Take a comfortable seat and close your eyes.
Give yourself a moment to land,
To arrive,
To transition.
This practice will be in two parts.
We'll start with a little bit of a stimulating breath,
Which is Bhastrika,
Or Billow's Breath.
And then we'll transition to a version of Nadi Shodhana,
Moving through each side of the spine and each nostril.
Take a few normal breaths in and out of the nose.
And as you breathe here,
Notice what parts of your face or your body are tense,
And see if you can bring a little bit of softness there.
Unclench the jaw,
Separate the teeth,
Soften the temples,
The eyes,
And frown the forehead.
And you can bring your awareness back to these points at any time throughout the practice.
Bhastrika is a forceful inhale and exhale into the belly through the nose.
As you'll inhale,
You'll bring the belly out and let it expand.
And as you exhale,
The navel goes back in towards the spine,
So there's a little bit of an exaggerated pulling in of the belly.
You're welcome to follow my own pace,
Or you're welcome to go at your own pace.
Just make sure you keep a pace that is steady and not too quick,
Not too fast.
Go ahead and take an exhale,
And then we'll start together.
Continue at your own pace.
Make sure that you re-soften the face.
You can even place a hand on your belly as you continue with your forceful inhale and exhale.
The only thing that has a little bit of a tension right now is the belly.
The rest of the body is totally soft and relaxed.
Continue at your own pace.
You're welcome to pause here and then come back,
Or you can continue with me.
We'll do about three or four more cycles.
Last one.
Then take a normal breath in and out.
You might notice that you feel a little bit dizzy with the rush of oxygen through that forceful breath.
That's okay.
Take a moment without overanalyzing too much or thinking too much to notice sensations in your body.
Are there any buzzing,
Any parts of your body that are more tense or relaxed,
Any feeling of warmth or coldness?
Just pause for a moment and explore.
Be the explorer of the physical sensations of your body.
Re-soften forehead,
Eyes,
Temples,
Jaw,
Teeth,
Shoulders.
The next practice we'll do is Nadi Shodhana,
But we won't use the hands.
We'll be tracing the breath up and down the spine.
We'll start by inhaling through both nostrils,
In through the nostrils,
Up to the third eye,
And down the spine,
All the way to the sit bones,
And then exhaling up the spine to the third eye and out of the nostrils,
In through both nostrils,
Up to the third eye,
Down the spine to the sit bones,
Maybe a pause of the breath at the bottom,
And then an exhale up the spine to the third eye,
Out of both nostrils,
And maybe a pause here as well.
Inhaling in to the third eye,
Down the spine,
Maybe the breath continues to travel beyond the sit bones into the earth,
And softly and gently breath out,
Up the spine,
Out of the nostrils.
Do that a few more times on your own,
Trying to even out the air entering through both nostrils,
And then evenly traveling down the spine,
Then up and out.
Without using the hands,
I would love for you to visualize on your next inhale,
The air coming only through the left nostril,
And this time down the left side of the spine to the left sit bone,
And as you exhale,
Up the right side of the spine,
And out of the right nostril.
As you inhale,
Air comes in through the right nostril only,
Visually,
Down the right side of the spine to the right sit bone,
And then up the left side of the spine,
Out of the left nostril.
Inhaling through the left nostril,
Down the left side of the spine to the sit bone,
Up the right side of the spine,
And out of the right nostril.
Continue on your own.
You might even slow down the breath even more,
But try not to force it.
It's not really the focus.
The focus is really in tracing this breath in,
Down,
Up,
And out.
You might even think that you are tracing the breath with a finger,
As if you're learning how to read,
And you're tracing under the letters.
You're tracing the breath in,
Down,
Up,
And out,
Changing side each time,
In,
Down,
Up,
And out.
And if you lose your place,
That's okay.
Just come back wherever you think you finished,
And the more you bring your focus to that tracing in,
Down,
Up,
And out,
The more you detach from the worries and the thoughts and the stress,
The more you're able to be present and be in your body.
The more focus here,
The less space there is for anything else.
It's just you,
The breath in,
Down,
Up,
And out.
And notice as you practice this breath,
As you trace the breath,
How present you are in your body.
If you lose that focus,
That's okay,
But do come back to it,
In,
Down,
Up,
And out.
The more you stay here,
The more there is an evenness that is created between right side and left side,
Between all the parts of your body,
Between the mind and the breath,
A connection,
A partnership.
Go through two more cycles of breath,
Inhaling,
Exhaling twice,
Please.
And after your next exhale,
Just let go of the tracing,
Let go of the following of the breath,
Come back to an even two-nostril breathing,
And an even two-nostrils breathing out.
And sometimes we notice a little resistance,
We want to stay with the tracing,
And we want to stay with the following of the breath.
Try not to fight it too much,
But do let it go.
You're welcome to stay here for as long as you'd like,
Or you can close your practice now.
