Change Your Life 3 Minutes at a Time

Maybe you’ve heard that mindfulness can change your brain for the better.

That it’ll make you more joyful, more peaceful, more present.

But you’re still putting off starting a mindfulness practice, because you’ve told yourself you don’t have time. You’ve told yourself your mind is too busy and distractable to meditate. You’ve convinced yourself it just won’t work for you.

What if I told you that all you need is a simple 3 minute practice to start to reap the benefits mindfulness has to offer.

Introducing: The 3 Minute Breathing Space.

The 3 Minute Breathing Space comes from Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, and is a practice I teach all my coaching and psychotherapy clients.

In just 3 minutes you exercise your mindfulness muscle by practicing:

1. Non-judgmentally observing your thoughts, sensations and emotions with curiosity

2. Mindfully labeling your internal experience

3. Creating space from your thoughts, sensations and emotions and releasing over-identification with them

4. Pausing and giving yourself the opportunity to respond instead of react

5. Mindful breathing and catching when your mind wanders and bringing it back to your breath

6. The ability to zoom your awareness in to your breath and back out to your environment

7. Shifting from being on autopilot to being able to consciously make choices, such as choosing where you place your attention, whether or not you’d like to engage with the thoughts you’re having, whether you’d like to engage in a different activity.

8. Accepting things as they are instead of resisting or reacting to them

Even more benefits (!!):

1. increase neural flexibility

2. create the space and opportunity for new neural pathways to form

3. the gift of freedom! aka the freedom of choosing how you want to respond instead of being stuck in habitual reactions

When to practice the 3 Minute Breathing Space:

1. Any time of the day just because you feel like it!

2. At the same time every day just to make sure you’re working out your mindfulness muscle.

3. When you notice the early warning signs of anxiety, depression, or a flare up of pain.

4. When you notice you’ve been living on auto pilot.

5. When you catch yourself rushing through life.

6. When you feel overwhelmed.

How to practice the 3 Minute Breathing Space:

1. Find somewhere to pause. Standing or sitting works fine!

2. Take note of the quality of the thoughts in your mind, or the thoughts that have been in your mind over the last 20 minutes or so. What kinds of thoughts are they? Self-critical? Planning? Rushed? Optimistic? Name this to yourself by saying “_____thoughts are present”, e.g. “worried thoughts are present”.

3. Take note of the sensations you are experiencing. You could use words such as: pressure, tingling, heat, heaviness, ease, sharp, etc… Again, use the words “____sensations are present”, e.g. “heavy sensations are present” or “sensations of heaviness are present”.

4. Take note of any emotions that are present. If you find it challenging to detect an emotion you might look to sensations and thoughts for clues of what you might be feeling, or you can ask yourself “if I were feeling an emotion right now what might it be?”. Again, use the words “____is present”, e.g. “sadness is present” or “the experience/emotion of sadness is present”.

5. Now set a timer for 1 minute and just breathe! Every time your mind wanders, gently, and non-judgmentally usher your attention back to your breath. Suggestions for keeping your attention on your breath: silently count your breath (in 1, out 1, in 2, out 2, and so on…), silently say “inhaling” as you breathe in and “exhaling” as you breathe out, just pay attention to the sensation of breathing. It’s to be expected that your mind will wander, so please don’t get discouraged! This is where you get to practice strengthening your ability to choose where you place your attention!

6. Now zoom your awareness out from your breath to take in awareness of your whole body. Then open your eyes and zoom your awareness out even farther to take in your environment. Now move forward with your day from this mindful perspective!

Why is this helpful for chronic pain?

Chronic pain, like any chronic condition (such as anxiety and depression), is chronic because the same neurons keep firing along the same neural pathways. In the case of pain, one of the factors increasing the likelihood that it becomes chronic is how much an individual fears the pain. The more you fear your pain the stronger the neural pathway to the pain becomes. In order to break this cycle you need to pause, observe the pain, acknowledge and label it without fear, learn to accept it and allow it to be there, and learn how to express the related emotional content. The 3 Minute Breathing Space is an opportunity to pause and create a new neural pathway, a new story, a new experience. Or as Dr. Joe Dispenza would say, it’s an opportunity to “break the habit of being yourself”.

Ready to give this practice a shot? Give it a try now!

It is known as the 5 minute mindfulness check-in here since the audio lasts 5 minutes, but when you get to know this practice and do it on your own it should only take 3 minutes!

Once you’ve listened to the meditation tell me about your experience! And as always feel free to ask me any questions!

Wishing you deeper breaths and greater joy!

MindBody Medicine for Chronic Pain: Where to Start

So, you’ve heard that mindbody medicine, mindfulness, and the like could be helpful in healing your chronic pain, but you’re not sure where to start? Let this be your guide.

Mindbody Medicine is a term used for any healing practice or technique that has at its center the knowledge that mind and body are one system; meaning that what we think of as the mind impacts what we think of as the body and vice versa, but that in reality they are one.

