Unlock The Power Of Breath | 09 July 2022
Today’s class took a look at the four key elements of breath:
* Natural breathing
* Releasing, cleansing and clearing
* Calming and balancing
* Energising
Natural breathing
It’s important to spend some time tuning in and noticing how we are naturally breathing - allowing the body to breath just the right amount of air that it needs, breathing to our metabolic needs.
Cleansing and clearing
Frequent sighing can be a sign of dysfunctional breathing but intentionally taking bigger breaths to open the chest, expand the lungs, enliven the spine, and clear stale air and negative energy creates space for easy breathing.
We practised:
* Knocking On The Door Of Life
* Spinal Cord Breathing
* Picking Cherries
* Physiological Sigh
Calming and balancing
Activating the parasympathetic nervous system allows you to feel calm, relaxed, and at ease. It also allows healing and digestion to happen. Being unable to relax makes it impossible for the body to perform its necessary functions for health and vitality.
* Pause to calm - Natural breathing with extended pause (about 5 secs) at the end of every third exhale
* Box Breathing - Balanced in Horse Stance 4-4-4-4 (In for 4, hold for 4, out for 4, pause for 4)
Energising
The calming and balancing practice above also plays an important role in building energy. Slow, deep breathing provides you with energy that is calm, focused, and full of authentic vitality.
Another practice that can build energy for when you need to perform in business or sports is short periods of breath holding to energise the body and focus the mind.
As you extend the pause (past comfortable) at the bottom of an exhale there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the body (hypercapnia) and a reduction of oxygen in the blood (hypoxemia).
Rather than feeling you are running out of oxygen when you pause the breath, imagine ‘squeezing’ oxygen from the blood into every single cell to energise the body.
We practised
Heart To Sky - with an extended pause to discomfort (medium to strong air hunger) after every third exhale
9 июл 2022
