Morning Vitality-Infuser | Breathwork & Meditation | 22-mins

So as you arrive in your meditation position today,

Take the first few moments of your practice to soften in,

Softening the hips,

Softening the fingers,

The toes and then find that gentle awakeness that I suggested and you might start to find an awakening through the base of the spine,

Coming up through the middle of the spine all the way through the neck and it comes up and out through the crown of the head,

This gentle awakeness happening through the spine and at the same time there's a softening through the shoulders,

Softening through the jaw and a smoothing of the forehead.

Try and find that balance today in this meditation between effort and ease.

There's this presence,

There's a quality of being here actively but then there's also this quality of being easeful in your practice.

So with that why not take three smooth and steady breaths to arrive and centre,

Letting any fatigue or haziness that has been with you up until this point of your day drift away with every exhale that leaves the body now and with every inhale that comes in there's this essence of vitality,

Of refreshment,

Grounding in,

Arriving through the body for the next few moments and finding somewhere intentional for the hands to rest if they haven't already done so.

For our breathing part of our practice today there will be a little bit of engagement with the inhale and a passive release of the exhale.

The inhale will be through the nose and the exhale will be through the mouth and there'll be three different gears that we journey through.

We'll start with a nice slow rhythm,

There'll be a breath retention,

Mid rhythm and then a little bit quicker and a breath retention.

So just preparing yourself for that to open to the breath,

Let the ribcage welcome the next breath that comes in,

Opening through the stomach as well,

The chest,

Letting the whole torso be available for your breath.

And we start just with some equal breaths in and out to initiate the breath.

So the next time you breathe in maybe counting to four and the next time you breathe out counting to four.

Starting just with nasal breathing here,

In and out.

Beautifully done,

Just establishing the breath in your body,

In the room and then we'll journey together into the first gear of our breathing technique today.

In through the nose and out through the mouth.

So when you're ready releasing whatever breath you have in your body and then we breathe in through the nose,

Out through the mouth,

In through the nose,

Out through the mouth.

Dynamic inhale,

Passive exhale.

Dynamic inhale,

Passive exhale.

Let's breathe together.

A few more rounds.

Last round before retain.

Inhale fully,

Pause the breath,

Suspend at the top of the inhale,

Hold it for a moment and then slowly exhale through the mouth all the way out and pause and hold the breath at the bottom of the exhale.

This little retention can last as long as it feels good for you.

Just allowing yourself to float and to find peace in the nothingness for a moment and when you need to breathe the next breath in you just return to natural breathing for a few rounds.

Nicely done.

Noticing how it feels after gear one and that breath hold.

Anything that's present just noticing it and then we'll prepare for gear two.

So it's gonna be a little bit quicker now.

Whatever is in your body let it go and then we inhale together in through the nose,

Out through the mouth,

In through the nose,

Out through the mouth.

We're not here for long so just finding that pulse,

Finding that rhythm for ten,

Nine,

Keep going,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two and one.

If you're gonna breathe fully in fill up the whole body at the top of this breath,

Pause and retain for a few moments and then it's the slowest exhale you can do through the mouth and at the bottom of the breath gently pause and sustain without breathing in.

Your exploration of how long you want to go with this,

You know when it's time to take the next breath.

When you do return to the breath it's simple natural breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.

You might start to notice some changes internally through this practice short and sweet and we have one more gear to activate in our breathing practice today.

This one will be a nice quick rhythm and we'll just do it for 10 seconds and then we'll do a retention once again.

So when you're ready releasing whatever's in your body and we'll find this pulse together.

Inhale,

Exhale,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Inhale,

Exhale for five,

For four,

For three,

For two,

For one,

Fully in,

Suspend the breath,

Pause for a few moments and then slowly exhale.

At the bottom of the breath we pause,

We retain and suspend.

You're choosing when to welcome the next breath and simply returning to your easy breath when you need to,

Nasal breathing and just noticing what's here on the back of your breath work today.

