Live Session: Breathwork To Connect With Mother Earth

Hi there,

And welcome to this guided live breathwork session that was recorded here on Insight Timer on April 21st,

2024,

In honor of Earth Day.

The practice that we'll be doing,

As you may know,

Is a simple three-part breath.

So you'll just be breathing into your belly,

Into your chest,

And then releasing.

And the breath is all through the mouth.

So two inhales,

One to the belly,

One to the chest,

And then release.

And as you go along,

Feel free to take as many breaks as feels right to you.

The invitation in this practice,

As with all Insight Timer live practices that I offer,

Is to center connection with the breath and connection with your own heart,

Spirit,

And body.

With that,

I'll send you off to the recording.

Have a beautiful practice.

So Sutra number 28.

This body is sustained by altars to the radiant nectar of life.

Around you,

An ocean of air ready to become your breath.

Above the head,

The glow of an invisible sun.

In the spaciousness of the heart,

A pulsing throb of creation where the breaths meet,

Fuse,

And transform into each other.

Whenever,

Wherever your mind wanders,

Whatever you wonder,

Return to the luminous.

Choose any altar,

Throw your attention again and again into one of these centers where spirit and flesh consummate their love.

Day by day,

Old whirlpools fade the endless circles.

You are living in the temple of essence.

You are living in the temple of essence.

Beautiful invitations in there for us as we move into the practice to remember that our bodies are altars to the divine,

To the cosmic,

To spirit.

And that whenever we get distracted,

Especially when working with the breath,

We can focus,

Our focus back to any of the altars,

Our bodies,

The breath,

The spaciousness of the heart.

And that maybe if we can do that,

Something new happens,

A new door opens.

We find ourselves in a space of transformation.

We find the earth in a space of transformation.

And with that,

Just invite you to settle in.

And as always,

Gentle reminder to ourselves and each other before we start,

It is safe for me to be in my body.

It is safe for me to soften into and around and within the breath.

Take a nice slow breath in.

Release it with a sigh.

You can go ahead and start that breathing practice all through the mouth,

Breathing into the belly,

Breathing into the chest,

And releasing,

Belly,

Chest,

And release.

And as always,

These first few minutes are really just about finding your relationship with the breath in this moment.

So maybe tonight the breath feels open and flowing and expansive as it moves into your body,

Breathing into the belly,

Into the chest,

And then releasing.

Or maybe the breath may feel a little bit tight and constricted,

Barely able to get down into the belly.

The invitation is to meet ourselves,

Meet the breath exactly where we are.

Breathing into the belly,

Into the chest,

And then releasing.

And if it's available to you,

I'll just invite you to bring the breath a little bit more deeply into the belly.

See if you can get it.

If it's available,

Two inches behind the belly button and two inches below.

Slowly expanding into the belly,

And then into the chest,

And then releasing.

And as we breathe,

We can just add a layer of connection to it.

See if you can imagine the breath as a gentle tide,

A wave of energy,

Washing in with the exhales and releasing with the exhales.

Just like the earth,

We are about 70,

75% water.

So as we breathe,

We'll just gently bring in awareness of all of the fluid,

The blood,

The plasma,

The lymph flowing through our body right now.

Fueling the cells,

Fueling the place between cells.

Stay with the breath if you can,

Breathing into the belly,

Into the chest,

And then releasing.

And as we continue to breathe,

Allowing this gentle ocean of breath and energy to move in and through the body.

I'll also invite you to just become aware of your weight pressing down against the earth.

Whatever else is going on in your mind or in your body,

See if you can bring the full magnificent force of your attention to this simple breath,

Breathing into the belly,

Into the chest,

And releasing into the earth.

And you may find that you're controlling your exhale a little bit,

Either slowing it down or really forcefully blowing it out.

See if you can simply let it go.

Just setting each breath free so that it can roam into the skies and the ocean.

So it can find its way to an eagle,

Or a hawk,

Or a whale making its way through the deep ocean currents.

Stay with the breath.

We're just going to gently invite as we continue to allow the breath to move through the body.

Gently invite any of those places,

Muscles,

Organs,

Memories where you've been holding tension or constriction,

Discomfort.

We'll just invite those to breathe with us.

And in doing so,

Perhaps to begin to release a little of what they've been carrying,

Whether that is a story,

An injury,

Simply old energy that's gotten stuck.

We never have to force anything unless that's interesting to you.

We're just making an invitation and then allowing whatever wants to move to move.

You're doing great.

Stay with that.

So as we move into the second half of the practice,

There's an invitation just to like maybe wiggle your body if that feels interesting.

Reconnect with the breath if you've lost it.

And I'll invite you to connect with a moment from any time in your life where you've felt or experienced a sense of deep connection and belonging with Mother Earth.

And this may be a tree you loved as a kid or a beloved pet,

A river,

Maybe a starlit night,

But whatever it is,

As you breathe,

See if you can reconnect with that moment and all of its beauty,

Any images,

Sensations,

Feelings,

Smells.

