Breathing Practices for Better Focus:

Alternate Nostril Breathing

Alternate Nostril Breath is the Yogic Pranayama Technique used for enhancing mental focus. It synchronizes the two hemispheres of your brain to help clarify and focus your thinking.
You'll use your hand to apply gentle pressure to the bridge of your nose so that you can direct your inhale through one nostril and direct your exhale through the opposite nostril, alternating with each breath cycle.

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Four Square Breathing

Your breath cycle is infinitely more nuanced than a simple “inhale” and “exhale.”
As you become more intimate with your respiratory cycle, you’ll notice a reverberation of your inhale that continues to fill and nourish your body. You’ll notice a residue of your exhale that lingers, allowing you a moment of pause and reflection for the miracle of being alive.
Explore these concepts in “four square breathing technique.”
You’ll utilize the yogic technique of retaining the breath. This technique teaches focus and mental control.
Inhale: 4
Pause: 4
Exhale: 4
Pause: 4

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Abiding in Breath: a 28-Day Guide to Yogic Breathing
May 1- May 29, 2024
I’ll guide you through the steps of learning yogic breathing techniques with:
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➡️ guided audio files
➡️ recorded Yoga Therapeutics Classes
➡️ unlimited support and access to resources
✨ to help you begin and maintain a daily breathing practice that benefits you in mind, body and spirit.

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What is Yoga Therapeutics?

Purposeful Movement that melds:

yoga poses
meditation
breathing techniques
Self-Myofascial Release
to strengthen your mind-body connection, alleviate pain and heal physical injuries.

Yoga Therapeutics Breathing Practices

(Pranayama)

Deep Belly Breathing for Immune Support

Deep Belly Breathing massages your abdominal organs through the rhythmic compression and release of the diaphragm muscle. This helps circulate highly oxygenated blood and promote venous return.
Your Gastrointestinal organs are filled to the brim with lymph nodes to help process waste and keep you healthy so this style of breathing helps clear lymph stagnation to support your immunity.
You’ll retain the breath in this practice, but make sure to stay relaxed.

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Equal Duration Breath for Balance and Ease

This breathing pattern is a soothing, centering practice, which helps to calm the mind and induce the Relaxation Response consistent with healthy parasympathetic nervous system tone.
Equal Duration Breathing decreases agitation, distraction and anxiety by returning mind and breath to equilibrium.
Studies have shown that the optimal breathing rate for lowering blood pressure, heart rate and stress is 6 inhales per minute.

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Bellows Breathing

In Bellows Breathing (bhastrika), a slight force is applied to the exhale by drawing the diaphragm muscle into contraction upward and inward toward the spine. The belly will move with every exhale, but the shoulders and the chest stay still. The inhale happens naturally and without effort. Be careful to avoid tension in the face and jaw.
Bhastrika breathing supports oxygen intake and cleanses the body from stagnant air and energy. It strengthens the lungs and the diaphragm and promotes healthy blood circulation.

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Meditation and Systematic Relaxation Practices

(Dhyana)

“Pratyhara Meditation” for Contemplation

Pratyahara is the yogic term for “limiting sensory input.” Instead of paying attention to the cacophony of external stimuli that your brain is constantly processing, you practice listening to internal stimuli.
This clears your headspace for contemplation.

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“Thinking Meditation” for Decluttering Your Mind

This meditation teaches to “witness” your thoughts without attaching to each thought. In it, you label each mental disturbance “thinking” and thereby let go of needing to understand or associate with that thought.

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“Perfect, Whole and Complete” Meditation

This Meditation uses equal duration breathing to calm the mind and the body, then focuses on self-kindness through using the mantra: “I am Perfect, Whole and Complete.”
Bathe yourself in compassion and release all negative energy with this meditation.

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“Body Scan” Guided Meditation

A “Body Scan” is a guided meditation technique where you practice noticing sensations taking place within your body from a place of non-reactivity.
It’s a way to learn mindfulness. Research suggests that this type of guided meditation downregulates your brain’s nociception, which is your sense of perceived pain signals.

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Yoga Therapeutics Classes

(asana)

Yin Yoga for Energy Support

A potent yin practice incorporating Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) tools to use stillness to recharge.
In TCM the kidneys are our resource of energy, vigor & enthusiasm for life; easily depleted and also easily replenished with yoga and Myofascial Release.
Needed: 1 Blanket and Wall Access
25 minutes

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Energy Conservation

Use patterned movement and equal duration breath count to eliminate mental distractions in order to conserve your energy. You'll utilize an acupressure point called Stomach 36 that stimulates digestion and end your class a yin posture to restore deep-seated energy.
Needed: 2 Blocks, 1 Myofascial Release Ball
25 minutes

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Increase Lung Capacity and Longevity

This practice includes breathing, movement and myofascial techniques to enhance your lung capacity and support your overall well-being through increasing oxygenation of your blood and supporting lymphatic movement.
Needed: 2 same size Myofascial Release Balls, 1 Blanket
45 minutes

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