One of the things I notice that happens this time of year is that there is a tendency to feel a sense of chaos or overwhelm that goes beyond our personal experience. My sense is it has to do with the contraction of energy that is happening as we approach Winter and the Solstice, particularly for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. Whether it is seasonal or not, at various times in our lives we can experience a sense of chaos or disorder. Meditation and Mindfulness offer a space for us to ground, center and open ourselves more fully in the present moment.
The Parallel Breath practice is one that I use daily and have shared with my clients and in classes for many years. I initially learned it from Fritz Smith, the creator of Zero Balancing, a cutting edge body/energy therapy that I utilize in my holistic healing practice. In Zero Balancing classes, we begin each day with this practice and it is easy to see the difference it can create in your state of being with just a few minutes of practice.
A few months ago, around the time of the Autumn Equinox, I shared a short audio of this practice and I think it’s even more beneficial at this time. If you’d like you can simply listen to the practice or see the overview below…
Listen to a Guided Parallel Breath Practice
Here is an overview of the practice:
Close your eyes and begin by just observing your breath as it is. For a few moments, deepen the breath a bit and try to establish an even rhythm, breathing in for a count of five and out for a count of five.
Then, begin to imagine that as you breath in you draw energy in from above and down through the top of your head. As the in breath continues, draw this energy to down toward the base of your spine and exhale out into the earth. On the next inhale, draw the breath up from the earth into the root center at the base of your spine, allowing to flow upwards exhaling back out the top of your head. Continue in this way breathing from earth to heaven and heave to earth.
You may wish to image the breath flowing like a wave of energy or even a waterfall cascading up and down through your body. If you are feeling tension in a physical area or are having a challenging emotion, you can imagine that as the breath moves up and down it is loosening or moving your tension away.
This practice support grounding in that we are connecting with earth and we are also connecting with spirit or source, however we define that for ourselves. The parallel nature of the breaths helps us to feel more stable energetically and this helps with any sense of chaos or disorder we may be feeling.
Practice for as long as you feel to. 5 or 10 minutes is a good amount of time to explore and as you work with this practice, you may find that just a few breaths in this way can help you to recalibrate and move more fully into the present moment.
I hope you’ll take some time this week to explore!
Namaste.
Beth Shekinah