These techniques are immensely helpful for chronic pain, as many studies have shown that what is going on in the mind has a huge part to play in our experience of pain. If we only focus on the body when treating chronic pain (i.e. physical therapy, injections, pills) we are missing a significant piece of the puzzle.

Although mindbody techniques may take longer to take effect than some medical interventions, the results create real long-lasting change, while many medical interventions may only offer temporary relief.

Mindbody techniques I use with my clients include, but are not limited to:

• mindfulness practices

• meditation

• qi gong

• yoga (hatha, yin, restorative)

• breathing practices

• EFT tapping

• journaling

• IFS

• somatic experiencing

So, you want to dip your toe in, where do you get started?

The very first thing you can do is just to start recognizing that your thoughts and emotions play a part in your experience of pain. You don’t need to believe that thoughts and emotions are the only reason you’re experiencing pain, but it can go a long way to acknowledge that they play a role. To begin this journey, you might start tracking flare-ups of pain and noting what kinds of emotions you were experiencing before the flare-up occurred. Make special note of the moments you are feeling fear, especially fear of the pain. Fearing pain feeds a cycle of chronic pain: experience pain —> fear pain —> body tenses —> more pain —> more fear. Keep a pain journal where you track your pain from 0-10, and alongside the number make note of any thoughts you’re thinking, emotions you’re feeling, and the exact physical sensations you’re sensing. This will help you flex your mindfulness muscle as you learn to observe your experience, rather than being absorbed in it.

Once you’ve accepted that your thoughts and emotions play a part in your experience of pain you can begin to practice mindfulness techniques as a way to learn to compassionately witness and be with your thoughts/emotions/sensations. This “witnessing” and “being-with” allows you to create space from your thoughts/emotions/sensations, and choose how you would like to respond to them. This space gives you the opportunity to make new choices that differ from your habitual reactions (i.e. fear might be your habitual reaction to pain).

The next step is learning to express the emotions you’ve recognized with your mindfulness techniques. This can be done a number of ways including through psychotherapy, journaling, art, and movement. Journaling is a practice you can start right away. Writing down thoughts and feelings can help us to compassionately witness, express and accept them. The better you get at expressing your thoughts and feelings, the less power they have over you and your body, and the less your body feels the need to get your attention through pain.

Mindbody techniques can also teach you how to relax more deeply and access a greater sense of safety in your nervous system, both of which are hugely supportive to the healing process. Mindbody techniques that are particularly conducive to initiating the relaxation response include breath practices such as Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) and restorative yoga.

Overall, chronic pain can be greatly reduced by strengthening the skills of observing, expressing and accepting your thoughts/emotions/sensations. Through the practices of observation, expression and acceptance you can develop a greater sense of trust and safety in your mindbody, restoring your sense of confidence in your ability to manage and reduce pain.

Curious to learn more? Subscribe to my newsletter and stay up to date on all the tips and tricks I share as well as any upcoming classes, workshops, and 1:1 offerings for those of you who would like to dive deeper.

Comment below: is there anything that surprises you about the idea of mindbody medicine? Have you tried any mindbody techniques, and were they helpful?

Wishing you deeper breaths and greater joy,

Eve

Using Breath as a Doorway to the Present Moment

Blog post coming soon….

The Power of Breath, Movement and Intention

blog post coming soon….

Environment, Body, Breath

blog post coming soon…

Best, natural, side effect free, anti-anxiety medication

note: this blog post is FULL of links to free meditations and practices so take your time looking through the whole post!

the best, natural, side effect free, anti-anxiety medication? it’s available to you right now.

Many of you have been asking me how to manage the anxiety you experience as a result of living with chronic pain, and I’ve gotta tell you: I have a lot to say on the topic. I could write a whole book on the topic! But with anxiety comes overwhelm, and in an attempt to not overwhelm you I’m going to start with the basics.

In a way what I’m about to share is the most basic and fundamental concept when it comes to using mindfulness to soothe an anxious mindbody, but in other ways it can be a complex concept to grasp and challenging to put into practice! For now let this be an invitation to explore these ideas and play with the practices. I can assure you that over time these concepts and practices will make more sense and feel more natural :)

So without further ado, I introduce to you, the powerful anti-anxiety medication known as:

The H E R E + N O W

yup.

That’s it.

The present moment!

Sounds simple enough, right?

why is accessing the present moment such an effective antidote to anxiety?

The experience of anxiety is fueled by thoughts having to do with realities outside of the present moment. i.e. the thought “omg what if I have this pain in my lower back forever and it never goes away?!” has to do with some imagined future and not with the here + now. But when we connect to the present moment fully we are able to, even if only for a moment, let go of that story and come back to the simplicity and truth of the present moment. In that moment the truth of the present moment might be, “I notice I have tight sensations in my lower back, I notice I have thoughts passing through my mind about how long the pain will last, I notice my body is starting to tighten and my heart rate is going faster.” That is what is happening inside of you in that moment and the story of the future is just a story.

