Tummo Breath

Welcome.

We offer these meditations freely and your donations make a real difference.

So thank you.

So let's get started by getting comfortable.

It's Monday morning and our theme for today,

One of the theme for the month is connect.

Which is funny because I reckon I've done everything in my power to disconnect from myself this month.

But the school of contrast is so nice to recognize,

Ah,

That doesn't feel so good.

It feels way better when I take time to connect.

So the theme of the month is connect,

But the theme of the day is an energizing breath practice.

And we're going to do Tummo,

The Wim Hof style breathing.

And with Tummo,

You get to choose the tone.

With every practice,

You get to choose the tone.

So you can throw yourself in wholeheartedly and do a really deep practice and the deeper you breathe,

The more impact it's going to have.

Or you might choose the tone for today as the more gentle tone and it might not be pushing,

It might be just exploring and being curious around what's available to you.

So there's really no wrong response to the practice.

It's more about being curious,

Staying open and discovering where we're at in a way where we can take the good and the bad and the ugly and be okay with all of it.

So I would suggest sitting in some way that your spine can be straight.

And you might drop your eyelids down or you might just glance down towards the floor,

Tongue resting up on the roof of your mouth.

It's really just about making space sometimes,

Isn't it?

Just making space to actually be present.

To step off the juggernaut of movement and achievement and going from A to B,

But just to step off that and reflect and observe.

Bringing awareness to parts of your body that are connecting to the earth,

The floor or the chair.

And very often when we're sitting cross-legged on the floor,

What we kind of don't realize is that our legs are actually restraining to hold us.

So bring your awareness to your legs,

Whatever position you're sitting in,

Just let the legs become heavy.

No straining needed.

You can always change position if it becomes uncomfortable.

You can lie down on your back even.

And letting the rib cage float away from the pelvic bowl.

So there's a little bit more space for kidneys and liver,

All the digestion.

You might even get a sense of the difference between the sensation in the back of your body,

Your spine,

Your ribs.

There's quite a lot of the architecture of your body there at the back.

And the sensation at the front of your body,

Your chest,

Your tummy.

It's the softer side.

The softer side.

Letting the shoulders drop away from your ears.

So your neck can extend,

Lengthen.

Perhaps the chin tucks towards the chest.

The back of the head,

The occiput ridge expands and opens.

Even the scalp relaxes.

So the space between the eyebrows softens.

And the lips may soften into a very subtle smile.

And your jaw so often is one of those little spaces of hidden tension that we don't even notice much of the time.

So as you soften the lips,

Perhaps you can soften the jaw and the teeth too.

Noticing your sense of hearing,

Sound,

The area around your ears,

The space,

The space within the ears.

So this morning,

What can you hear?

What are the sounds available?

So you remember bringing your sense of hearing in closer familiar rise and fall of your breath.

Letting home to your body.

Perhaps circling the head.

A slow,

Gentle movement to bring awareness into your shoulders and your neck and whatever else you find as you circle.

And circling back the opposite way.

And circling shoulders.

Discovering what you find as you move.

With a very conscious choice to bring breath into the movement.

Maybe the elbow circle.

Hands on knees and circling the heart.

A moment to observe what comes up,

What you feel.

To allow the sensation to inform you.

And changing directions.

And settling back to center,

Connecting with the midline of yourself.

And listening to the waves of breath,

The inhale and the exhale.

Where do they naturally take you?

So as we practice Tummo breath together,

Anytime it feels too strong,

You can always drop the practice.

You can lie down on your back and rest.

There's no trophy awarded at the end of the practice,

Other than perhaps the trophy of having made time to observe and be present.

So without attachment to how this is going to look or feel,

The practice goes that we do 30 rounds of very deep breaths at quite a pace,

Inhaling and exhaling.

And then on the 30th,

We inhale and hold,

The lungs full,

We just rest there with the lungs full for as long as feels comfortable.

And we each have our own lung capacity,

So that length of time will be entirely individual.

And then when you're at the end of that hold,

Where you're starting to feel like you're pressing up against something,

Then you exhale a deep exhale and hold with the lungs empty and stay there in that space with lungs empty for as long as feels good to you.

And then we'll do a second round and if we have time we'll do three rounds.

Let's see how we go.

You don't need to count because I'm here doing the counting.

So for you,

Your focus is on taking a full breath in and a full breath out.

And as I say,

Anytime it feels uncomfortable,

You are welcome to stop and rest.

Okay,

All beginning together,

Let's take an exhale.

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath in.

Maybe you can go deeper.

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out.

Full breath in.

Full breath out.

Full breath in.

Full breath out.

That's ten.

Breathing fully in.

Breathing fully out.

Breathing fully in.

Breathing fully out.

Breathing fully in.

Breathing fully out.

Breathing fully in.

Breathing fully out.

Breathing fully in.

Breathing fully Breathing fully out Breathing fully in Breathing fully out Breathing fully in Breathing fully out Breathing fully in Breathing fully out Breathing fully in fully out.

That's 20.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

How deep can you go?

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Let transformation happen as you can.

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe in,

Breathe out.

Breathe fully all the way in and then hold with the lungs full.

You're going to stay with lungs full for as long as feels comfortable.

When you hit a wall exhale and hold with the lungs empty for as long as it's comfortable.

Let your breath return to normal.

Second round.

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe in,

Breathe out.

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe in,

Breathe out,

Breathe in,

Breathe out.

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out.

You choose your pitch how deep you want to go.

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out.

Full breath in,

Full full breath out full breath in full breath out full breath in full breath out full breath in full breath out Give it your all full breath in full breath out full breath in breathing through the nose breath out.

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breathing in,

Breathing Breathing in.

Breathing out.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

Breathing out.

Ak Breathing in.

Breathing out.

Breath in and hold.

Breath out and hold.

Easy breath.

Last round,

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out.

Full breath in,

Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full-breath out.

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Full-breath in.

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Full breath out.

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Full-breath in.

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Full-breath out.

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Full-breath in.

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Full-breath out.

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Full-breath in.

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Full-breath out.

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Full-breath in.

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Full breath out,

Full breath in,

Full breath out.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

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Breathing in.

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Breathing out.

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Breathing in.

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Breathing out.

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Breathing in.

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Breathing out.

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath in,

Breath out.

Deeper than you can even believe you're going,

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath in.

Inhale,

Breath out,

Breath in,

Breath out,

Breath in,

Breath out.

Last one,

Breath in,

Hold with lungs full.

Deep breath out when you're ready.

And hold with lungs empty.

Returning to an easy breath.

At the end of the practice you might choose to lie down on your back.

And take some time to be present with whatever comes up.

Sensation,

Narrative.

And maybe for today we can be okay with everything that comes up.

Maybe we can stay in connection,

In relationship with all the parts of being human.

Even the parts that feel broken,

Knowing that it's not actually possible to be broken.

Offering the fruits of our practice to all beings.

Namaste.