Today we will practice an active breath,
But before we dive in,
Again come to check in with your breath.
Become aware of the movement of your breath in your body,
Being sure you're breathing the anatomically correct way.
And be sure that you're taking full breaths in,
Expanding your belly and your chest with the inhale and letting everything relax with the exhales.
Bring your attention to the nostrils and the sensations of your breath moving in and out.
Stay in tune with your breath and your body sensations as I share about why the breath can help improve our energy levels and mental clarity.
The answer to this question is very simple,
And very obvious.
Every cell in your body needs oxygen to function,
Meaning every organ,
Muscle,
Tissue,
Brain cell,
Blood cell,
Your whole body and systems need oxygen to function properly.
The way oxygen gets to our cells,
Obviously,
Is through the inhalation.
But this is not all.
Our exhales and the amount of carbon dioxide in our system is as important as the oxygen coming in,
If not even a little bit more.
Carbon dioxide acts like a bridge for the oxygen to be able to enter our cells.
In this exchange,
We receive as much oxygen as carbon dioxide our cells can give.
If a cell does not have carbon dioxide to give,
To exchange,
It will not be able to receive oxygen.
This is why when we exercise,
Some muscles are receiving more oxygen than others,
Because they are creating more carbon dioxide.
A small pause to observe.
Were you able to hold your attention in the breath and in the words I was speaking?
If not,
Come back to this awareness and try to cultivate it all the way to the end.
Okay,
A small recap of today.
We all know our body needs oxygen to live.
Most people cannot hold their breath for more than two minutes.
Even one minute could already be pushing our limits.
And most bodies will get permanent damage if they don't receive oxygen in a time lapse of four to six minutes.
Cells turn oxygen into energy and CO2.
So again,
Oxygen is essential for our cells to function and be healthy.
Therefore,
Any lack of oxygen generates fatigue,
Low energy and low functioning of our cells and organs.
And also the amount of oxygen our body is able to receive,
Digest and use as energy is related to the amount of carbon dioxide we have in our body.
So not only inhaling is important,
But also exhaling.
Before starting our practice today,
I will talk a little bit more about the breath we are going to do.
The breath technique for today is called the breath of fire.
With this breath,
We're going to release toxins of our body.
70% of the toxins in our body are released through the breath.
We're going to strengthen our nervous system,
Expand our lung capacity.
It's a breath that's very good for the digestive system to bring mental clarity and other benefits you may experience for yourself.
A disclaimer,
Avoid this practice if you suffer severe cardiac problems,
If you have any really painful hernias,
Abdominal ulcers,
Spinal disorders,
Or if you're pregnant.
Why?
Because we're going to be pumping our belly button in and back with every exhale.
And this is not great for all of these cases.
If you are a woman on your moon,
Meaning if you are a woman who is bleeding,
Feel into yourself and your bleeding in this month.
Sometimes I do breath of fire with my moon and it feels great.
Other times I choose not to.
With this being said,
Let's begin to practice.
This exercise is best done seated.
So find a comfortable seat where your back is long,
Your chest is open,
And there's no extra tension to keep your back straight and long.
You can sit on the floor or on the edge of a couch or a chair.
Breath of fire consists of powerfully pumping your exhales,
Of creating a rhythm of exhaling powerfully,
Bringing your belly button back,
And the inhales will come naturally when you relax your belly.
When I say powerfully,
Don't overdo it.
You don't want to be hitting or punching against your kidneys or your lower back.
Picture a dog panting.
This is the kind of breath we want to do,
But through our nose.
So get comfortable in your seat.
Again,
Make sure your back is long.
Close your eyes if you feel like it,
Bringing the inner gaze to the space in between your eyebrows.
Take a few long,
Deep breaths here,
Using every exhale to relax the weight of the body down to the floor or to the surface where you are seated on.
Taking these first few minutes,
As always,
To feel,
To check in into our body,
Our breath,
Allowing an intention to come up for today's practice,
And putting this intention in the space between your eyebrows.
You can choose to do this breath with the eyes open and just having an open gaze,
Not focusing on anything.
Wherever you are,
We're going to start with round one.
This round we're going to do through the mouth,
Trying to imitate the dog panting.
So take your hands to your lower belly.
Take a deep inhale through the nose,
Exhale,
Sigh it out.
Keep your mouth open.
