Sama Vritti Pranayam or Equal Ratio Breathing

Transcript

hi i'm susan jarvi today we're going to learn a breathing technique known as sama vritti also known as equal ratio focus breathing is a great way to calm anxiety reduce stress and sleep better and center yourself when you feel off balance equal ratio breath is exactly as it sounds bringing balance to your breath by matching the length of your inhales and your exhales let's try it take a comfortable seat sitting on a chair or on the floor and make sure that you are comfortable if you are uncomfortable in your posture as you're breathing you'll have a difficult time focusing on breath because you're focused on the body so make sure you're comfortable but not so comfortable that you fall asleep during the practice taking a nice tall seat lifting the crown of your head up relax the shoulders and you can close your eyes or look down in front of you a few feet as you widen your gaze and then we'll begin breathing in and breathing out we're just going to take a few normal breaths at first so with your eyes closed you're looking down just take a few breaths breathing in nice and slow and breathing out and then let's begin i'll count for the first few breaths i'm going to count to the number four on the inhale and number four on the exhale and you'll just follow along so when you're ready begin to breathe in one two three four exhale one two three four inhale one two three four exhale one two three four now continue on your own for a few more breaths breathing in [Music] and breathing out we balance the inhales and the exhales bringing more space between breaths balancing the breath and balancing the body and balancing the right and left brains so you continue this as long as you feel necessary two or three minutes is is a great amount of time when you feel ready release the technique or stop doing the technique and just focus on your breath breathing normal allow the natural rhythm of your own breath to return and then float your eyes open to a new moment and a new beginning and so that's all there is to it some of rit or equal ratio breath is just bringing balance between your inhales and exhales using the same amount of time for each so enjoy the practice enjoy the process and always take time for yourself to give yourself a little calm in your day