Three Part Breath Meditation
The Three Part Breath meditation - called Dirga Pranayama in yoga - can oxygenate your body and help you feel grounded, calm, and relaxed. This can be a great practice when moving from work or school into your meditation practice. As with all practices there are a few things to be mindful of:
Do not force or strain your breath.
Do not breathe too deeply.
Practice this seated, reclined, or standing up to cultivate more energy.
If you have asthma or other breathing difficulties, have blood pressure concerns, or experience trauma responses to breath work, please check with your doctor first.
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Introduction
practice
Do you feel like your grief has taken your breath away? The fight-flight-freeze cycle of stress that grief evokes can literally cause you to hold your breath. Check in with it right now. Are you breathing?
Sometimes we hold our breath because we feel like if we breathe deeply, our emotions will be released and there will be no way to stop the tears that follow. It is as if we think by holding onto our breath, we are armoring ourselves against pain, exerting some sort of control. Sometimes we don't even know we are not breathing, but we are under so much stress our body barely sips in enough air for us to survive.
Chronic breath holding has a negative impact on your physical and mental health. Just turning your attention to your natural breath can help improve your mood and your physical wellbeing.