Guided Breathing Technique with Elaine Schardien: Diaphragmatic (Yogic) Breath

In this short episode, Elaine Schardien guides you through Diaphragmatic (Yogic) Breath that has been shown to calm and balance the nervous system, maximize lung capacity, and activate your body’s relaxation response (parasympathetic nervous system) in order to allow your body to be in best state to rest, relax, digest and heal. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:09

Welcome to the Healing Waves Reiki Podcast. I'm your host, Cathy Scarpitto, Reiki Master teacher, spiritual mentor, intuitive, and physical therapist. Let's begin. Welcome back to the Healing Waves Reiki Podcast. Today we have back with us Elaine Chardin, who is going to share with us some of her techniques that she uses to help regulate the nervous system. We talk a lot about regulating the nervous system on this podcast and the importance of that shift to get you into a more healing state. Elaine?

Speaker 0:57

Thank you, Cathy. So as Cathy was saying, I have three breathing techniques that I use now. Just going to say up front, didn't invent them. But these are the techniques that I use the most with my clients and yoga students, and personally, what they do is they help to stimulate the vagus nerve and activate your parasympathetic nervous system so that you can get into a rest and digest mode. The first one we'll do, and you may or may not be familiar with it, is simple yoga breath or yogic breathing or diaphragmatic breathing. If you are a singer, have ever done chorus, you would be familiar with this. Or of course, if you've ever done yoga. Now, you can do this if you are in your car. If you are not in your car and you are not driving, and you're in a place where you can either lie on your back or you can sit in a chair and close your eyes, do so. But it isn't necessary to begin the practice. What I would say is take your dominant hand and place it right under the breastbone, right at the top of the diaphragm. And I am going to walk you through five counts of yogic breathing. What we are going to do is inhale to the count of four and then exhale to the count of four. Now, when you inhale, you are going to inhale and you are going to expand that diaphragm. And when you exhale, you are going to squeeze the air out gently. Okay? Now, if you have allergies or something is happening that you're having sinus issues and you can't breathe through your nose, try to see if you can inhale through the nose and then exhale through the mouth. Just an aside, when I work with small children, and again, this is a technique that I use. I did not invent it, but I think it's lovely. So what I will say to them is to teach the uh diaphragmatic breathing. So if you have uh children of your own or work with children, you can say, smell of flowers, blow out the birthday candles. Okay, so we are going to begin and we will do this to um, we'll do four inhalations, four exhalations, and I will do it five times. If you can, either place both feet flat on the ground, bring the shoulders up to the ears, circle them back and let them drop. If you are driving, again, do the best that you can, but you can do this in the car. If you're driving, don't take your hands off the wheel, just do the best that you can. Keep uh the chin up so that it's parallel. If you can, place your hand on the top of the diaphragm, and we're going to begin by inhaling and expanding that diaphragm to the count of one, two, three, and four. Exhale two, three, four. Inhale, two, three, four, exhale, two, three, four, inhale, two, three, four, exhale, two, three, four, two more rounds. Inhale, two, three, four, exhale, two, three, four, inhale, two, three, four, exhale, two, three, four. Notice how you feel in this moment. Is there a difference? I'm hoping you feel a little bit of peace. We will be bringing two more shorts to you with different breathing techniques for you to experience, so stay tuned.

Speaker 1 5:54

Thank you for listening to the Healing Waves Reiki podcast. If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who may need it. Subscribe and leave a review so more people can find this work. Until next time, stay grounded, stay open, and keep healing. This podcast is intended for informational, educational, and inspirational purposes only. The content shared on this podcast is not medical, psychological, legal, or professional advice, and is not intended to diagnose, etiquette, treat, etiquette, cure, or prevent any condition. Always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider, mental health professional, or other licensed professional regarding your specific needs. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host. Listener discretion and personal responsibility are advised,