Brief note about the idea of “stories”. Humans love stories. I love stories! As an actor bringing made up stories to life was my job! Stories add color, texture, intrigue and meaning to our lives, but what happens when the stories weave a tale that leads to anxiety? A tale that feeds fear? We can get trapped in the web of a tale we wove. The story no longer adds color that makes your life brighter and more meaningful, but darker and more stressful, which directly negatively impacts not just your mental health but also your physical health. 

When I coach my clients on mindbody techniques for chronic pain I have them make a list of unhelpful beliefs and stories they have about their chronic pain. These might include things like, “I’ll be in pain forever” or “I’ll never fall in love and get married because of this condition” or “this pain is all my fault and I deserve this”. Once you know the stories you repeat in your mind you can detect them when they pop up and make the choice to set the story down and return to the present moment.

So, how can you drop the anxiety-provoking story in your mind and find your way back to the present moment? First begin by recognizing that you have left the present moment. You might recognize you are dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. You might notice that you were aware of a physical sensation and then fell down a rumination rabbit hole about what this pain means. Just notice that this has happened. Now that you have noticed you have left the present moment there are a number of ways you can find your way back:

1. Connect to your 5 senses. The 5 senses are the doorways in to the present moment. What we perceive with our 5 senses always exists in the present (until we distort our perception with stories!). Here are several ways to connect to your 5 senses:

   • practice a 5 senses meditation. Spend one minute mindfully, non-judgmentally observing the 5 senses for a total of 5 minutes. Mindfully notice your surroundings, observe sounds coming and going, notice sensations in your body, smell the air, and notice anything you taste in your mouth. Listen to this 5 senses meditation here.

   • practice “5-4-3-2-1”. Notice 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell and 1 thing you taste.

   • Choose one of the senses to mindfully observe. The key here is to practice not judging what you are observing. It can help to imagine that what you are seeing/hearing/sensing/smelling/tasting is for the very first time. It is not about liking or disliking it and it is neither good nor bad. The object of your observation just is.

   • Once you discover which of the 5 senses feels the easiest and most calming to connect to you can use specific “anchors” to return to. For example, if the sense of sight is your favorite you might choose an object to meditate on, if you choose sense of hearing then you might return to a particular song, if sense of taste is your favorite then you might carry around a mint or something with a flavor you love that you can access any time, for sense of smell you might carry around your favorite essential oil.

2. Practice the 3 Minute Breathing Space, which comes from Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. This practice allows you to pause, connect to the present moment, and continue your day more mindfully. In the first minute you label your thoughts, sensations and emotions, in the second minute you mindfully observe your breath, and for the third minute you expand your awareness back to your whole body and consider how you might move forward with your day from this mindful perspective.

3. Practice the Environment/Body/Breath meditation. This is something I developed along with my colleague Emily Jeanne Brown. This meditation helps you connect to the present moment by encouraging you to take your attention from the inward focus of rumination to outward mindful attention on your environment. Once you have taken time mindfully observing your environment (in a similar fashion to the 5 senses meditation), you may then shift your awareness to sensations you feel in your body. Once you have scanned your body then you shift your awareness to your breath. There are many ways to engage with this format and I will be expanding on this practice in a blog post here.

4. Move your body!! Many of my clients feel an immediate reduction in anxiety just by moving their body. My go-to practices include even just 5 minutes of Qi Gong or Yoga. Combining breath with movement and intention is really powerful.

   • Here’s an example of breath+movement+intention you can practice right now: take a breath in as you lift your arms up over head, hold your breath in for a moment as you feel your whole torso inflated, then as you exhale release your arms and imagine sending your anxiety down into the ground for the earth to absorb it.

   • You could even just shake your body or squeeze your body with your hands.

5. Breathe! Mindfully :) The breath, just like the 5 senses, is always in the present moment. Taking a moment to do a breath practice can root you in the present moment and help you get out of the stories in your mind. If you find that when you’re anxious it feels challenging to connect to the breath you might try first connecting to your environment, then your body, then your breath. The simple yogic Dirgha Breath is a great breath to start with. I will share more soon about how to use the breath as a mindfulness practice. You can also practice this mindfulness of breath meditation, which rather than using the breath in an intentional way instead invites you to just observe the breath exactly as it is.

6. Practice a Mindful Body Scan. Mindfully observe the sensations in your body.

7. Meditate on the reality that in the present moment everything is OK. This can be a challenging one, but the more you practice your other mindfulness practices and learn to connect to a sense of peace within you, the easier it will become to pause and remind yourself “in this moment everything is OK”.

8. The simplest approach is also the one that will be made easier by consistent practice of the techniques listed above. The simplest approach is to label what is true and real about your present moment experience. This could include aspects of the above practices such as labeling what you are experiencing with your senses, labeling the kinds of thoughts you are having and emotions you are experiencing, and noticing the quality of your breath. Once mindfulness becomes a part of your life you will find a sense of ease and relief from anxiety just by connecting to the bare bones reality that exists right in front of you. At first it may not feel as colorful and compelling as the stories in your mind but over time a mindfulness practice can make the world around you even more vibrant.

