[00:00:00] Monica: Welcome friend. today I'm sharing with you one of my favorite techniques to calm the mind. I often do this towards the end of a yin class and the room drops into a really deep state of calm. This technique is over a thousand years old and is from the ancient text, the Vinana Vinana Bhairava a love story between consciousness and energy.
[00:01:27] This technique opens a portal or hidden doorway into a deep state of calm and I can't wait to share this with you. Before we begin, let's take a long, slow exhale together.
[00:01:43] Now this is best done lying down or sitting somewhere comfortable where you can relax and where you won't be disturbed. Whether you're sitting down or lying down, make sure your spine is straight.
[00:01:56] Keep your eyes open and without moving your head, glance all the way over to the left without straining your eyes. And hold your gaze there until you swallow or yawn.
[00:02:12] Now gaze all the way over to the right without straining your eyes.
[00:02:26] And hold that gaze until you feel like yawning or swallowing.
[00:02:32] Now gaze straight ahead, and without moving your eyes, go into your peripheral vision, where you're not looking at anything in particular, rather you're taking it all in. The eyes don't move. Instead, you're noticing everything in your field of view.
[00:02:58] Now allow your eyelids to become really heavy. Let your eyeballs sink deep into your eye sockets.
[00:03:19] Relax the muscles around and behind the eyes.
[00:03:22] And before we begin this secret technique, we're going to make our exhales twice as long as our inhales.
[00:03:37] You can inhale for a count of two, and exhale for a count of four.
[00:03:44] Inhale for two.
[00:03:50] And exhale for four.
[00:03:55] Keep going to your own count.
[00:04:01] Try to keep the inhale a really natural length, as you focus on making the exhale long, slow, and smooth.
[00:04:19] When we're stressed or busy, we often cut our exhales short. When we inhale more than we exhale, it can activate our stress response,
[00:04:36] whereas when we emphasize the exhale It has a calming effect on our nervous system.
[00:04:49] Now resist the urge to over breathe.
[00:05:01] Over breathing just leads to anxiety. You don't need to strive here.
[00:05:15] Let go of the need to be perfect, and instead be present with your breath.
[00:05:21] Now return to an easy, natural breath,
[00:05:59] and let the breath just happen to you.
[00:06:11] Let go of any desire to change or control the breath.
[00:06:22] Letting go of effort
[00:06:36] and observing the natural breath.
[00:06:45] Now notice whether you're breathing evenly through both nostrils, or whether one nostril dominates.
[00:07:21] Just notice.
[00:07:22] Notice whether the inhale and exhale are of even length, or if they differ.
[00:07:51] Noticing where the two streams of air that enter each nostril begin to merge as one.
[00:08:22] Notice the exhale divide in two as it exits each nostril.
[00:08:43] Notice how each breath has a start and an end.
[00:09:15] Feel that first sip of air on the inhale,
[00:09:23] then enjoy that first release of the exhale. And follow that exhale until the end. Until there's no air left.
[00:09:33] Just watching each breath from start to end.
[00:09:49] And be simultaneous with your breath. So you're not skipping ahead. You're not following behind. You're following the breath with precision.
[00:10:14] Now follow your exhale all the way until the end, and notice the pause at the end of the exhale before you start your next breath.
[00:10:46] There's a brief moment at the end of the exhale before the inhale begins.
[00:11:02] Rest your attention on the space at the end of the exhale, without holding the breath or changing the breath. Just noticing that natural pause,
[00:11:15] and as you focus on that pause at the end of the exhale, Notice what happens here. There's no movement, there's no breath,
[00:11:51] just space.
[00:11:52] Feel into this still space as you fall off the end of your exhale.
[00:12:18] And this space is like a doorway or a portal into a really deep state of relaxation.
[00:12:52] Rest your mind on the pause at the end of the exhale
[00:13:13] and feel into this space.
[00:13:40] Now this space isn't empty.
[00:14:01] It's vast, and it's infinite.
[00:14:04] And this expansive space that's holding you right now, that surrounds you, the space in which you are suspended, this space is pure conscious awareness.
[00:14:29] Let yourself rest in this space.
[00:14:57] Let your mind rest in the stillness.
[00:15:09] This is the space from which your breath rises and falls.
[00:15:25] This is the space in which your thoughts take place.
[00:15:47] This is the place where your inner space merges with the external world. Inner and outer space fuse.
[00:16:26] Let this space, both within and around you, nourish and support you.
[00:16:31] And our mind follows our breath. So when we suspend our mind in the space between breaths, When we experience that stillness between breaths, our mind becomes still, and we can experience space between our thoughts.
[00:17:18] You may even experience a brief moment where there are no thoughts,
[00:17:22] and this is where our yoga practice takes us. The real goal of yoga takes us to that space behind our thoughts, pure conscious awareness.
[00:17:44] So let yourself rest in this space.