Welcome to this short five-minute Purumari Pranayama,
Also known as Humming Bee Breath introduction.
I'm Adrienne and I'll be guiding you today.
This is one of my favorite Pranayama or breathing exercises to do really any time of day when I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed or stressed,
But it's also a really great one that I do to help settle myself before sleep sometimes,
And I find the humming helps to override any intrusion or busy chattering thoughts that are distracting me from sleep,
Especially if I've been up late and I've been really busy and I need to like go to sleep quickly because I need to wake up in the morning and I don't have time for a longer bedtime routine to wind down.
This pranayama has also been found to have parasympathetic predominance,
Which means the parasympathetic nervous system is more active than the sympathetic nervous system.
In other words,
It helps to shift your body into a rest and digest state.
Studies have found that it helps to reduce stress,
Improve cognition,
Reduce blood pressure and heart rate variability,
And also interestingly,
If tinnitus is something that you deal with,
It has been found to reduce irritability in tinnitus.
Something about the vibration created from the humming combined with the slow deep breaths make this a particularly unique practice.
And it's very simple.
So you're just going to start by taking a deep breath in,
Feeling your navel expand out to help you really activate your diaphragm.
And then you'll keep your lips closed,
Exhale out your mouth while you hum.
So it'll sound something like this.
I have also been taught that you can cover your ears using your thumbs and then cover your eyes using the rest of your hands for a more deeper internal practice.
You can have a play with this.
I really enjoy this version,
But it's not necessarily essential to reap some of the benefits of it.
Okay,
So let's do it together for three rounds and then you'll have this in your toolbox and you can practice whenever you need.
You can practice this sitting or standing or lying down,
Just whatever you feel comfortable in doing.
So taking a deep breath,
Feeling that belly button expand out.
Going to whatever your maximum is.
And then closing your mouth.
Aum Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
And just take a moment to notice how even just that short three breath practice shifted your energy,
Shifted your nervous system.
Just noticing how do you feel now after doing this practice.
If you want to practice covering your eyes and your ears now in your own time,
Please feel free to do so.
Thank you so much for joining me today,
I hope you enjoyed that.
Let me know in the comments if you'd like more really short practices like this,
And I will see you in the next one.
