INHALING THE SOMA OF LIFE

Calming and nourishing the mind through the breath.

Breath is life and mastering or becoming conscious of your breath is an important part of rejuvenation. Most of us breathe very shallow and thereby keep our organs contracted.

A full breath means thoracic and diaphragmatic movement; it‘s basically a massage for your digestive system, liver, spleen and pancreas.

Most of us don’t get that massaging of our organs due to shallow and unconscious breathing and that means missing out on a whole bunch of life force available to us.

Learning to breathe deeper and consciously takes some awareness and retraining. Once you have re-established a connection to your breath, it will become your new normal and you can drop the practice.

PRANIC BREATH:

Take in a deep breath and draw in the healing prana of nature from the plants, land and sky. On exhalation spread this prana of nature throughout the body to vitalize every cell and organ. This is a ‘tonifying breath’, which serves to build or create positive energy. Overtime, prolong your inhalation.

Take in a deep breath and draw in all the tension and toxins from the body and mind on inhalation. On exhalation, release and expel these toxins from the body. This is a ‘purifying breath’, which reduces negativity.

OVERTIME, PROLONG YOUR EXHALATION:

• Practice becoming aware of your breath
• Slow down your breath and slow down your mind, speech and thought
• Deepen your inhalation by bringing your in-breath down to your navel
• Balance the left and right hemisphere’s of the brain through alternate nostril breathing – breathe in through the right for a count of four (close your left nostril) hold for two; exhale for a count of four on the left (close the right nostril); hold for two counts, inhale on the left for a count of four, hold for two counts and exhale right for two. Cycle this breath between both nostrils for five minutes to calm and balance the mind.

Breathe in the Soma (the sweetness and prana) of life with every breath. Let life IN.

Deepen your exhalation and practice surrender and drop deeper with each out-breath. Let go of holding on.

Mastering our breath means mastering our life.

Use these pointers to begin bringing more awareness to the breath and you will start to notice some profound shifts.

Practice is necessary until this new level of awareness becomes fully integrated into your being.