Schedule
Monday 7:30-8:45pm Inner Space
Tuesday 12:30-1:30pm The Complementary Health Care Clinic
Wednesday 9:30-11:00am Old Catton Church Hall, 12:30-1:30 The Yoga Room
Thursday 5:00-6:00pm The Complementary Health Care Clinic
2009 Classes commence Wednesday January 7th
Over the last few weeks we have been practicing breath awareness and some simple pranayama techniques. However when we apply these techniques with sensitivity and awareness the effects on the mind, body and spirit are amplified. Having an understanding of the respiration process helps us to increase our sensitivity to breathing, not only on a physical level but on a more subtle level. Once we understand the subtleties of the respiration process we can start to understand the effects of pranayama:
- Lie in savasana and take a few moments to become comfortable ensuring your spine is straight and your body relaxed.
- Become aware of the area from your abdomen to your nose and feel this area as one unit.
- Bring the awareness to your nose and feel the breath in your nostrils.
- Feel the air and prana as it passes the tiny hairs in your nostils.
- Feel the air in the sinus cavity behind the nose, take a moment to smell the air as you inhale.
- Follow the path of air as it travels down the nasal passages to the larynx where the vocal chords are.
- Follow the tube like structure down the chest behind the breastbone where this then branches into two, one pipe on the left one on the right - the bronchi.
- The bronchi then split into smaller branches called bronchioles and clustered at the end are tiny air sacks called alveoli, intertwined with tiny blood vessels, this spongy tissue makes up the lungs.
- Visualise the air and prana passing from the nose to the lungs where it is then absorbed by the body. Feel the air and prana filling every cell of your body. Oxgen enriched blood is taken to the heart which is then pumped around the body. Carbon dioxide, the waste product of our breath is passed to the lungs and is exhaled. Take a moment to visualise this exchange.
- Become completely familiar with the flow of your breath and the respiration process.
- Feel the oxygen and prana reaching from the deepest of body organs to the extremeties of your body, right into the tips of your fingers and toes. There is no part of the body that does not recieve this vitalising flow.
- After a few moments bring your awareness back to your body, take a deep breath in and stretch your arms above your head, point your toes away from you stretching the whole of your body. Then take your time and slowly come up to a seated position.
You can do this technique at anytime whenever you have a few minutes to spare. You can even use this technique as a relaxation process before you go to bed.
The daily breathing process is automated and mecanical. Practicing the above technique helps us to become more aware of our breathing process in our every day life and helps us to breath more consciously and with better understanding. Happy breathing!!
I wish you all a very happy and peaceful time during the festive season!! I look forward to seeing you in the New Year
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.
