Good morning,
Today's practice is designed to gently energize your body and wake up your system using the breath.
So we're not going to do anything intense or aggressive,
Just enough to move energy,
Increase circulation and help you feel awake and alive.
So to begin,
Find a comfortable seated position.
Allow yourself to sit tall,
Finding some length in your spine.
If you're still in bed,
You might want to sit up against the headboard or move to the edge of the bed.
And I invite you to close your eyes or soften your gaze.
And let's begin by taking three natural breaths together.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
And begin by simply noticing your breath as it is right now.
It might still be slow and sleepy.
And that's okay,
We're going to gradually wake it up.
You can start to deepen your inhale slightly.
Drawing a little more air in.
And just let it release naturally.
So again,
Breathing a bit deeper in.
And letting go.
And on your next exhale,
Allow the out-breath to be a little more complete,
Emptying the lungs a bit more fully.
So you're breathing in a little deeper.
Breathing out a little more complete.
And in this,
Breathing in deeply.
Breathing out completely.
You're waking up your respiratory system,
Reminding it we're starting our day now.
Continuing at your own pace for another couple of these active breaths.
Inhaling fully.
Exhaling completely.
Feeling your breath becoming more full.
More alive.
And now we're going to practice a gentle version of an energizing breath called Kapalabhati or Skull Shining Breath.
This is a breath that emphasizes the exhale.
So you'll be actively pumping your belly in an exhale.
And allowing the inhale to happen naturally.
So think of it that you're going to place a hand on your belly.
And as you exhale strongly through the nose,
You'll feel your belly tense.
And then the inhale will naturally happen by itself.
So I'll guide you through this slowly at first.
Placing a hand on your belly.
Take a normal breath in.
And then a short,
Sharp exhale through the nose.
Forcing air out.
Pulling your belly in sharply.
Just try that a couple of times.
Normal inhale.
Exhale is a short,
Active exhale,
Pumping the belly.
Forcing the breath out through the nose.
Then relaxing your belly,
Letting the air naturally flow back in.
So as you pump the belly in,
Air shoots out the nose.
As you relax,
Air flows back in.
Pump in.
And relax.
And once you have the rhythm,
We're going to speed it up slightly.
So again,
You're only focused on the exhale.
Pumping the tummy.
Forcing breath out through the nose.
The inhale will happen by itself.
And we're going to do this at a rhythm of about one exhale per second.
I'll count,
And we can do this together.
So let's begin.
Normal inhale.
Strong exhale through the nose.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Pump in the belly.
Eleven.
Twelve.
Thirteen.
Fourteen.
Fifteen.
Sixteen.
Seventeen.
Eighteen.
Nineteen.
Twenty.
Good.
And now pause.
Settle.
And breathe normally for a moment.
Noticing how you feel.
Perhaps more awake.
Maybe some tingles.
Energy moving.
And let's do another round just like that.
So again,
We're going to do 20 breaths focused on a sharp exhale through the nose.
Pumping from the belly.
Again,
I'll count.
Beginning in three.
Two.
One.
Normal breath.
Sharp exhale.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
Eleven.
Twelve.
Thirteen.
Fourteen.
Fifteen.
Sixteen.
Seventeen.
Eighteen.
Nineteen.
Twenty.
Excellent.
And settling,
Returning to normal breathing.
And just feeling the body,
Noticing what's different,
If anything.
Maybe a sense of energy flowing.
Maybe some tingles or sensation or temperature changes.
Just noticing.
And now we're going to do some spinal breathing to wake up your whole back body.
So sitting tall,
I want you to imagine your spine is a straw.
And you can breathe up and down through it.
So as you inhale,
Imagine the breath traveling up your spine from your tailbone all the way up to the crown of your head.
And as you exhale,
Imagine it traveling back down from the crown to the tailbone.
So let's try that.
Breathing in,
Drawing energy up the spine from the tailbone,
Rising,
Rising,
Rising,
All the way up to the crown.
And as you breathe out,
Energy descending from the crown,
Down,
Down,
Down,
All the way to the tailbone.
Again,
Up the spine as you inhale,
Feeling it rise.
Down the spine as you exhale,
Feeling it descend.
And continuing at your own pace,
Up with the in-breath.
Down with the out-breath.
Allowing this breath to wake up your central nervous system.
Bringing aliveness to your whole spine,
Your whole back.
Up the spine.
Down the spine.
And you might feel taller.
More alive.
More awake.
And now we're going to add a gentle side stretch.
So raising your right hand,
Right arm up overhead.
As you inhale,
Reach your right fingertips toward the ceiling,
Lengthening your right side.
And as you exhale,
Lean gently to the left,
So you're stretching the entire right side of your body.
And holding this,
Breathe into your right ribs,
Feeling them expand.
And hold this stretch for three breaths.
In,
Breathing into the right side.
Out,
Releasing.
In,
Expanding.
Out,
Softening.
In,
One more.
Out,
Release.
Okay,
And coming back to centre,
Lowering your arm.
Now we're going to go to the left side.
So raising your left arm up overhead.
As you inhale,
Reach up.
As you exhale,
Lean to the right.
Breathe into your left ribs,
So three breaths here.
In,
Breathing into the left side.
Out,
Releasing.
In,
Expanding.
Out,
Softening.
In,
Last one.
Out,
Release.
And coming back to centre,
Lowering your arm.
Feel both sides of your body now.
Awake,
Stretched and open.
And now,
Just going to sit quietly for a few moments.
Hands resting.
Eyes closed.
Notice your energy now compared to when we started.
You might feel more awake.
More alive.
Your blood flowing,
Your breath full,
Your body energised.
This is the energy you get to bring into your day.
And take one final deep breath in.
And let it out.
When you're ready,
Opening your eyes.
You're awake,
You're alive,
You're ready.
Have a wonderful day.
