BarefootAndUpsideDown

PRANAYAMA

Please practice Breath Observation and Extended Exhalation before attempting this sequence.
Practice #3 EXTENDED INHALATION & SAMA VRTTTI

Inniswood Hosta (carolyngrady photo)

PURAKA= Inhalation
SAMA VRTTI= Equal Wind

Begin on a Pranayama blanket.
Allow the legs to fall apart equally from the central axis of your body. If you would prefer, you can place a rolled blanket or bolster beneath your knees.

Lengthen the back of your neck by picking the head up a couple of inches and drawing the fingertips along the skull from the base of the neck. The chin should be at the same height or lower than your forehead.

Relax and broaden your shoulders. Feel the way the area at the top of the torso widens and creates space for an easier breath. Surrender to the support of bolster and floor.
Allow the brain to rest on the back of the skull. Soften the features of the face so that you begin to feel faceless and the inner self is shining brightly through.

Set an intention for today’s practice.
Perhaps you’d welcome a greater sense of surrendering to the breath process-working less while practicing more mindfully. Some days we don’t know what our intention is. If that is the case, simply place the question, WHAT IS MY INTENTION FOR PRACTICING TODAY? In your mind.
The very act of recognizing that you do have some intention, conscious or unconscious, will begin to help synchronize your actions with your intentions.

Experience the presence of your breath.
Be with the breath without judgement. Become the breath.

Panterra swing (carolyngrady photo)

Extend the inhalations.

When you feel ready, invite each inhalation to grow longer and more expansive. Don’t force this to happen too suddenly or too fast. Don’t work too hard at it. Allow a naturalness to characterize every inhalation.

Let the exhalations happen-don’t work at them or try to lengthen them. Just be aware of the qualities of each outbreath.

If you are tensing anywhere-even your fingers or your toes-that is a sign that you are working too hard. If you are rushing towards the exhalations-that is a sign that you are working too hard. Scale the intensity of your efforts back a bit until you can experience long slow smooth inhalations without straining anywhere.

Allow the inbreath to fill the entire torso. Can you observe a gentle rising and falling of the pelvic floor with the breath?

At the same time, be sure that you are not sending the breath into the belly so that it is filling up. If you find that happening, concentrate on sending the in breath to the back of the body and into the sides of the lungs.

Become conscious of where you are sending the breath. Most beginners have places in the lungs that have not “seen” breath for a good long time.

Rest and Observe.

Portland aquarium fish (devingrady photo)

Can you notice any subtle effects of the extended inhalation practice? Hint: inhalations tend to bring energy up in the body, so you may feel a bit jazzed up from the practice.

Notice any effects on your mind or emotions as well. Have you become more anxious or agitated? Were you mentally or physically sluggish when you came in and if so, has that changed?

Are your lungs sore? If so, you probably overdid the pranayama today and simply rest for a while longer. Continue again on another day.

Begin SamaVrtti.

When you feel ready to begin again, allow both the inhalation and exhalation to slowly lengthen into thin streams of prana flowing in and out of the body.

Keep rechecking for tenseness and scale back or soften when you notice it.

Samavrtti means equal wind. You should strive to make the inhalation of equal duration as the exhalation. Allow a total smoothness to occur, as if the breath was a smooth and lazy river-no rocks in the riverbed, just silken sand for the river of breath to flow over.

Note any pauses.
Are there any places of pause in your cycle? Perhaps before or after the inhalation?

What is your mind doing during the pause?

Are you agitated or straining….or are you resting in a timeless state?

Gently watch yourself breathing without judgment. This is the beginning of developing the Witness Self. “You” start to grow less attached to your actions. LOVE the effort you are making. Love your own breath.

Love your own prana.

Rest.

Let go of all effort and observe your body mind spirit. What’s going on? This observation is an important component of pranayama practice-don’t skip it in favor of more active practice. Develop your awareness even in inactivity. Use your Witness Self to observe yourself.

Centaura (devingrady photo)

NOTE–Practice sitting in Supported Virasana when you are comfortable with Sama Vrtti in the Supine position, then move on to Ujjayi Breath

BKS IYENGAR:
Emptying the mind of the whole of its illusions is the true RECHAKA (the exhalation)

The realization that I am the Atman is the true PURAKA
(the inhalation)

The steady sustenance of the mind on this is the true KUMBAKA (the breath pause)