Basic Yoga Breathing: Three Part Breath

Welcome to part three in my basic yoga breathing meditation series.

This one is focused on the three-part breath,

Which the three-part breath is a meditation technique or a breathing technique designed to help us find the fullest,

Deepest breath we can possibly find,

As well as to train healthy breathing patterns and habits.

It's a great way to relieve stress on top of everything else.

So to start you're going to find a comfortable position.

So this is preferably lying down,

But if you're more comfortable sitting in a chair that can work too.

If you're lying down you might want to have your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor,

Possibly some support under your head.

If you're sitting you might want to lean back in your chair for this.

It helps to have the back supported to really be able to get that full deep breath through the whole body.

So once you have that comfortable position we're going to just start with some simple breath awareness.

So just take a moment as you breathe,

Breathing in and out through the nose if possible,

Otherwise in through the nose out through the mouth is fine too.

But taking that moment to notice how your body moves as you breathe.

Just noticing where your breath is naturally sitting in your body right here,

Right now.

Is there movement in the belly,

The ribs,

The chest?

And as you notice how your body moves when you breathe,

Now allowing your breath to draw lower and deeper in the body into the lower rib cage in the belly.

Finding that natural diaphragmatic breathing.

Allowing the breath to slow down.

Inhales and exhales are roughly equal length or maybe your exhales take a little more time than the inhales.

And as you allow your breath to deepen in this way we're now going to explore breaking the breath up into three parts.

The three parts to the breath are both located in space inside your body where you're feeling your breath as well as in the rhythm of the breathing.

So it's like breaking your inhales and your exhales up into three little sections.

So before you start this I want you to take in your mind the image of a glass that's empty.

And imagine that now some water was being poured into the glass and how the water will fill from the bottom up.

And then if you made a hole in the bottom of the glass how the water would drain from the top down.

And this is how we want our breath to move.

So we want to inhale and the first part of the body to move we want it to be low.

We want it to be the belly,

The rib cage.

Very last thing to move would be the chest.

And then as you exhale it's the reverse.

The chest is the first thing to let go,

Then the ribs,

Then the belly.

So if you think of these three parts,

The belly,

The ribs,

And the chest,

Those are the three parts in space.

So to begin on an inhale you're going to breathe down and feel the belly expand and open.

And then take a moment to pause.

Breathe in a little more.

Feel the rib cage expand and open.

And pause.

And breathe in a little more.

Feel that gentle relaxed lift of the chest.

Pause.

And then as you exhale first release the chest.

And pause.

Then release the rib cage.

Pause.

And last let the belly release back in.

Finishing the exhale.

Take just a natural diaphragmatic breath in between,

Letting your body reset.

And then we'll try again.

Inhale,

Feel the lower belly expand and pause.

Not holding the breath,

Just a gentle suspension.

Inhale a little more to the rib cage.

Pause.

And last inhale up into the chest,

Pausing there.

Exhale,

Release the chest.

Pause.

Release the rib cage.

Pause.

And release the belly.

Once again,

Once you're out of air,

Take a couple rounds of just gentle diaphragmatic breathing to reset.

And as we go through this,

Again,

Thinking of those pauses not as holding the breath,

Not as tension,

Just as little suspensions.

A nice image to think of is if you imagine waterfalls that kind of collect in little pools as they make their way down the mountain.

Those pools are kind of like the suspension of the breath.

So they're not tense,

They're not held.

It's just this moment where energy circulates and things are finding a little moment of stillness.

So let's try again.

Inhale down into the belly.

Feel it expand,

Open and pause.

Inhale a little bit more into the lower rib cage.

And pause.

Suspend.

And inhale fully into the chest,

Pausing there.

Exhale,

Release the chest.

Pause.

Release the rib cage.

Feel them draw back in and pause.

And lastly,

The belly releases back in.

And now going at your own pace,

You can continue adding in those couple rounds of diaphragmatic breathing in between each round of the three-part breath,

Or you can see what it feels like to just go right from one three-part breath to another.

Moving at your own pace.

Feel free to pause this meditation at any point if you need a little bit more time to feel that three-part breath.

So staying with the three-part breath at your own pace,

Finding that moment of breathing into the belly,

The rib cage,

The chest,

Releasing the chest,

The rib cage,

The belly,

With the little pauses in between each part,

The little suspensions of the breath.

And as you continue with this,

Some things you might notice.

So you might notice that it's hard to get that last little bit of breath in the body.

Or you might notice that you run out of air before the final exhale.

So it can be a nice challenge to try and work on getting those three parts of your breath to be even so that each of them has the same intensity,

The same amount of air,

The same amount of breath.

It's a real challenge in being able to control your breath,

To be able to find that breath into all parts of your body.

Again,

Continue breathing this way at your own pace.

Maybe right from one three-part breath to the other.

Maybe alternating with some diaphragmatic breathing in between rounds.

Another thing you might notice as you go is that you find different places of your body that you can suddenly access.

Maybe there's a little spot in your rib cage that has been tight that when you really focus on that second part of the breath,

You can open it.

You can find more space.

Maybe you find it difficult to let your belly expand with the breath.

So maybe that first part of the breath or that last part of the exhale is a really nice time to find that deeper breath down into the belly.

Exploring all the places in your body that you can get more breath,

More opening,

And also exploring how you can fully let go.

Oftentimes the chest and the shoulders,

They're really hard to let go of that tension,

Or you might notice your jaw starting to tense up.

So the exhales are a really great time to explore that process of letting go.

That ability to release tension wherever it is in the body.

As I said before,

You can pause this meditation to continue the three-part breath.

But as you're ready to move on with your day,

You can just slowly,

Naturally finish the round you're on and come back to that gentle diaphragmatic breathing.

It's nice to take a moment in that nice relaxed natural diaphragmatic breath to notice if it feels any different than it did at the start.

Does the breath feel like it has more ease to it?

That you can get that deeper belly breath?

Maybe you've noticed changes in your mental state,

Emotional,

Feeling of calm.

However it's affected you.

Just knowing that this three-part breath can be part of your meditation practice,

Can be something to help bring more vitality and more relaxation into your life.