Sunday 8 November 2015

Breathing!

How is your Autumn?
We now in the middle of the season, walking lightly into the yin peak of the year, the Winter, descending into the darkness, from which new life and ideas are born!

Continuing to talk about breathing, as I began in 'Happy Autumn' post:
Do you Know?
**The size of your nostrils indicates your born ability to take in life. Which you always can change...
**The lungs are also called the master of chi and breathing: "heavenly chi" (air) is breath in, and "impure chi" breath out, to vitalize the body.

*Good affirmation for you lungs (you can create one with your own words): "I have the capacity to take in fullness of life. I live to the fullest."

To breath in is inspiration, to breath out is to expire. The Breath of 
Life/Chi/Prana, flows like a tide.

A nice way to give your lungs fresh chi and at the same time recycle their emotion is by the Healing Sound: do it with full awareness of your breath, of your lungs. The slower you do the sound and breath, the more powerful you make this practice.
*** Sit quietly, focus on the breath coming and going through your nose. After a couples of breaths connect with your lungs, breath in and out, feeling your lungs expand. Now, delve into your lungs, be aware of any feeling of sadness, grief, depression. Breathe in from your lungs and out with a SSSSSSSSSSSSS, letting all go. And then, breathe in this imaginary white silk and wrap all around your lungs, visualize your bright white, healthy lungs, filled with courage and self-confidence, for you to do whatever you have to do! And smile at your lungs! =) You can do this a couple of times, and can add the movement if you wish: as you breathe in, raising your arms overhead, elbows slightly bent outwards, hands palm up, and extend your arms above your head. Your eyes follow the movements of your hands.

The healing sound is such a nice way to practice breathing to release and relax, and if you want some energy, breathe to energise and warm up your body with 'Bellows Breathing':
***Sit in meditation, comfortable posture and lay your hands on top of each other over the navel.
Inhale and expand your lower abdomen, feeling your lungs expand. Keep your chest relaxed and focus on breathing with your belly.
Exhale with some force, pulling the navel back in toward the spine and keeping your chest relaxed. Feel your sexual organs pull up toward your navel at the same time.
The rhythm of this breathing is medium to quick, see how it feels and if it feels good, repeat a couple of times. Finalise by relaxing and feel the warm chi that you have created at your navel center.

**Sexual Practices - Focused breathing: Air=Energy, the more you can take in with least effort, the more you can put out.

We have specific breathing in the Yin Taoist practices, as the kidney breathing and ovarian breathing, so important and useful to keep these organs healthy and radiant, and to strengthen our life force, our sexual energy.
You can learn more about these in the Jade Circle Workshop and Taoist Healing Love Workshop.
For the ones in London the Jade Circle Evening is a great introduction for these. 
Here the calendar.

© Anamarta