Welcome to your meditation class today.
My name is Shannon Moyer-Semenyay and I have the honor of leading you in a breath awareness activity that will hopefully lower your adrenaline responses,
Bring you back into a state of present moment awareness and calm.
We want to introduce calm today.
Now to create the environment that you're going to be breathing in,
I recommend that you are sitting on the ground,
Either legs outstretched or folded neatly beneath you on a meditation pillow,
Some yoga blocks,
Whatever makes your body the most comfortable for this experience today.
The breath that we are going to be playing around with,
Experimenting with,
Is a two-part inhalation with a long slow exhalation.
When you feel comfortable,
I invite you to close the windows of your eyes and just sink into your body.
Start breathing in your own natural rhythm.
Placing both hands up on your chest,
Recognizing if there is any tension there.
Is there any stress that you've been holding on to that has landed there in the center of your chest?
Any tightness?
Any tension?
Check in with yourself here.
How does it feel?
And then press your hands into your body.
Create a sense of tension.
We're going to be releasing all of that stored weight today,
Simply by breathing.
Now let's begin experimenting with our breath.
On the inhalation,
I invite you to breathe in,
Take a pause,
And then breathe in again,
Filling the upper parts of your lungs,
Really filling them to their full capacity.
Taking a pause again and then letting that breath go.
It becomes very hypnotic,
So if you get swept away in today's exercise,
That's okay.
If you find it difficult,
That's okay,
Too.
These lessons are not meant to be easy,
But they're meant to teach us a fundamental skill that will allow us to approach and diffuse our own tension and anxieties.
Let's try the breath together.
Breathing in,
Pause,
In again,
And out.
And you pause,
This big long pause at the end.
Let's try it again.
Breathing in,
Pause,
In again,
Pause,
And a big release out.
Keep breathing in that rhythm.
If it feels difficult,
Try and shorten that first inhalation so that you can access the second one.
And if it's helpful to you,
Have your arms outstretched.
Breathing in,
Swooping your arms up to chest height.
Breathing in again,
Swooping them up,
Over,
Head.
And on your release,
Letting your arms fall back down.
Breathing in,
Arms up,
In again,
Arms over,
And out,
Arms down.
As much release as we can access here,
The better.
We want to create this hypnotic sense of release,
And we want to release that sense of release.
We want to create this hypnotic sense of release.
Breathing in,
In again,
And out.
Letting it all go.
I'm going to stay in this for another minute.
Breathing in,
Letting that swell.
Breathing in again,
And letting it all go.
A couple more times.
Breathing in,
Breathing in again,
And letting it all go.
One more.
One more.
Breathing in,
Breathing in again,
And letting it all go.
Now this time,
As you've let everything that you possibly can go,
I invite you to bring your hands back to your chest.
Do you feel how much more open it is now?
It's not as tight as when we first began,
And yet there's still work that could be done here.
So truly,
This is a breath awareness exercise that you can return to anytime,
In moments when you're feeling exceptionally overwhelmed,
Overstimulated,
Anxious,
And tense.
This gives you that big,
Powerful release at the end.
One hand over heart,
One hand down at the belly.
Letting your breath travel back to its own natural rhythm.
Starting to check in with the mind.
How do you feel?
To getting carried away in this breath,
Help focus your mind.
A couple more breaths here,
Coming back into your present moment,
Back into that beautiful body of yours.
And when it feels comfortable to you,
Opening the windows of your eyes,
Taking in your surroundings,
The space where you physically are allowed to arrive.
I hope you enjoyed this practice.
Keep playing with it,
Keep experimenting with it,
And know that it's here for you anytime that you need it.
