Beginner's Guide to Meditation - Equal Rate Breath (Prana Style! 7-7-7)

Transcript

to another video of beginner's meditation and breath patterns pranayama today we're going to be doing prana breathing very specifically which is a 7 7 and 7. so this is in the family of equal breath counts it's an inhale for seven hold for seven exhale for seven inhale again so more of a triangle of breath it's kind of like the four seven four but this one isn't supposed to make you quite as sleepy since the inhales and exhales are the same this is more for just calming your system calming anxiety calming stress putting yourself in a more peaceful state of mind just able to deal with the day without having to go take a nap right afterwards so we'll get into our sitting position on your chair on the floor on the couch and the end of your bed on top of the table wherever you feel like sitting outside if it's warm enough and first go through your checklist make sure your spine is tall pull your little string pull it a little taut make sure there's a little bit of space between each of your vertebral discs notice where your breath is at first just notice where you're breathing if you've been doing these videos for a while you might notice that you're already starting to breathe a little bit more naturally down into your abdomen rather than up into your chest usually when we're stressed out we start to breathe a lot more in the upper rib cage which doesn't fill your whole lungs your lungs don't work at their full capacity this is another reason for these breath patterns getting your lung capacity much more increased i have asthma so this is really great for me and starting to notice those exhales and that contraction in your abs at the end of that exhale getting your core engaged to help support your lower back you might notice that you even sit up a little bit taller if you thought you were sitting tall before engage your abs engage your core really press into the ground with your sacrum with your hips and use the pressure from the base of your sacrum to actually give you a little bit more lift ujjayi breath is optional again and we're gonna get right into this one so big inhale in exhale sigh get all your air out feel that little contraction as you push the last of your air and inhale two three four five six seven hold two three four five six seven exhale two three four five six seven inhale two three four five six seven hold two three four five six seven exhale two three four five six seven inhale two three four five six seven hold two three four five six seven exhale two three four five six seven inhale hold exhale inhale hold exhale inhale hold exhale and big inhale in and sigh out the mouth open and close the fingers a couple of times make sure you're not holding any tension in your hands maybe some shoulder circles and that is the general prana breathing so it's very specifically a seven count for multiple different reasons if you're having trouble keeping up to the seven count you can absolutely shorten it you can make it a three three three or a four four four whatever you like as long as it's equal so the only difference between this one really and the box breath is box is a four inhale hold exhale hold and this one is three inhale hold exhale as long as all the numbers are the same then it's still an equal breath or equal rate breath pattern so practice this one whenever you like during the day whenever you need a break maybe if you're in traffic but still pay attention to what's going on around you but maybe it will help with road rage and whenever you are ready come back i have one more breathing lesson for you alternate nostril breathing so thank you for breathing with me today and i will see you next time