Wonderful that you've made it to day 5.
And so far we've been working on our breath awareness,
We've been using box breathing to enhance our CO2 tolerance and we've strengthened our primary breathing muscles by using Ujjayi breath and alternate nostril breathing.
Today we want to combine some of those previous practices,
Elaborate on them and then advance them and learn a new practice called coherent breathing.
It is possible to practice today's session lying down so if that's your preference go for it otherwise in a seated posture spine long and strong.
We'll use our hands to get feedback again on where we're moving with our breath so placing them one on your chest and one on your belly.
Gently closing down your eyes and starting to feel the movement of your breath.
Observing the inhale and the exhale.
And adding in your Ujjayi sound relaxing the throat and making that soft ocean sound or that gentle snoring sound.
Feeling the resonance in your throat with each exhale.
Allowing that resonance to engage your primary breathing muscles,
The abdominal wall,
The diaphragm.
Feeling a wave of relaxation moving through your body as your nervous system enjoys the certainty and predictability of the breath.
Continuing to enjoy the Ujjayi breathing and starting to lengthen your exhales a little longer so maybe inhaling for four seconds and exhaling for six if that suits you but finding any ratio where your exhale is longer than your inhale.
And letting go of your Ujjayi breathing.
Returning to the natural rhythm of your breath.
Noticing any changes in the body.
Witnessing the movement of the belly.
And now we'll move into box breathing.
Depending on where you started yesterday beginning with either three or four seconds.
Remembering the box breath has four equal parts.
You're inhaling,
Pausing,
Exhaling,
Pausing and repeating this.
Repeating this for the next two minutes and I'll keep an eye on the time.
No nos,
No nos.
You you you you You're approaching the two minute mark now And I want you to increase your box breathing by a second for each part So that's moving from three to four seconds or four to five Or higher if you're at those levels I will continue for another minute and a half you you you We are now approaching the minute and a half mark So after your next exhale Just relaxing your breath letting it return to its natural rhythm I'm just noticing how you're feeling at this very moment How the blood flow feels through the body Any sensations Scanning the internal workings of your body for the next few moments you you We'll start preparing now for coherent breathing During coherent breathing a lot of our organs start to function in a more coherent manner Researchers have observed that when we breathe five times per minute with an inhale of six seconds and an exhale of six seconds this coherence is developed Breathing in and out for six seconds may not be achievable to all of you from the beginning But at least starting at four in four out or five in five out and working towards six seconds So just testing the waters with a four second inhale for a second exhale And if this feels comfortable moving up to a five second inhale five second exhale Nice deep belly breaths becoming more and more aware of your control of the belly Feeling completely content to stay at five in five out but if you want to explore six in six out beginning now when you're ready We will do two minutes of this breathing and I'll keep an eye on the time You We're approaching the 2 minute mark now,
So after your next exhale letting go of this 6 seconds in,
6 seconds out,
Allowing your breath to return back to its natural rhythm,
And spending the next few moments observing how you feel,
Scanning from the crown of your head,
Nice and slowly down past the forehead,
The eyes,
To the jaw,
The throat,
The chest,
The belly,
Hips,
Down your legs,
Past your knees,
Your shins,
Your ankles,
And to your toes.
And then when you're ready opening your eyes and coming out of the practice,
Hope you have enjoyed day 5,
Look forward to taking you through day 6 and 7.
