Hi,
I'm Viona.
Welcome.
Today we will practice Ujjayi breathing.
Ujjayi is a breathing technique that originated from traditional yoga,
Which is often practiced either through asanas or pure meditation.
It is a powerful way to calm the nervous system.
The breathing technique involves breathing through the nose with the mouth closed while maintaining a slight tightening or contraction at the back of your throat.
It will create a soft ocean-like sound.
Therefore,
It is also called ocean breath.
Ujjayi breathing is a great tool to de-stress,
Regain your focus and also reconnect with your body through breathing.
So let's begin.
Begin by finding a comfortable seated position.
You can either sit on a chair or on the ground.
Sit tall,
Let your hands rest on your lap and gently close your eyes or gaze down on the ground in front of you.
Take a deep breath in here,
Inhale through your nose,
Trying to lengthen your spine as you inhale and exhale,
Shoulder down.
Next inhale,
Feel the expansion of your chest,
Spine pulling up and exhale,
Drop the shoulder down.
A couple more breaths here.
At your own pace first,
Just settling in.
Relax in between your eyes,
Your eyebrows,
Your lips,
Your whole face,
Your shoulders,
Your upper chest.
Relax your chest area.
Relax the belly.
As you take your next inhale,
Lengthen your spine.
Exhale,
Sensing your lower body grounded and relaxed.
Now as we feel more grounded,
We'll begin Ujjayi practice.
So place one hand at the back of your head,
Palms facing the head,
Then draw your jaw towards your collarbone as if you are making a double chin.
With your next inhale,
Lengthen your spine.
At the same time,
Use the back of your head to push against your palms with a gentle force.
You'll notice the muscle at the back of your throat will be slightly tightened and you may sense the airway at your throat area got tighter.
Now take another breath with the control of that airway even more tighter here.
You may feel or hear there's an ocean-like sound as you breathe in.
And as you breathe out,
Same air coming through that airway you are tightening out through your nose.
Just a couple more breaths here.
With your head against the palm,
With every inhale lengthen the spine.
With every exhale,
Tightening that airway.
Slow down your breath.
A couple more breaths here with your hand at the back of your head.
And get used to that tightening throat and narrowing airway as you inhale and exhale.
Try to make every inhale and exhale the same length.
You'll notice if you push a little bit more of your head against your palm,
Controlling a little bit more of that airway,
You're really able to lengthen your breath.
When I practice this with my teacher for Wujiayi breath,
I have increased the count from the initial 10 second to 30 second just for one inhale.
So wherever you are right now,
It is okay.
With more practice,
You'll get greater awareness and greater control over the muscles around your airway.
Essentially you'll be able to control the amount of air you would like to breathe in and out.
You may now let your hand rest on your knee to completely draw your attention inward.
We'll practice Wujiayi breathing combined with belly breathing that we have practiced in the last session.
Keep your jaw towards your collarbone.
Inhale through your nose,
Air passing by,
A narrowing airway through the throat,
Down towards your chest and your belly slowly rise.
And as you exhale,
Belly contract,
Air passing by the chest,
Out through your throat,
Hear that ocean-like sound and essentially out through your nose.
As you really settle in,
Try to visualize how air travels within our body.
We'll practice here for one minute at your own pace.
Make sure every inhale and exhale have the equal length.
Notice how your whole body feels.
You may feel the whole body feels more connected,
More connected,
Relaxed,
More grounded.
We'll slowly relax our throat,
Palms to the heart center,
Deep inhale to the heart center,
Breathe in peace and love.
Breathe out stress,
Letting go.
Two more times.
Breathe in peace and love to our heart.
Breathe out,
Letting go.
Last one here.
Inhaling peace and love to our heart and our whole body.
Exhale,
Letting go.
Your whole being feels grounded and relaxed.
Sensing this present moment.
Wujiai breath is a beautiful practice to return to our body and return to peace whenever you need.
Thank you so much for practicing with me.