So if you were sitting against a tree,

See if you can feel the bark against your back,

The heartbeat of the tree or the river.

And as you breathe,

See if you can breathe with the essence of that moment of connection with the Earth.

And this essence has a vibration to it,

A quality.

Maybe it has a sound.

And see if you can allow yourself to be infused by the essence carried in the breath of this moment of connection so that your cells can remember.

And as we explore this,

We'll just invite anything in your body that has been feeling disconnected or alone or even cast out as we so often do to ourselves just to be touched even just a little bit by this energy of connection by the gentle breeze moving through the leaves on a spring day or by a river flowing gently through the forest.

You'll just be breathing for about four more minutes and I'll invite you if you aren't already just to allow the breath to soften and come a little bit more into the heart,

Like into the chest.

So you're breathing not just into the chest but also into the back and into the shoulder blades.

Good.

And as we breathe into that area,

We're just going to gently invite any kind of walls or crustiness that is built up around the heart just to gently wash away if that feels interesting to you.

So just like a river washes over a stone and it becomes smooth,

This river of energy,

This ocean of breath can simply surround the heart and allow any heaviness there,

Any constriction to fall away as much as feels right just for now.

Just for now.

And as you continue to breathe into the heart,

Just allow yourself to become aware that at the center of it,

There's a beautiful light that is glowing.

And that light is secretly attached by a thread.

If you follow the thread down,

It's secretly attached to the light at the center of the heart of the earth.

So as you take these few breaths,

See if you can allow your heart and the earth's heart to beat as one.

And just another few breaths here.

And if you want to,

You can keep breathing for another couple minutes or you can transition to a resting breath and just allow this song into you.

And a resting breath is just a single inhale into the belly and a release.

The code is a pathway to what's given I'm learning how to listen Inside my heart a little while From you comes the honey of my song Tender to the tendrils,

Blooming color,

Taste and longing for you Who kiss the petals of my reach Our minds send us farther than our legs can carry us But your flight weaves the membrance of our step So we give our voices Stay with the breath if you can,

Just a couple more breaths,

Okay.

Belly,

Chest,

Release.

So we give our voices And if you haven't,

I'll invite you to transition to a resting breath so everything can fall away.

Just breathing into the belly and then releasing.

If you want to,

You can just allow your body to get a little bit heavier on the earth.

You can even imagine just a gentle blanket woven of trees and song and river,

Wind,

Gravity to settle over your body.

And you can imagine sinking down into the earth so that the earth can rise up and embrace you.

And as you allow the earth to embrace you,

You can find yourself in a beautiful green clearing.

The sun shining down,

Illuminating the ground,

Just allowing yourself to feel the earth in this place.

Feel how it hums with aliveness and sings with birds and rivers.

Wind gently dancing with the trees.

And as you experience this place,

You can feel it in your body.

It is your body.

Where all of the elements dance together.

And at the far end of this clearing is a beautiful,

Vast,

Ancient tree that glows with power,

Glows with light.

And she invites you to walk to her.

And as you do,

You feel that she's just radiating the most beautiful presence and energy.

You can feel your cells remembering,

Remembering.

And as you approach the tree,

You can lean against her,

Hold her and be held.

You can feel the heartbeat of this tree and the vastness of the roots that wrap all the way around the earth like an embrace.

And as you embrace this beautiful tree,

The heart of Mother Earth,

Notice how she responds.

Maybe by offering our hearts to the earth,

We are making a beautiful,

Sacred offering.

Maybe by embracing the heart of the earth,

We also embrace our own hearts.

And remember that any injury we do to ourselves is also an injury to the earth,

To the temple of essence.

And any injury we do to the earth,

Also an injury to ourselves,

To our own hearts.

As you allow your body to simply be and breathe,

I'll share a poem with you by Joy Harjo called Remember.

Remember the sky that you were born under.

Know each of the star's stories.

Remember the moon.

Know who she is.

Remember the sun's birth at dawn that is the strongest point of time.

Remember sundown into giving away to night.

Remember your birth.

Remember your father.

He,

Like your mother,

Is your life also.

Remember the earth whose skin you are.

Red earth,

Black earth,

Yellow earth,

White earth,

Brown earth.

We are earth.

Remember the trees,

Plants,

Animal life,

Who all have their tribes,

Their families,

Their histories too.

Talk to them.

Listen to them.

They are alive poems.

Remember you are all people and all people are you.

Remember you are this universe and this universe is you.

Remember all is in motion,

Is growing,

Is you.

Remember the dance that language is that life is.

Remember.

And I'll invite you to just gently bring yourself back,

Maybe taking another slow breath and releasing it.

And I always like to wiggle my fingers and my toes,

Maybe wiggle your hips a little bit.

And whenever you're ready,

You can gently either roll over to your side or come up to seated in your own time.

And if anything came to you during that practice that you want to record,

It's always a good idea to write it down because these things often leave us.

Thank you for being here and hope to see you soon.