SEEDS FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH # 10 Breathing In I Nourish~ Breathing Out I Cleanse

SEEDS FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH # 10 A Blog Post From Anne Christine

BREATHING IN I NOURISH~BREATHING OUT I CLEANSE

Greetings and Namaste All. Spring weather has FINALLY arrived here in central MA after what has been a super demanding and exhaustingly tough winter. The sun is out, the temperatures are rising and we all feel our bones thawing out! I woke up this morning with this deep appreciation for the cool breeze that was coming in my window. YES, I have the windows open, another sure harbinger of Spring!

In the yogic tradition it is said our first meal of the day is Prana. The life force that animates us and is moved through our breathing. The second meal is water & deep hydration, the third meal is sadhana or your daily yogic spiritual practice and your 4th meal is food.

When you begin to connect to the vast power of your breath and the moving of prana in and circulating its animating energy throughout your body, you will never take your breath for granted again!

Ironically most yoga students I teach come in with imbalanced, stress response breath patterns  learned over time, that are the root of many of their challenges from fatigue, insomnia, GI imbalances, aches and pains, stiffness , mood imbalances and more. A stress response breath pattern is breathing high in your upper chest or up in your collar bones. This pattern of shallow breathing only has a 10-15 % breath capacity , consequently when we chronically breathe this way, we are literally suffocating our system. The belly breath is 65 % of your breath capacity!

When we consciously breathe deeply into our belly's our diaphragm muscle ,just beneath our lower ribs, moves down toward your abdomen, thus the belly pushes out. The prana is also being moved in a downward motion to the base of your spine. This is called apana prana or the downward movement. It energetically connects us to our root chakra, the energy center that when balanced gives us a sense of ground, centering, safety and well being.

When we exhale completely ( and I mention completely) as most of us have unconsciously been exhaling incompletely thus not moving toxins out efficiently, when we do exhale completely, the diaphragm muscle moves up into out lower lobes of our lungs and pushes the exhale up and out and moves the prana up and out.

This is called the Prana Vayu or the upward motion of life force. So in once complete conscious breath you oxygenate your system, you expel toxins, you connect prana flow to your central channel along your spine activating your subtle body and you awaken your body~ mind. This is why the yogis call the Breath or Prana flow as your first meal.

So today, take some breathing breaks. Relax , take a deep belly breath in to the count of 4 or 5, and exhale completely to the same count. Do this a few times and notice with each inhale you nourish your system on all levels and on each exhale your cleanse your system on all levels. Notice how you feel after just one minute of conscious diaphragmatic breathing ! 

If you want to go deeper, commit to a daily meditation of breathing fully 5 min, in the morning and 5 minutes at night for one month. You will be surprised at all the benefits!

Happy Spring and please take this practice as your daily self care. Its the simplest and yet one of the most powerful tools we have to shift our health towards our innate wholeness.

Namaste and Blessings for A Beautiful Week!

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Love & Light
Anne Christine