Sensing any present sensations or thoughts or feelings,

Maybe there's a tingling through the body,

Maybe there's a lightness but also a grounded aspect.

Just notice what's here and from here we're going to journey with the mind now.

So letting the body rest,

Letting the breath rest into its natural rhythm once again and we start with our mindful senses.

The sense of touch being the first place that we explore.

So noticing now the sense of your skin,

Noticing the clothes upon your skin or maybe the atmosphere around you.

From here noticing the parts of your body that are in contact with each other,

Maybe a hand to the thigh,

Maybe a shoulder to the underarm.

Just scanning through the body and noticing the parts that are in connection.

Nicely done.

From here we move into our sense of taste.

So noticing the interior of the mouth,

Maybe swallowing and maybe moving your tongue a little bit to sense inwardly any taste that is present.

Trying not to judge but receiving whatever is present.

And perhaps you want to connect the sense of taste to a texture or a color that might be present in the mouth.

If this sense had a color what would it be?

Beautifully done.

From here moving into our sense of smell,

Go ahead take a deep breath in through the nose,

Taking in any sense of your surrounding,

Anything that's present on you.

Noticing if anything is here,

Smelt.

Again all is welcome.

And that same question,

If your sense of smell had a color today what would it be?

And then gently drawing your awareness to your sense of sight even with the eyes closed.

What do you see?

Is there a particular color or shape that's present for you?

And just spending the next few moments with your awareness on the eyes.

Acknowledging our sense of sight and all it's going to give us today.

Giving the eyes a little respite before the day unfolds.

Letting them just rest inwardly,

Eyelids gently softening even more over the eyeballs.

Acknowledging all the work they will do for you today to bring vision into your life.

And then we'll move into our final sense of sound.

So maybe tuning in to what's present through the ears now.

Noticing sounds that are far away and then gradually getting closer in to the room that you're in.

And you might even drop in to the sound of your own breath or heartbeat.

Welcoming all the sounds that are present,

Letting them infuse this meditation practice and give you something to observe.

And what would happen if you allowed all of your senses to come alive at the same time?

Touch,

Taste,

Smell,

Sound,

Sight.

How is it to be alive in your sensed body right now?

What's the experience?

Spend the next few moments simply observing this and perhaps one element of sense will draw you toward it and then you'll spend time with another sense.

Nicely done.

From here we come towards our waterfall of gratitude to set ourself up in a positive and illuminated way for the day ahead.

So visualizing now the most magnificent waterfall you have ever cast your eyes upon.

Imagine this waterfall is glowing,

Pure beautiful water pouring down and it's the perfect temperature for you today.

If that's a cold dip then it's a cold dip.

If it's warm and comfortable then it's warm and comfortable.

So imagine now you are stepping barefoot toward the waterfall and you're either sitting or standing under this beautiful flow of fresh water.

And as you sit and you see this beautiful flora and fauna around you,

The birds singing in the trees,

The butterflies flying by,

Take a moment today to acknowledge what you have.

You can place this question in your mind's eye,

What am I grateful for today?

Maybe coming up with a few things,

Not only thinking about them but letting it be felt in your body,

In your heart.

What am I grateful for today?

And if it's hard to find some gratitude today,

Come to the simple aspect of life,

Being alive.

And just a few more moments to explore your gratitude list today internally for yourself.

And then allowing that to soak in,

To really move through the body,

The mind,

The emotion space and let it infuse and ignite the way that you move throughout today with the shimmer of gratitude.

And imagine now this waterfall were gently being dissolved in your mind's eye and you were getting dried off,

You're feeling a little bit more fresh,

A little bit more vital.

The sun is upon your skin warming you through,

Beautiful morning vitamin D charging your cells.

And starting to take a few deeper breaths from here,

Letting the breath filter in through the body once again.

And then starting to bring some subtle movements into the fingers,

Maybe into the neck,

The chest,

The toes,

The ankles,

Any subtle movements that you need to come out of your practice.

And when you're ready you can start to blink the eyes open and come back into your space.