Bring your tongue out.
Inhale half of your lung capacity through your mouth and start pumping your exhales.
Keep going.
Remember a dog panting as you breathe in and out your mouth.
Hands are on the belly,
Making sure that every time you exhale,
Your belly button goes with intention to the back.
Keep going for one more minute.
If you want to try speeding up the breath for the last 30 seconds,
This is the moment.
Take a deep inhale.
Hold the breath in.
Let the belly expand forward.
Contract genitals,
Lower belly,
Sucking them up.
Inner gaze to the space between your eyebrows.
And when you're ready,
Slowly exhale through the nose or the mouth.
Just take in these next few moments to observe how you are feeling.
Okay,
We will do the same,
But now through the nose.
Keep your hands on the lower belly.
You can choose to keep your eyes closed with the inner gaze to the third eye or not.
Take a deep inhale through the nose.
Exhale blow all the air out through the mouth.
Inhale through the nose half of your lung capacity and start pumping your exhales.
Your focus is mostly on the exhales.
The inhale will naturally come when you relax the belly and expand it forward.
Keep going and keep your rhythm.
It can be faster or slower than mine.
Keep going.
We're going to be here for a few more minutes.
Remember to bring your belly button back with intention,
But not to overdo it.
To find the balance in this action.
Take a deep breath in,
Inhale through the nose.
Hold the breath in,
Letting all of your body expand.
Contract the genitals,
Lower belly,
Sucking them up.
Inner gaze to the space between your eyebrows.
Stay here with the lungs filled with air.
Focus on your intention.
And when you're ready,
Release,
Relax genitals,
Lower belly and exhale.
Come back to your natural rhythm of breath in and out the nose.
And again,
Observe how you feel.
Take a deep inhale and exhale side out.
We will do our third and last round of breath of fire.
If you feel comfortable with the breath and the pumping of the belly button back,
We can do a different hand posture.
If you're still trying to figure that out,
Stay with your hands on your lower belly.
Honor and listen to where you are at.
The second hand variation is like this.
You're going to curl your fingers,
Touching the tip of your fingers with the mound of the fingers on your hands.
Your thumbs will be pointing up.
Your hands will be like in a 60 degree angle or on a V.
If your shoulder and neck gets tired,
You can bend the elbows.
Keep the hands as they are.
Just bend the elbows,
Bringing them closer to your ribs.
With whichever hand variation you want,
We're going to start our third round.
So bring the hands either in this V position,
Elbows stretched,
And the tip of your fingers touching the mound in your hands and the thumbs up in the V.
Or the hands on your belly.
Take a deep inhale to start our third round.
Deep exhale,
Side out.
Inhale half of your lung capacity.
And let's start pumping our exhales.
Keep going.
Inner gaze to the third eye or wide gaze,
Not focusing on anything.
Follow your rhythm,
Which could be faster or slower than mine.
And let's keep going.
Focus on pumping your exhales,
Belly button to the back and staying on your rhythm.
We're going to be here for around two more minutes.
If your arms are stretched and you start to feel a lot of tension on your neck,
Just bend the elbows,
Bringing them closer to the ribs and stay with your breath always.
30 more seconds.
You can choose to play with a faster rhythm these last few seconds or stay with your same pace.
Take a deep inhale,
Hold the breath.
If your arms were stretched,
Bring the thumbs on top of your head.
Point the fingers to the sky.
Hold the breath in,
Either hands on your belly or straight up.
Inner gaze to the third eye.
Contract genitals,
Lower belly.
Focus on your intention.
And when you're ready,
Deep exhale.
Bringing the hands back down either to your knees or your thighs.
Coming back to the natural rhythm of your breath and observing how you feel.
Rub the palms of the hands together,
Creating heat.
Bringing one hand to your chest and the other to the lower belly.
Taking a moment to give gratitude to yourself,
Your cells,
The oxygen flowing in and out of your body.
Giving gratitude to this space,
This time,
Nature all around us.
Deep inhale,
Exhale,
Sigh it out,
Starting to slowly blink your eyes open.
Thank you so much for practicing today and becoming more intimate with your breath.
Tomorrow we will have a longer breathing session that will wrap together everything we have learned.
It will also be an energizing practice and it will be focused on helping us clear any stuck emotions or energy.
Thank you again for practicing and see you tomorrow.