Several years ago when I was on a meditation retreat at the Insight Meditation Center I noticed that every time I was lost in thought my brow was furrowed and every time I came back to the present moment (through an awareness of one (or all) of my five senses) my face and body relaxed. I then began to repeat to myself:

Concepts Contract // Reality Relaxes

My hope for you is that this is one of the many gifts you will receive from a mindfulness practice. The gift of relaxation, ease and joy just by connecting to what is here and what is now.

How To Be With Pain

blog post coming soon…

Worksheets + Journals written by others

Ujjayi Pranayama: Victorious Breath

Ujjayi Pranayama

In Sanskrit ‘ujjayi’ means ‘victorious’. In this pranayama you conquer or are victorious over the fluctuations of the mind. The sound of the breath is meant to be so absorbing that you are able to focus completely on the sound instead of getting wrapped up in your thoughts. The sound is created by partially closing the glottis while breathing. You may have also heard this referred to as the Ocean Sounding Breath.

This pranayama can be practiced at almost any time. You can practice this while walking around, before going to sleep to calm your mind, during a yoga asana practice to center your mind and after a yoga asana practice to continue channeling the energy/prana that was cultivated during the asana practice.

Benefits of Ujjayi Pranayama

• encourages your attention to turn inwards

• opens you up to a deeper level of awareness

• brings you into the present moment

• calms a racing mind

• lowers blood pressure

• regulates autonomic nervous system

• activates vagus nerve due to the slight pressure created in the throat
  ⁣

How to Practice Ujjayi Pranayama

1. Sit comfortably, or even stand or lie down! Just be sure not to hunch forward as that will make it much harder to take in a full deep breath!

2. Breathe naturally and become aware of the natural sensations of breath moving in and out of your nostrils and wind pipe. If you are familiar with dirgha pranayama (the 3 part breath) begin to deepen your breath and practice dirgha, otherwise continue breathing normally.

3. Create a slight constriction at the back of your throat as if you are swallowing or fogging up a mirror with your breath (watch video below to see what I mean!)- making a “ha” or whisper sound at the back of your throat with your mouth closed.

4. Create this whisper sound with your throat as you breathe in and out through your nose. (It will be easier on the exhale than the inhale). The sound might remind you of the ocean…or Darth Vader! Even though you are breathing in and out through the nose the sound is really made in the throat.

5. Work towards making the sound as strong at the beginning of the inhale and exhale as it is at the end of the inhale and exhale. Continue strengthening the sound of the breath so that if someone were next to you they could hear you breathing. Try to make the sound of the breath louder than your thoughts!

6. Practice Sama Vritti (equal fluctuations/ equal inhale+exhale) breathing in for 4, exhaling for 4 (gradually lengthening both inhale and exhale perhaps up to 12 counts) or practice Asama Vritti (unequal fluctuations) making the exhale twice as long as the inhale- perhaps inhale for 4 and exhale for 8, or inhale for 6 exhale for 12. Making the exhale longer than the inhale is particularly soothing for the nervous system.

7. Take about 10 breaths. Then be sure to take a few minutes afterwards to just rest and feel the effects of ujjayi on your body/mind/spirit!

Words on Ujjayi Pranayama from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika:

VERSES 51 + 53

Closing the mouth, inhale with control and concentration through ida and pinball, so that the breath is felt from the throat to the heart and produces a sonorous sound.

This pranayama, called ujjayi, can be done while moving, standing, sitting or walking.

Down-regulating Breathing Patterns to Practice with Ujjayi

The following breathing patterns are very soothing for the nervous system and can be practiced with ujjayi.

1. Lengthen your exhale! This is the simplest thing to remember when you begin to feel agitated or anxious. See if you can work your way up to lengthening the exhale to twice the length of the inhale.
⁣
2. The 4-7-8 breath. Inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8. In this breathing pattern the exhale is twice as long as the inhale but you also hold the breath for 7 counts before you exhale. Read below on the power of the pause during pranayama!
⁣
3. Box breathing. Also known as sama vritti (sama=equal. the 2 breaths above would be considered asama vritti - asama=unequal). Inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4 and so on. Apparently they teach this one to Navy SEALS!
⁣
4. Coherent breathing. Inhale for 6 seconds. Exhale for 6 seconds. This adds up to about 5 breaths per minute.
⁣
One of the keys to the great benefits all these breathing practices is that you're breathing more slowly than you normally would. Many people normally only inhale for 2-3 seconds and exhale for 2-3 seconds.

