Mindfulness for beginners: 3 Breathing exercises to boost your energy

A few years ago I watched this beautiful documentary called Lazy Lama. This documentary shows a group of western students that decide to go on a Buddhist retreat. The retreat is for three years, three months, and three days. This documentary sparked some curiosity about Tibetan meditation.

I started doing some research and found this instructional video on Tibetan energy yoga. In this video, I learned breathing practices from old Buddhist meditation practices and yoga influences.

The first time I completed these exercises I couldn't believe the energy boost I experienced. I was relaxed, positive, and joyful. My brain was alert, and my body was ready to go. The breathing exercises are simple, and anyone can do it. In Buddhism, the right side of our body is represented by the sun and is our masculine energy. On the left side, you locate the moon which represents our feminine energy. The breathing today exercises are done to balance these two major energy forces in your body. When you are balanced, the whole energy in our body creates a healthy energy flow. That balance is what the Buddhist called the union of the sun and the moon. Basic principles 1. Locate your balance point: Find a comfortable area to sit on the floor cross-legged. Start with swaying your body side to side gently until you feel the center of your body and ground your seating bones in that spot. 2. Three basic stages in all the breathing exercises- Filling(inhale), holding( hold breath), and release( let the breath out) In all of the exercises you will go through these three stages. Tibetan Energy Exercises to Boost Your Energy 1.Basic breathing Inhale deep, hold the breath for 5-10 seconds, and release the breath with energy through your mouth open. Practice basic breathing for at least three times. Increasing the hold time if possible. 2. Bum -Chen or potbelly stove breath You start this exercise seated and make two fists with your hands. Deep inhale from your lower belly and extend in an exaggerated way the belly out. Put both fists under the belly and hold the breath for a few seconds and then release the breath with an exhale that feels that is coming out through every pore of your body. At the same time, you exhale open your fist and release the fingers. 3. Threefold or sky breath Take one big deep inhale, hold the breath and release the breath while chanting loudly " Aaaaaaaaa!!! When you exhale, open your mouth wide, open your eyes, ears, heart, your hands, open all of you! If you want to boost your energy in minutes, give any of these Tibetan breathing techniques a try.

Here is today’s quote:

“Breath by breath, let go of fear, expectation, anger, regret, cravings, frustration, fatigue. Let go of the need for approval. Let go of old judgments and opinions. Die to all that, and fly free. -Lama Surya Das

And my one question for you is…

How do you raise your positive energy every day?

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