaxed.
And the more we practice these retentions,
The more we practice the muscles of the face,
The more we practice this subtle breath hold,
The more comfortable we will become within that space.
Now we're going to continue this practice for another minute to a minute and a half.
Keep going at a pace that you feel comfortable with.
The next time you release an exhale,
Instead of it being slow and silent and quiet and soft,
I want you to do a really exaggerated big sigh.
Obviously if you're in public,
Feel free to do that,
Always just keep the slow,
Steady,
Silent exhale.
And then just let your breath settle,
Let it return to a natural rhythm.
A few big inhales and a few really big exhales.
Relax the muscles of your face,
Relax your jaw,
Relax your shoulders.
And then to close off,
We're just going to do a slightly shorter variation of our Viloma Pranayama.
I want you to inhale right the way to the top,
Leaving a tiny bit of a gap at the top of the inhale.
And pause,
Tuck in a tiny bit more air,
Pause again for five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One and a big,
Big exhale.
Getting rid of every last little bit of air that you possibly can.
We're going to do that one more time.
So in your own time,
Breathing in fully,
Pausing at the top,
Bringing in a little bit more air and pausing for five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One and a full exhale.
Take a full inhale in and a full exhale out.
Now this is the space where I'm going to leave you,
So feel free if you have the time to sit within this space for a few minutes.
Or if you feel ready,
Then just take on the rest of your day.
Thank you very,
Very much for practicing with me and I hope to practice again with you soon.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