The Power of the Pause in Pranayama

rest in the space between breaths.
rest in the space between actions.
peace is in the pause.
settle there.
⁣
part of the power of pranayama (yogic breath work) lies in the pause between inhales and exhales.
according to the sage Patanjali that’s all pranayama is- the gap between the inhale + exhale!
holding your breath at the top of the inhale for even just a moment is thought to allow for more time for the individual to absorb the prana (life force/energy).
holding your breath after exhale was said by Patanjali to be the key to removing any obstacle to yoga (yoga=union: union between 2 opposite poles of energy within us, union between individual self and universal self, etc…)
⁣
practice the power of the pause in your breath and you will begin to see the power of the pause in your every day life.
over time as your nervous system begins to learn that it is safe to slow down (whether through yoga, somatic therapy, polyvagal exercises) and you allow yourself to pause you will uncover your innate ability to c h o o s e.
a new reality is revealed when you discover your ability to pause and choose how to respond to the world instead of automatically react.
⁣
in that pause lies:
peace
spaciousness
and
possibility
⁣
If you want to practice Kumbhaka (breath retention) begin first by noticing the natural pauses between your inhales and exhales and as you become comfortable resting in that pause begin to extend it 1 second a time- eventually playing with releasing the exhale only when your body cues you to do so.
.

Happy Breathing!

Let me know in the comments what your experience of ujjayi was and let me know if you have any questions!

Dirgha Pranayama: The 3 Part Breath

You’re already breathing all day and all night so why take extra time out of your day just to do more of what you’re already doing? 

Although we are in fact breathing all day long many of us have a very shallow breathing pattern which results in a dampening of our life force (i.e. energy). When you take time to breathe with intention you create more space in the body/mind which creates more opportunity for energy to flow freely which makes you feel more alive!

Here’s some of what you might feel after several minutes of practicing Dirgha Pranayama:

• a sense of mental clarity

• a wave of calm and stability (due to the parasympathetic nervous system being activated)

• a boost of energy

• a physical sensation of openness

• a deeper connection to yourself and your true desires (this comes with the mental clarity!)

• a slowing down of racing thoughts

Pranayama (yogic breathing exercises) were developed to help the practitioner meditate with ease by unblocking the energy channels of the body/mind and therefore making it much easier to concentrate/dharana, so you can experience meditation/dhyana and ultimately experience enlightenment/samadhi (a direct and unmediated experience of reality). 

Prana=energy Yama=restraint/control OR ayama=extension/expansion.

The yoga community has not settled on whether it’s ayama or yama —either way, in pranayama practices we explore both the control and the expansion of breath. 

You could say we explore the expansion of energy through the control of the breath.

DIRGHA PRANAYAMA

Dirgha= stretched/long.

In this breath practice we are stretching out and lengthening the breath which helps to slow and deepen the breath, activating the parasympathetic nervous system while also creating a kind of internal massage for your organs!  

STEP 1: Sit in a comfortable seated position (or try lying on the ground if you feel any discomfort doing this while seated).

STEP 2: While breathing in and out of your nose begin to notice the natural pace and depth of your breath. (If it feels comfortable close your eyes to help turn your attention inwards.)

STEP 3: Place a hand on your belly and softly begin to expand your belly on your inhale…and draw your belly towards your spine on the exhale. 

Continue 2-3 more times. 

Keep the belly soft. Your belly might feel really tight and you might feel like you need to force and push your belly to expand. No need to do this. With time the belly will expand with more ease. 

STEP 4: This time, as you inhale, practice allowing your ribs to flare out to the sides. It can be helpful to place your hands on your ribs and feel them expand.

Exhale and release the ribs. 

Repeat 2-3 more times.

STEP 5: Inhale into your chest, perhaps feeling the clavicle/collarbone lift. 

STEP 6: Once you feel comfortable breathing into your belly, ribs, and chest combine all 3.

In one fluid breath feel your belly fill, then your ribs flare, and then your collarbone lift. 

Exhale and let it all go.

STEP 6: Set your timer for anywhere from 1-10 minutes and practice filling belly, ribs, and chest on the inhale, and completely emptying your lungs on the exhale. 

Aim for slow, fluid, deep breaths. 

STEP 7: For one minute (or more!) just sit and notice the effects of Dirgha Pranayama on your body, mind, and spirit. (Noticing the after effects is just as important as actually doing the pranayama!)

DOES DIRGHA FEEL CHALLENGING FOR YOU?

Are you finding it easy to inflate your belly on the inhale or does it feel like a bit of a struggle?

When I first started Dirgha my belly felt really tight! I found out I had been a reverse breather all my life! I was drawing my belly in when I inhaled instead of letting it expand out. Not only did this lead to less mobility in my abdomen it also defaulted my breathing pattern to chest breathing which made me feel like I could never really take in a full breath which then led me to feeling anxious!

Even if you’re not a reverse breather you might still find you feel tightness around your belly— if that’s the case see if you can encourage a subtle and soft filling of the belly instead of forcing it to inflate beyond what feels comfortable and natural. Be gentle with your practice and gradually you might find that over time the breath deepens with more ease.

DOES DIRGHA INCREASE YOUR ANXIETY INSTEAD OF SOOTHE IT?

Your emotions and your breathing pattern are intimately connected. This is why breath work can be a great tool for emotional regulation. This is also why it could have the opposite effect and actually create dysregulation in some people. 

