Breathe in. Pause. Breathe out. Pause.

This pause in breathing is subtle and you may not always notice it, but it’s there. Kumbhaka or breath retention in yogic breathing lengthens this pause to hold the energy and then send it through your whole body.

Breathing cues

To practice breath retention, get comfortable and start to exhale.

• Visualise the base of your spine and start to inhale
• Imagine your breath moving up your spine until you find your natural pause
• Take a moment here to pause and hold the energy or prana
• Exhale and start to visualise the energy along the top of your spine start to move towards the base of your spine
• Pause
• Repeat 5 x

How often do you pause in the day?

Or is your day jam packed as you move from one activity to another?

This world loves productivity and quantity. We have key performance indicators tied to everything. From our work (understandably) to how many views and shares on Tik Tok you can get and can measure our self-worth to this high energy, high octane, highly productive world.

As productive as we are, are we efficient though?

Or endlessly burning rubber until we burn out?

Productivity at what cost?

Something to think about, something to feel into, something to cultivate – this ability to take the opportunity to pause and rest fully.

Why do we pause?

Your ability to pause is as significant as your ability to take effective action. Pause gives the body, mind and spirit a chance to regroup, settle, ready to celebrate the previous effort of the inhale, ready to exhale. Pause in between moments of movement to relish in what you have done and where you are.

Wishing you time to pause and regroup and celebrate the way you are today. xxx

Photo by Amelie & Niklas Ohlrogge on Unsplash