Optimizing and harmonizing your breath is a journey, and one that is vital in order to curate a consistent connection with your innate inner healer. I have created a nine-part video series with the intent that guidance, practice, variety and simplicity will lead you to developing awe and understanding of how to breathe functionally, how to self-regulate, how to retrain improper habits, and ultimately, how to strengthen your mental and physical health.
What you will learn
Video #1
In this first session we will move through what a functional breath looks like and feels like. A guide through the foundational steps to begin the process of how and why to slow your breath down and what you can pay attention to to support you in moving your attention inwards.
Video #2
We begin with the nervous system regulation technique of using our eyes and mindful movement to soften the rhythm of breathing and cultivate more safety signals. We review the steps for oral and spinal posture, how to practice functional breathing and the many health benefits of a healthy and pliable diaphragm moving rhythmically. Know your inhale and exhale more intimately, land on a mantra that captures the energy or experience of each, and then breathe in slow motion as your mantra supports your focused attention.
Video #3
We begin with some review, and the value in using hands on compression as you inhale to slow your breath down and support your ability to feel and be with each breath. Better breathing with a pliable diaphragm supports heart health and is the foundation for high heart rate variability. Pranayama is the practice of conscious breathing, and in this video we move through the benefits and possibilities. We expand our practice of noticing the differences in inhale and exhale by building awareness in the opposing forces in each breath; the diaphragms glide down as we inhale while we feel energy that inspires and uplifts, and the diaphragms rise up as we exhale and a felt sense of energy rooting down and grounding. Notice what happens when you stay with these two directions of movement happening simultaneously.
We add in the practice of Viloma on the inhale and then on the exhale (the interrupted breath or “against the grain”) as a slightly activating technique that supports building strength in your respiratory muscles, as well as building comfort with gentle breath retention.
With a longer interoceptive practice we begin to notice how the quality of the inhale impacts the quality of the exhale, and the quality of the exhale impacts the quality of the next inhale. We finish with some embodied mindful movement guided by the breath and the energy we have practiced noticing.
Video #4
Interoception is the sense of feeling inside our embodied experience and is an integral part of attuning to the innate healer within. As a daily practice it improves cognition and reduces risk of age-related cognitive decline.
Taking our time to use our senses outwardly to calm the nervous system we can then turn our senses inward to notice more. Using breath techniques that will be familiar from previous videos with a bit more detail and space to notice your internal experience.
“We heal to the extent that we interocept. And we interocept to the extent that we feel safe.” AD Bud Craig
We then move into conscious activating techniques with space for interoception to begin the process of building more flexibility in our nervous system, followed by more self-regulating techniques.
Video #5
A review and experiential practice of how and why to use our senses consciously to begin our practice from a place of regulation and safety. A healthy nervous system is a flexible nervous system. In this video we step further into practice of activation – or positive stress exercises – with plenty of space and variety in self-regulation (or repair) in between bouts of activation.
When we engage in these practices with interoception we will notice our own window of tolerance so we can tailor each experience to our own individual needs. This retrains our nervous system back into a healthy oscillation of rhythm.
Video #6
Your nervous system is amazing, wise, powerful, and working so hard to protect you moment after moment. In this video we move through an experience of normalizing and celebrating the various states that your nervous system direct you into, to recognize that there is another way to relate and be with yourself. Leaning into the map of the Polyvagal theory to categorize our nervous system states, learn how your vagus nerve is deeply involved in your health and wellness. We use visualization, hands on and a felt sensation of energy moving through the pathways of the nervous system to have an embodied experience of how to navigate and self-regulate.
We complete our experience with nadi shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) through the lens of self-regulation.
Video #7
What, why and when would we consciously under breathe or breathe less? A guided experience into breathing in slow motion as you learn why the sensation of air hunger is related to rising carbon dioxide rather than reduction in oxygen. And when we breathe slower and less, this increases our oxygen uptake to our hungry cells, increases our stress resiliency, and trains our brain to increase tolerance to carbon dioxide which slows down our baseline breathing rate. A slower breath rate leads to a healthier heart, a healthier immune system, and a calmer system overall that heals with ease.
Join me in this journey to learn your breath chemistry, and the gradual stages and practices of air hunger to reset your subconscious respiratory pattern generator.
Video #8
A closer look at the vagus nerve and techniques that increase safety signals in between bouts of positive stress exercise. We are taking our practice of developing flexibility and rhythm in our nervous system a step further.
Video #9
We complete our series with a longer guided experience into your inner environment along with the practice of simultaneously riding the wave of your breath and holding the hand of your breath. This is a yoga nidra-esque meditation to foster deep rest and cultivate space and capacity to sustain what you have learned in your body. Knowledge is for your brain, experience is for your body.
Curious to learn more? Check it out here!