Anxiety and fear often create a fast and shallow breathing pattern while joy and contentment create a slower and fuller breathing pattern  (there are exceptions).🔹 For some people who live in a more anxious state focusing on the breath could increase awareness of the shallow/fast breathing pattern which could potentially make it worse. 🔹For some people who have experienced trauma (especially trauma relating to trouble breathing or feeling close to death) having to focus on the breath and in particular having to control the breath (as we do in pranayama) can be extremely triggering. 🔹For some people who have been living in a hyperaroused flight/flight state for a long time the muscles/fascia of the torso are chronically tight so getting the belly to expand when inhaling feels near to impossible. if this is the case for you but you’d like to learn to belly breathe know that you can take it slowly, be gentle with your belly, never force it to expand. gradually, overtime you may find it becomes easier to expand the belly.

if you are in a yoga class or any other setting where you are practicing breathwork know that you have full permission to take your attention off of your breath. 

🔹orient yourself to the present moment by connecting to your 5 senses

🔹look around and bring your attention to a few different objects that interest you and be curious about colors, texture, shape.

🔹notice what you smell and taste, if anything.

🔹tune in to sounds around you bringing attention to far away sounds and nearby sounds.

🔹feel your feet on the earth.

🔹tune in to any other body part that feels neutral.

Above all: tune in to self-compassion. Allow this experience to be as it is knowing it will pass. Find refuge in the present moment and approach your exploration of the five senses with curiosity and compassion.

---

OK SO NOW YOU HAVE THE BASICS OF DIRGHA DOWN— WHAT’S NEXT?

1. Try practicing it at different times and see what feels good to you! Do it when you wake up, at your desk, in the shower, washing dishes… start integrating it into your every day life giving yourself a quick little internal massage and energy cleansing!

2. Make it even more relaxing and down-regulating for your nervous system by making your exhale longer than your inhale! .Start out by inhaling to a count of 4 and exhaling to a count of 4 and gradually lengthen the exhale to a count of 8.

3. Add a visualization! Visualize your favorite color entering and exiting your body. Visualize peaceful + loving energy entering your body on the inhale and fearful + dark energy leaving your body on the exhale.

4. Add a mantra! Inhale I make space for all that I am. Exhale I release all I am not.

5. Add breath retention! Explore holding your breath in for several counts at the top of your inhale. Rest in the steadiness, stillness and spaciousness of that moment.

What do the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali say about pranayama and breath retention?

…Sage Patanjali defines pranayama as the gap between inhalation and exhalation. Pranayama is usually considered to be the practice of controlled inhalation and exhalation combined with retention. However, technically speaking, it is only retention. Inhalation and exhalation are methods of inducing retention. Retention is most important because it allows a longer period for assimilation of prana, just as it allows more time for the exchange of gases in the cells, i.e. oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Sage Patanjali further says that retention of breath after expiration removes the obstacles to yoga. Yoga is the union of the two poles of energy within us. In mundane awareness these poles are separate from each other. In transcendental awareness these poles come closer together, and during retention the poles come closest together. Breath retention must be developed in order to stop the fluctuations of the brain and mind so that a more expansive type of experience can develop.

- Hatha Yoga Pradipika

CREATE A WHOLE MORNING RITUAL AROUND YOUR PRANAYAMA PRACTICE!

1. Light a candle…ring a bell… do something special to mark the beginning of your ritual.

2. Set an intention that you can embody in both your practice and throughout your day.

   • i.e. if your intention is “I move through life with ease and grace” explore how it feels to embody that intention as you breathe!

3. Take a moment to move your body in any way that feels good. Not sure where to start? Explore the 6 movements of the spine: forward flexion, extension, lateral flexion/extension (side bend), and rotation (a spinal twist). Check out this 10 minute practice that moves through the 6 movements of the spine.

4. Scan your body and mind. Check in with yourself. What is the current state of your body/mind and how does your breath move within that container?

5. Practice pranayama.

6. Feel the effects of the pranayama.

7. Meditate.

8. Reflect again on your intention for the day.

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE BREATH!

As a psychotherapist I’ve seen some powerful moments of emotional release precipitated by the client daring to breathe a little more deeply.

A soft belly, a deep inhale, a slow exhale…it’s enough to release tears that have been held back for years.

Sometimes we don’t realize to what extent we’ve been holding the breath.

It is powerful to be present with your breath- even without changing it- just being present with it as it is.

Allowing it to be.

Feeling the body pulse with the waves of breath. 

Feeling the gentleness

the vulnerability 

the gentle expansion and contraction.

Wishing you deeper breaths and greater joy.

The 3 keys to effectively dealing with emotional+physical pain

Emotional and physical pain are inevitable.
Suffering is optional.

(or so the Buddha said)

(and Eve says so, too!)

If you follow me on instagram and have been reading my posts you already know Yin Yoga and mindfulness meditation transformed my life- primarily by giving me relief from chronic pain (and the accompanying emotional pain). 
Today I'm sharing with you three tools I learned from yin yoga + meditation that contributed greatly to my healing. 

Here are three keys to effectively dealing with emotional and physical pain:

1. Observe emotional and physical pain with curiosity and kindness.

   • Through mindfulness meditation you can learn to connect with the wise, curious and kind part of yourself that is able to observe your experience without judgment. 

