Embodied Spirituality: Applied Polyvagal Theory in Yoga with Dr. Arielle Schwartz

Transcript

but let's do just a little bit of breathing and when I say a little bit we're really just doing a little bit of breathing my caveat to this is I've been teaching pranayama breath work for 20 years I've been teaching it for for thousands of people there's always someone in the group that says but what if breath doesn't feel safe for me what if as soon as I bring my attention to breath I start to feel triggered or anxious first of all it's really common don't you know like like don't you know if we can kind of just go oh okay that's me that's really common second of all breath has or I'm going to call it four components to it it has the inhale it has the pause at the top of the inhale or exhale and what we'll call kind of that pause at the bottom of the exhale if you are someone where breath feels scary get to know which part of the breath is the scary part is it the inhale is it the the hold is it the quick inhale right startle right is it the exhale is it the pause at the bottom in emptiness that feels scary get to know get more specific part two about reclaiming your relationship to breath is that if we are afraid of something we have an urge to avoid it the more we avoid it the more that avoidance is commuting back to the communicating back to the brain that must be really scary and so now we're caught in a feedback loop where I don't have a way to challenge the um the perception I have of something so the best way to come out of fear of of breath is to turn toward it in small amounts in the context of safety and to realize that even if you did feel a little bit uncomfortable or activated or triggered by the breath that too is temporary and it will subside and that you can reorient yourself to cues of safety so with that said um I would love to invite you to find a comfortable seat if it feels right for you to turn your attention to your breath just as it is and perhaps just beginning to notice where is your breath flowing easily does it feel easy and accessible to turn towards your breath today or does it feel a little scary or uncomfortable and without making yourself wrong hopefully the invitation is not judgment and curiosity and then perhaps beginning to find an evenness to your breath a quality of the inhale and exhale being the same length sometimes it's helpful to have a count for that so if you'd like that I'll offer account you can follow your own inhaling for one two [Music] three four and exhale one two [Music] three four inhale one two three four and exhale one two three four continuing on your own your own count if you'd like and then perhaps using your right hand will add on the alternate nostril to the balanced breathing using your thumb closing your right nostril inhaling left exhale right using your fingers to close the left inhale right exhale left inhale left and exhale right inhale right and exhale left one more complete round on your own and when you've completed your exhale through the left releasing your right hand pausing for a moment just noticing that's present for you here and perhaps layering on one more piece here which is creating a feeling of warmth in your throat it's a warming breath and we can initially learn ujjayi or the oceanic or Victorious Breath by exhaling through the mouth with a activating the whisper muscles of the throat Cara breath ah sounding breath as if fogging up a mirror and then integrating that by inhaling and exhaling through your nose the same quality or feeling in the throat and just one more like that sensing and feeling the quality of the container of your body and the feeling of that breath energizing the inside what's happening for you we're going to complement that breath with a cooling breath one of my favorites by the way for any of you who know your Dosha and if you ever get a little too Pitta a little bit too much heat a little too sympathetic if we want to look at it that way the cooling breath is a great way to release excess heat if you're living in places where it's 110 degrees in the US right now this could be helpful okay and the um the cooling breath sometimes referred to is satari or Sakari pranayama we are breathing across the tongue and it's an invitation to feel the cool air moving across your tongue we'll inhale through through the mouth exhale through the nose and the um uh the traditional breath here is to breathe across a curled tongue all right if genetically because not everybody can curl their tongue and you're like yeah that's me not everybody can curl their tongue so if that's not you if you're the one that can't you just breathe across the tongue by setting it behind your bottom teeth and making an O shape with your mouth either way sensing the cool air moving across your tongue and we'll just do three of those and exhale through your nose inhaling across the tongue exhale nose one more and exhale and then let the breath control go and to see what you're noticing you might as again the the foundation here is know thyself know how your body responds to these different breathing practices which ones which ones resonate for you which ones are you like I didn't like that one so much no right or wrong