Breath Meditation For Harmonious Mental & Emotional States.

Great ancient wisdom texts of the Atha Veda,

The Pantajal Yoga Sutras,

The Dayatris Yoga Shastra,

To the more recent Hatha Yoga texts of the Shiva Samhita and the Hatha Yoga Pratapika,

All commend the powerful benefits of breathing practices and pranayama.

These wonderful,

Amazing benefits range from attaining harmonious mental and emotional states,

Attaining deep meditative experiences,

To gaining optimal health and well-being,

And surefire ways to attain the highest evolved states of consciousness.

Having said that,

Please get ready for your meditation practice.

Sit in a comfortable meditation posture or feel free to use a chair.

Make yourself totally comfortable and at ease.

Guide your awareness to the base of your meditation posture and feel that connection with Mother Earth,

Feeling supported and at ease.

Awareness of the base of your meditation posture.

And then we'll start to lengthen up.

The crown extends up into the heavens above.

Relax the shoulders back and down to open your heart and align your spinal column with this natural curve and then become aware of your whole body,

Your whole body,

From the base of your meditation posture to the top of the head.

Awareness of your whole body,

The whole body.

Beautiful.

Next,

Just guide your awareness outside of your body and imagine that you're looking at your body reflected back in a full-length mirror.

Observe your body from the front.

Observe your body as if you're getting reflected back in the mirror from the right side.

See your body reflected back from the left side and the top.

And then just imagine that that mirror is shifting around the body and your higher self is just seeing your body reflected back in the mirror.

See your body in a three-dimensional way.

Now imagine that your body is growing from the ground like a large tree.

Your torso and head are the stable and strong tree trunk.

Your legs are like the roots of the tree growing into the ground.

Convince yourself that your body is part of the ground and you cannot move because you are stable and strong as a large tree.

Perfect.

We'll just go on a little journey around the body.

Just shift your awareness to the right foot.

Become aware of your right foot,

The left foot,

Right shin,

Left shin,

Right knee,

Left knee,

Right thigh,

Left thigh,

The sitting bones,

Lower back,

Upper back,

Right shoulder,

Left shoulder,

The pelvis,

Upper body,

The chest.

And awareness to both arms and both hands,

The back of the head,

Top of the head,

Forehead,

Eyes,

Nose,

Mouth,

And the cheeks.

Become aware of your whole head,

Whole head.

Perfect.

Next,

Just shift your attention to your breath and just simply become aware of the breath of the nostrils.

Notice that the breath flows in and out of your nostrils.

No need to change or modify your breath.

Just observe the flow of your breath at the nostrils.

Perfect.

Give your mind freedom and just continue just watching your breath at the nostrils in that never-ending cycle and flow.

Okay,

You're doing great.

Next,

We'll practice full yogic breathing to enhance our breathing capacity and to increase oxygen absorption into all the cells of the body and the brain.

So just start to inhale slowly and deeply,

Allowing your abdomen to fully expand.

Feel the air filling the bottom of your lungs.

At the end of your abdominal expansion,

Start to breathe into the chest and expand the chest outwards and upwards,

And then keep on breathing in a little more and draw the breath into the top of the chest,

Filling the upper lobes of the lungs.

Perfect.

Pause.

Then as you exhale,

Slowly release the breath from the chest.

The breath contracts and comes downwards and inwards.

We're emptying out the lungs,

The ribcage,

And then we're pulling the abdomen wall into the spine as much as possible.

And then a little pause.

Perfect.

Let's practice five more rounds of the full yogic breath,

Just practicing in a comfortable,

Relaxed way that's suitable for you and a suitable duration for five more breaths.

Perfect.

Just take a few moments to allow your breath to come back to its natural rhythm and notice how you feel.

We practice this practice as a ratio of one is to one with a slight pause between the inhalation and the exhalation.

So now we'll practice Nadi Shandona Pranayama to balance the hemispheres of the brain and our emotional and mental states.

Option one is to simply breathe in and out through the left nostril five times,

Counting om for each inhalation and exhalation,

Then close the left nostril and breathe in and out the right nostril five times.

Once you've completed that process,

We breathe in and out through both nostrils five times.

This is stage one of Nadi Shandona.

If you're familiar with the alternate nostril breathing,

You can also practice this if it's comfortable.

So for this practice,

We breathe in through the left for a count of five,

Pause,

Exhale through the right,

Count of five,

Right,

Pause,

Exhale left for that same duration.

After five rounds of alternate nostril breathing,

Then we breathe in and out through both nostrils five times.

Please choose a variation that you're comfortable with and then let's practice.

Five breaths.

Perfect.

Well done.

Just come back to your natural breath.

Once again,

We just start to watch and observe the breath as it flows in and out of the nostrils.

Give your mind freedom and just continue to maintain awareness of your breath.

And then as you're maintaining awareness of your breath,

I'd like you to notice the physical component of this breathing experience.

Notice that your lungs are part of the respiratory system.

This is a physical body and this is breathing in the air.

Notice that this is a physical component of this experience.

As you breathe in,

The lungs fill up,

The abdomen,

The nose is part of this experience,

The physical component.

Next,

As you breathe in this time,

Notice that the air or prana energy is entering in through the nostrils and then coming into your body.

Notice how this energy and air is separate to the physical component of your respiratory system.

Just for the next few moments,

Your lungs are one component,

The air and prana is a separate component.

Experience and realize this now as you're breathing in and out through the nostrils.

Perfect.

Now,

As you're maintaining awareness of your breath,

Notice that there is a third component to this experience that is witnessing,

Observing your lungs that is the respiratory system and is witnessing the air entering into the lungs.

Become aware of this higher separate entity,

Separate from your body and separate from the prana.

This is your highest self that is the witness of the breath.

Just continue focusing on your breath and notice that there's a separate component that is watching,

Observing your breath,

The experience of the breath.

Neither the lungs or respiratory system that part of your physical body,

Neither the air but the observer,

The eternal observer that is witnessing breathing practice.

Just take 20 more breaths now,

Watching the breath and becoming aware and tuning into your highest self.

Your highest self just watches the mind from this evolved higher state and give your mind freedom and just keep on coming back to the experiencer,

The witness and notice that your highest self is observing and experiencing the breath.

For 20 breaths now.

Okay,

Great work.

You have been practicing a three-part pranayama practice to facilitate deep relaxation,

To enhance your respiratory system's capacity,

To balance and harmonize your mental emotional states.

And then the third process is to tune into your highest self.

Take a few moments just to notice how you're feeling as you're maintaining your breath and just notice if any insights or visions arise or internally just enjoy experiencing the breath and your content of your mind for the next few moments.

Okay,

Great work.

We'll slowly now just start to becoming aware of the sounds in your room.

Be aware of any bodily sensations,

Touches,

Clothing on your skin and become aware of the contact between your body and the floor and your seated position and becoming aware of your whole body,

Your whole body.

And then we'll slowly start to externalize,

Feeling refreshed,

Revitalized with high levels of awareness and the knowing that we can tune into our highest self by practicing these pranayama and breathing practices predictably and reliably.

So that concludes the meditation practice.

Thanks for practicing with me.

Take care.

See you soon.