Day 1: Awareness of Breath

Welcome to day one of our Shavasana challenge. To help us find a more satisfying and successful Shavasana, we'll start by meeting our breath. We'll begin by drawing our attention towards our breath to help us develop this steady awareness. So our breath being the grossest form of prana, our life force. Let's begin supine on our back and you might have a bolster lengthwise behind your spine and perhaps a blanket under your head for support. Bring the bolster right up against your sacrum and just allow yourself to roll down. You might adjust the blanket under your head and bend your knees, bring the soles of the feet slightly wider than your hips and let your knees rest together. You might let the eyes close here and take a moment to feel the back of your body releasing towards the support. We'll start by bringing our attention towards our breath. And step one, notice the quality of your breath. You might notice the rise and the fall of the breath moving through the air. Let your breath feel short or shallow or wide or long. Just noticing. And then from here we'll begin to explore the three parts of the breath. So we'll start by bringing the hands onto the belly. So you bring your hands onto your belly. Let your attention rest on the belly. Begin to notice the movement of the breath in the belly. You might notice the rise of the inhale and the fall of the exhale. And hold your attention here for a few more moments. It's not so easy to hold our attention in one place. And draw your attention towards your ribcage and bring your hands around your ribs. Be slightly wider. And as you bring your hands, your fingers around your ribcage, begin to notice the breath in the ribcage in the hands. And you might feel movement or a gentle expansion through the hands. And this can require some patience and concentration to hold your attention here for another moment. And then bring your attention to your collar bones. You can bring your fingertips to rest around your upper chest. As your hands rest here, you begin to get a sense of the breath and the collar bones. Breathing into what might feel like the upper branches of the body. Noticing the rise of the inhale and the fall or softening of the exhale. One of these areas may feel more comfortable than the other, more natural for you. And a few more moments holding your attention here. Feeling the movement of the breath in the upper chest. And then we'll move back down. So draw your hands back around your ribcage. And can you feel or sense the movement of the breath in between your hands? Feeling the expansion through the ribcage. And see if you can keep it relaxed through your throat and your shoulders. Holding your attention here. And then finally we'll move back down to our belly. So bring your hands onto your lower belly. And with your attention here, you can begin to feel the movement of the breath beneath your hands. You might find that just by bringing your attention towards the belly, the breath naturally begins to follow without straining or forcing or pushing. The breath naturally responds. And then relaxing the effort of your attention, releasing the arms. And take a few moments to observe and notice how you feel. Notice the overall movement of the breath in the body. As you're ready, begin to roll off your bolster onto a side. And then use your hands to press yourself up. From here we'll move into a side bend. So you can push your bolster off to the side. You might sit up on your blanket. Just to make some more room through the side body and the ribs. So go ahead and cross your ankles. As you're ready, reach your right fingertips towards the floor and inhale your left arm up towards the sky. Feel like you can draw down through your left sit bone as you reach up through the fingers, drawing your right shoulder blade down your back. You might stay with this. You might walk your right fingertips out. Let your elbows soften and stretch over to the right. And you get a sense now of breathing into the left side body. And it might even feel nice to revolve your rib cage up. Take a look down, inhale, come all the way back up. Take a moment to pause. And then we'll lean back, switch the cross of the legs. And we'll find that on the other side. Left fingertips to the floor. Inhale the right arm up to the sky. And then go down as you lengthen up through the right arm. You might draw the left shoulder blade down your back. You might stay with this or walk the fingertips out and begin to stretch your right arm up out and over towards the left. Coming into a side bend, reaching through the fingers. If it would feel nice, you might revolve your rib cage up towards the sky a bit. And you get a sense of breathing into the right side body. You're ready. Inhale, come all the way back up. And exhale, take a moment to pause. And so from here, moving into a forward fold, begin to hinge at your hips, walk your fingertips out. You might lean a little bit from side to side with your fingertips. Begin to draw your heart forward, feeling your spine lengthen. And then as you exhale, you might round your spine and let your head release for a few moments. Bring that stretch through the back body around the spine, maybe the low back, the hips. And then slow as you're ready, round your way back up. Keep the chin into the chest, drawing the shoulders up, back and down. Bring the fingertips behind you. And then inhale, feel like you can lift a bit up through the heart, the collar bones, the chest, brightening through your throat. Inhale and exhale, release. And come back onto our back. So you can bring the blanket underneath your head for support. And roll onto your back. So you come onto your back, draw your knees into your chest. And just allow yourself to rock a little bit from side to side. Just feeling the back of your body. Move into a spinal twist from here.

So roll onto your right side. And as you roll onto your right side, stacking your shoulders, your hands, your hips. And then as you inhale, just letting the left arm move across the body and open. And find a place where the neck and head feel comfortable. And here in the spinal twist, notice the quality of your breath again. You notice the sensation through the belly, through your rib cage, maybe the upper chest, around your shoulders. So where you can find a bit more ease through your eyes, your mouth, your throat. For the last moment on this side, if you can continue to draw your attention, your awareness towards your breath. Slowly lead with the top leg. Let yourself unwind. Reorganize your hips and take a moment to pause on your back. And allow for an inhale. And exhale. Feeling the breath release. Draw the knees in. We'll roll everything over to the left side. So stacking the shoulders, the hands, the hips. And then as you're ready, let the right arm open across the body and release. And finding a place where your neck and head feel comfortable. And as you settle in on this side, you might allow for an inhale. And then exhale. Perhaps feeling your right shoulder soften towards the earth. And check back in with your face, your eyes, your jaw, your shoulders. And then allowing your mind to rest on your breath. As a way to develop this steady awareness and single pointed attention. As you're ready, inhale. Just let your body unwind. And then draw your knees into your chest and allow yourself to rock from side to side again. From here, we'll move into Shavasana. Might bring a bolster underneath your knees for support. Just to allow the low back to release here. Drawing the bolster right under the knees. And drawing your shoulders down your back. Just allowing the back of your body to release towards the earth. Might turn your palms open. And allow your attention to rest on the quality of your breath. Just noticing the movement of the breath through the body without focusing on any specific area. Like the belly, rib cage, chest. Notice where the breath naturally moves. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. We are going to let your attention come back to your breath. It's gone somewhere else. and your toes and it might even feel nice to stretch your arms and lengthen your whole body. You're ready.

Let your knees bend and roll to your side and you might pause there on your side. And keeping the weight of your head heavy using your arms, you're ready, press yourself up. And just come into a comfortable seat, taking a moment to sit together, join your hands together at your heart, namaste. Nice work today, focusing your attention on the breath. We'll see you tomorrow for day two.