Beginner’s Breathwork: Easy Breath Awareness Exercise
Toward the beginning of your Kundalini Yoga experience, you will learn the importance of prana, or breath. The rate at which you breathe directly reflects your energy and emotions, which you may change in time. Should you experience a disturbance or obstacle in the breath, you may find that this later manifests within the body and the mind.
For that reason, taking note of your prana and working with it is a positive move. While there are many different breathwork practices, here’s one that will help you become more aware of your breath. As you inhale and exhale, this exercise puts focus on your breath and allows you to envision the life force moving through you into the cosmos.
If you are new to the practice, you may want to try this practice with any type of breath combination. Ensure that you are in a quiet and comfortable place before you get started. Try to be fully present and aware of all the sensation that will arise during the practice.
Benefits of This Pranayama
- Encourages positive behavior
- Supports mindfulness
- Dispels negative emotions
- Opens your intuition
- Helps avoid illnesses
- Improves your judgment
- Increases life force and energy
- Helps relieve stress and anxiety
How to do This Pranayama
With this breath awareness exercise, you can use any breath combination. The point of the session is to notice your breath and pay attention to its force. Ensure that you practice this breathwork meditation in complete silence. Here’s what you should know:
Position
Start by sitting in Easy Pose, or any position that feels comfortable for you. Apply a gentle Neck Lock, if you can. Use the Gyan Mudra, with each of your index fingers touching your thumb and place them over your knees. If you would prefer, you can use Prayer Pose.
Eyes
Keep your eyes closed and focus your attention on your Brow Point. That means that your eyes should be pointed slightly upwards.
Mental Focus
The entirety of your mental focus should be directed toward your breath. As you breathe, you should consider the motion and rate of each breath. Your body will easily stay in the position and should feel perfectly balanced. For that reason, it requires no thought at all.
Your attention should be on the root of the nose, where your eyebrows meet. Then focus the attention through the brow to the Navel Point area. Envision the breath as part of a wider ocean of energy as it moves through you and out into the environment.
As you breathe in, think of the prana as life energy. Picture yourself growing luminous from the breath and allow that to merge with the cosmos. Take a moment to consider that you are a part of the vast cosmos. When you breathe in, you unite with its unlimitedness.
Time
Allow the breath to flow naturally and in rhythm for at least three minutes, when you are a beginner. However, as you move through your Kundalini Yoga journey, you can continue this practice for much longer, even up to one or two hours.