     • Yin yoga is a fantastic opportunity to practice connecting with this part of yourself while experiencing discomfort so that when you experience discomfort or pain when you're off the mat you are better prepared to handle it. 

2. Consciously relax the body when experiencing emotional and physical pain (the pelvic floor in particular!)

   • Next time you are experiencing physical or emotional pain or discomfort notice what happens to your body. Most of us will find that the whole body tightens as a way to protect itself. Sometimes we truly do need to protect ourselves but often this is only creating more pain. Consciously relaxing the body while experiencing pain can help you to integrate and process the experience in a way that minimizes the possibility of trauma and minimizes the possibility that the pain will linger in your body. 

     • The pelvic floor is the only part of the body that when you relax it the rest of the body follows suit! The same cannot be said for relaxing the shoulders, the jaw or any other body part! 

       • All of this is easier said than done which is why it takes practice! In yin yoga we can practice relaxing the body while experiencing discomfort.

3. Take it one breath at a time! 

   • You'll be amazed at what you can withstand when you take it one breath at a time. 

     • When you wonder how long something is going to last...like...the pain of a heartbreak...or...the pain of a sprained ankle...your suffering is exacerbated. Pain is amplified as you project it into the future and get lost in fantasies of how the pain is going to impact your life. 

       • In yin yoga we learn that the pose becomes increasingly uncomfortable the more we wonder how long it's going to last.

         • The pose becomes increasingly more comfortable when you focus solely on the present moment by taking the experience of the pose one breath at a time. 

Bubble Meditation

Are you addicted to thinking? 

So are we all. The brain was made to think, and problem solve and get things done. The issue is that sometimes this function goes into overdrive and we become overwhelmed, anxious, depressed and essentially a victim of our thoughts.

Thinking is not in and of itself a problem; it is how we choose to relate to thoughts that makes the difference. 

The following mindfulness meditation can help you to take a step back and observe your thoughts with kindness, without judgment and without getting too attached. Your mind will inevitably get attached to certain thoughts in this meditation and you'll find yourself falling down the rabbit hole of some fantasy or memory. This is OK! This is normal!! Every time this happens you have the opportunity to come back to an awareness of your thoughts with compassion and self-acceptance. 

In this meditation you have the opportunity to observe your thoughts by visualizing them as bubbles that bubble up into your awareness and then float away. Perhaps you'll enjoy visualizing your thoughts like soap bubbles floating on the screen of your awareness or perhaps you'll prefer visualizing them as bubbles forming on the bottom of a pot of boiling water and popping as they reach the surface. Try them both and see what works for you!

“Thoughts are bubbles that are waiting to be popped by awareness”

— Jon Kabat-Zinn

BUBBLE MEDITATION 

1. You might begin by setting a timer for 5 or 10 minutes. 

2. Find a comfortable seat either on the ground or on a chair. 

3. Begin by connecting with sensations in your body.

   • Feel into the sensation of the points of contact your body makes with the ground and/or the chair.

   • Connect with other senses as well: hearing, taste, smell, sight.

     • Just be curious as you open your awareness to the present moment.

4. Notice the sensation of breath moving in and out of your body. 

   • bring your attention back to the breath with kindness every time you notice your mind wandering. 

5. After a period of time observing the breath begin to observe your thoughts like little bubbles bubbling up from a boiling pot of water and popping when they reach the surface or you might imagine soap bubbles gently floating across the screen of your mind. 

   • Whenever you get sucked into a thought (and you will get sucked in) gently bring your attention back to a spacious and kind awareness of your thoughts as they come and go. Can you observe them without judgement? Not preferring one thought to another. Perhaps it is helpful to you to label the contents of your thoughts: “planning” or “dreaming” or “fear” or “memory”.

6. Settle in to that feeling of spacious awareness around each thought bubble. 

   • Spend as long as you'd like here just observing your thoughts, noticing when you get carried away, and bringing your attention back to nonjudgmental awareness of thoughts.

7. When you’re ready come back to your breath, come back to your body and release the meditation. 

In this meditation you have a chance to be in relationship with your own ego.  Notice how you are with yourself. Are you kind? judgmental? impatient? compassionate? Practicing this bubble meditation is a way to check in with the relationship you have with yourself and a way to become more intimate with the inner workings of your mind! Do you find that the majority of your thoughts are about planning? recalling memories? things you’re anxious about? I’m a planner. Totally addicted to planning. Anyone else?

If you'd like to dive deeper into the practice of self inquiry and strengthen your mindfulness practice join me for Finding Ease in Difficult Times, a 4 week series of classes that begins a week from today! We'll use the tools of yin yoga, mindfulness meditation, somatic journaling, stream of consciousness journaling and conversation to release stress, learn how to comfortably be with discomfort, develop a more intimate relationship with your body/mind and gracefully ride the waves of life. 
October 15th-November 5th. 5:30-7PM EST. $35 per session or $130 when you pay for all 4 weeks at once!

Learn more here and absolutely feel free to e-mail me with any questions you have!

