The hypothalamus is considered as your body's quote-unquote smart control coordinating center.
Your hypothalamus helps manage body temperature,
Blood pressure,
Hunger and thirst,
Sense of fullness when eating,
Mood,
Your sex drive,
And sleep.
For the sake of really ingraining this material into memory,
I'll read portions of this hypothalamus information throughout our practice.
Once now,
Again after we've settled into relaxation,
And as a final time towards the close.
And just to help us as we are focusing our breathing later,
Note the hypothalamus is located in the center lower region of the brain,
Just behind the eyes and somewhere just above the bridge of the nose.
As we are focusing later on our breath work,
I invite you to focus your breath into this area.
So,
Let's begin our practice.
Taking a few moments to become aware of the posture.
Observing your body's alignment and comfort in whatever your chosen posture is for this practice.
Become aware of your balance in your sit bones or tailbones and legs and feet.
Observing the shoulders hanging evenly on either side of the spine.
As your arms rest outstretched beside you,
Or with your palms resting comfortably on your lap.
Or in your mudra of choice.
And let's take three full deep breaths together to shift our awareness more into the present moment of practice.
We'll hold at the top of each inhale and sigh and soften with each exhale.
So,
Inhaling together,
Completely filling the lungs and hold at the top.
And release.
Breathing in.
Breathing in.
And hold at the top.
And if you choose,
Squeeze every muscle of the body.
Engaging the body into practice and hold and squeeze when you're about to burst.
Completely surrendering to the support beneath you.
The support of your environment.
The support of the sound of my voice supporting you in your practice today.
So we'll just lightly,
Mindfully scan the body.
Observing the muscles of the feet and lower legs.
Observing the muscles around the bones of the knees and hips.
Observing the muscles of the lower belly.
The posture of the spine.
The arms and shoulders.
The muscles of the neck and chin and jaws.
The muscles of the face.
Ears and inner ears.
And into the muscles of the skull.
As you soften,
Relax and release yourself to this present moment.
Deepening into relaxation of the body.
While keenly,
Mentally focused and aware.
Bringing your focus into the area of the hypothalamus.
Observing the area surrounding the gland for just a few breaths.
Breathing in fresh oxygen.
And gentle stimulation with each breath.
The hypothalamus receives chemical messages from nerve cells in your brain and from nerve cells in your body.
It works closely with your pituitary gland to control all the other endocrine glands in the body.
It is your body's smart control coordinating center and helps to manage your body temperature,
Blood pressure,
Hunger and thirst,
Your sense of fullness when eating,
Your mood,
Sex drive,
And sleep.
Holding that ever so lightly,
Let's inhale love and appreciation into the area behind the eyes in the center lower portion of the brain.
And exhale,
Seeing it radiating love and light.
Allowing the awakening bells to prompt your rhythm of breathing.
These awakening bells are tuned to the part of the brain that helps the body relax.
Additionally,
They are tuned to 4 hertz difference to further assist in moving you ever so swiftly into deeper states of expanded awareness.
Love and appreciation.
And continuing to breathe deeply,
Begin to imagine the sound of Aum.
Imagine it as a sea of sound surrounding your body and comforting your spirit.
You can imagine hearing the sound of your own name with elongated vowel sounds.
In a moment,
I'll begin to make the sound of Aum aloud and I invite you to do the same with Aum or breathing aloud the sound of your name.
And we'll use the sound of the voice to gently stimulate the hypothalamus by creating slow,
Intentional,
Gratitude-infused sound and vibration while focusing on the area of the hypothalamus gland.
So listening within.
Let's begin breathing in and gratitude into the center of the hypothalamus and as you exhale,
Catch the wave of the sound of Aum expanding through and through the system.
So inhaling in gratitude and exhaling to open up the sound of Aum.
It helps to consider that the Aum do so with a feeling of utter satisfaction of your goals fulfilled.
To Aum to your heart's content while focused on the gentle stimulation of the hypothalamus.
Now beginning to bring it down into a moment of grateful release into relative silence.
Your hypothalamus helps to keep your body in a state of homeostasis by directly influencing your autonomic nervous system.
It helps to manage your body temperature,
Blood pressure,
Hunger and thirst,
Your sense of fullness when eating,
Your mood,
Sex drive and sleep.
And in all these,
All is well.
You've done so well during your practice today.
Begin to allow the pace of your breathing to return to normal.
While gently bringing your fullness of attention back into the space around you.
And we release our practice grateful for the hypothalamus's known and unknown higher functions within the body.
We close as we begin with three deep breaths.
Breathing in,
Breathing in.
Once more together,
Breathing in and release.
Thank you so much for joining me for practice today.
I'd really appreciate if you could take a moment and leave me a note as to how you're feeling now as opposed to when you started practice or of any surprising insights you had about this gland during practice.
The quality of your experience matters to me,
So if you'd like also you can send me a private message here on the platform by going to my profile.
I'm open to any feedback you're willing to share.
Like and donate as you move to it and join me next time when we'll focus on the pituitary gland.
This practice is about expanding your physical system in preparation for increased energy in the body.
This is good and very good.
See you next time.