10 minute standing yoga sequence- perfect for mid-day work break

feel like you could use a good stretch-break during the work day but not sure what to do?

I've written out a very clear, very simple and VERY effective 10 minute yoga sequence that you can do standing next to your desk without a yoga mat! Put on your favorite music, set aside 10 minutes, and move your body! This sequence helps you to unite body, mind, and breath so you can proceed with your work day feeling more awake, clear-headed, focused, and maybe even a little more joyful!

4 playlists for yoga and meditation!

who doesn't love new music?

sign up below to get 4 playlists delivered to your inbox...and a fun bonus playlist! 

1. The first playlist contains 47 minutes of soft and spacious music to help you have a beautiful start to your day. The soundscape of a peaceful early morning walk through the woods. You could listen to this while getting ready in the morning, making breakfast, or even while meditating and practicing yoga.

2. The second playlist is for those afternoons when you need to take a 30 minute break, lie down, and maybe do some restorative or yin yoga before you move on with your day.

3. The third playlist is perfect for a 75 minute Hatha or Vinyasa practice!

4.  The fourth guides you on your journey Yinward! Perfect for an hour of Yin Yoga.

BONUS
Need to boost your energy and get your body moving? You'll also get a 5th playlist to DANCE. IT. OUT! 

B. R. F. W. A.

Breathe Relax Feel Watch Allow!

A Kripalu classic!

All Kripalu trained yoga teachers learn to use this in each yoga pose, in meditations, and in everyday life! 

BRFWA pronounced BRIF-WA is an easy technique you can use when things get heated, when you’re stressed, overwhelmed, in an argument, or in a challenging yoga pose…OR just when you want to be more present!

1. BREATHE: When you are experiencing a challenging moment whether it be a yoga pose your teacher is making you hold for what feels like forever, or a wave of anxiety, or you’re having a difficult conversation, just remembering to breathe can make all the difference. Deep breathing can help to break up the stuck energy in your body and to allow for more internal flow. The breath can also help shift your nervous system from fight/flight to rest/digest. 

2. RELAX: Scan your body for any tension and invite the body to soften. Common areas of tension are the jaw, shoulders, belly, and hips.  

3. FEEL: now that we have released tension it is a bit easier to truly feel what is going on physically, emotionally, and mentally. It can be a courageous act to truly let ourselves feel the experience. See if you can do this without judgement. Notice sensations, emotions, thoughts. Be curious as you navigate your internal landscape.      

4. WATCH: Now step back from your experience and observe sensations, emotions, and thoughts as if you are the blue sky and they are all clouds passing by. Watch as your experience shifts, ebbs, and flows. You are the steady anchor observing the waves of life. You are the witness. From here you have perspective on the current situation.

5. ALLOW: now let go of any doing- - any desire to make something happen-  allow the experience to be as it is, we let go, we ride the waves of experience.  Let yourself feel exactly what you’re feeling—even if the emotions seem odd, out of place, annoying, frustrating, allow it to move through you. 

4 quick ways to connect to your body

Listening to the body opens up the doorway to your intuition and your deep personal truths. In order to listen to the body you have to be connected to the body…so…how do we do this?

Watch the video above for 4 quick ways to connect to the body.

1. do a brief body scan

2. mindfully bring your awareness to your five senses one at a time

3. place both feet flat on the floor and tune in to the sensations you feel

4. take deep and long belly breaths

All of the above is described in more detail in the video!

Here are some other things to be aware of when establishing a connection with your body and learning to listen to its messages!

1. acknowledge the mind doesn’t know everything! learn to surrender the thinking mind to the wisdom of the body. Do this by practicing being more attuned to your 5 senses, doing regular body scans, and doing anything that gives you the space+time to be present with your body. 
2. learn the language of your body. You already know the language of your mind- it speaks to you in words and images. What is the language of the body? S E N S A T I O N. It's possible colors, images, and words will also arise. 
3. Resist judgement. When listening to the body It’s easy to judge what comes up and to question if what arose was from your body or your mind or if you should take any of it seriously. Trust what your body is telling you. 
4. Figure out where you’re currently at in your journey of relating to your body. When you close your eyes and connect to your body does it feel safe? easy? loving? Does it feel strange? foreign? uncomfortable? Try not to judge what comes up. Wherever you are is where you are. That’s where you begin. Maybe the only part of your body it feels good to connect with is your right index finger, or your feet, or perhaps just the space around your body. 
4. Breathe! Taking time for conscious breathing can help move blocked energy in the body and reawaken sensation. Taking a few breaths can also help re-establish a connection to your body when you’ve been feeling disconnected. 
5. Simply ask your body what it needs. You might not be sure at first if you're getting an answer but practice asking at least once a day--eventually you’ll find you get answers right away. A stretch! a walk! a nap! human connection! Listen. the body knows. 
6.Sometimes no profound message emerges other than gratitude from your body for seeing it + being with it. In a time where we’re so often in our heads + out of our bodies great healing can emerge by consciously attending to the body.