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Welcome to day nine of the breathing and meditation journey. Our endocrine system produces chemicals that act as messenger services throughout the body.
Day 9 of a 10-day breath and meditation journey focusing on balancing hormones through pranayama and meditation with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Key Takeaways
- Hormonal imbalances can be alleviated by consistent deep breathing and meditation.
- Breathwork reduces stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline while increasing happy hormones such as dopamine and serotonin.
- Pranayama techniques help detoxify the body and calm the mind, promoting overall endocrine health.
- Mindful awareness of body, breath, and mind enhances relaxation and emotional release.
- Meditation with breath awareness cultivates peace, self-worth, and trust through hormonal balance.
Summary
- Introduction to the endocrine system and hormonal imbalances caused by stress and lifestyle.
- Explanation of how deep breathing exercises reduce stress and balance hormones like dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and melatonin.
- Guided practice of various pranayama techniques including Kapal Bhati, Brahmari, Bhastrika, and Nadi Shodhana.
- Emphasis on mindful breathing to release toxins and emotional stress stored in the body.
- Discussion on the physiological and psychological benefits of breathwork on hormone regulation.
- Meditation session with Gurudev focusing on body awareness, breath awareness, and mental relaxation.
- Encouragement to honor and appreciate the body as a precious gift from nature.
- Use of visualization and smiling to deepen relaxation and promote positive hormonal responses.
- Focus on letting go of effort, embracing thoughts, and resting the mind in a peaceful state.
- Closing with a sense of joy, peace, and hormonal balance achieved through consistent breath and meditation practice.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Hormonal Balance and Endocrine System
- 02:35Benefits of Breathwork on Hormones
- 02:55Kapal Bhati Pranayama Practice
- 05:18Brahmari Pranayama Practice
- 07:41Bhastrika Pranayama Practice
- 10:25Nadi Shodhana Pranayama Practice
- 14:32Meditation Preparation and Body Awareness
- 17:32Breath and Mind Awareness Meditation
- 27:44Deep Relaxation and Closing Meditation
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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They're called hormones. These chemicals move through the body and help control important processes like reproduction, like metabolism.
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Because of the increased stress, lack of proper diet, and a general unawareness of knowing how to take care of our body and mind, many of us have started getting affected by hormonal imbalances.
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This happens when the endocrine system gets pressured and makes too much or too little of a specific hormone.
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This hormonal imbalance can cause fatigue, weight gain, change in heart rate, sweating, and even depression.
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But you'll be glad to hear that the breathing exercises we've been practicing every day can balance our hormone system well.
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Deep breathing exercises calm down the mind, reducing anxiety and stress, and that decreases the pressure on the endocrine system. It also flushes out the toxins in our body that can become a memory bank for our past stress indicators. Our breath work makes sure
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that all those feelings of regret and sadness are released and the chemicals associated with them as well.
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When we achieve consistency in our breathing practice, then the dopamine increases. And also a sense of self-worth, the serotonin increases in the system. Yoga and pranayam increase the endorphins in our bloodstream, which are natural pain-relieving chemicals. And also a
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sense of trust gets built up, which happens through the oxytocin. The stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, go down and the sleep hormone, melatonin, gets balanced.
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So, so many changes in the hormonal system happen through our breath work. Let's start with today's protocol.
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Today, let us start with kapal bhati. As much as possible, you keep your eyes closed throughout.
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Let's do it together. Palms down, eyes closed. Let's sit nice and tall. Sharply, we exhale and relax.
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Relax. Arms open upwards. Gentle, joyful breaths. Be with whatever is happening inside. Second round, palms down.
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Relax. Last round. And relax. Turn the palms open upwards. Feel the effect on the body and the energy, how it moves upwards.
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With the eyes closed, let's get ready for the Brahmari Pranayama. With the five fingers, little finger below the lower lip, the ring finger above the upper lip, the middle finger on the nose, the index finger on the side of the eyes.
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You're going to use the thumb to close and open the flap as we make the high-pitched humming sound five times. Let's breathe in.
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Mmm. You may relax. Notice the calmness and the stillness. With the eyes closed, let's get ready for Bhastrika.
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For the first round, hands in a loose fist beside the shoulders. Elbows comfortably close to the body.
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Take a transition breath in. Fill up the lungs more. And empty them a little more.
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With the arms, breathe in, out, up, down, in, out, up, down. And relax. With gentle deep breaths, feel the flow of energy in the whole body.
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Let's take position for the second round. Take a preparatory breath in. And empty the lungs.
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And breathe in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out. And relax. Keeping the mind inwards, notice the effect of the breath on the body and the mind.
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Last round. Let's take positions and breathe in and breathe out completely. Breathe in, out, up, down, in, out.
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And relax. Let us do the Nadi Shodhana Pranayama to complete the breathing protocol. Hands in position, we breathe out from the left nostril first.
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Hold it out. Breathe in through the same. Hold. Breathe out from the right. Hold.
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Breathe in through the same. Hold. And breathe out through the other, left nostril. And let's continue as slow as we can, enjoying every sip of the breath.
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Not just breathing as a mechanical act, but feeling the breath, enjoying it. Feel how the breath comes in through a nostril, hits in between the eyebrows, and goes out through the other nostril.
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In between it fills up the lungs. The body is softened and relaxed. The mind is in a pleasant state.
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One more round. Let's complete the pranayam by breathing out from the right nostril. With a gentle smile, joyfully you may open your eyes.
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That wonderful feeling you have, that is all the happy hormones coursing through your body.
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And the stress hormones taking a rest. Let's amplify and enhance this feeling with a meditation with Gurudev. Let's get ready.
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Let's sit back with a smile, relax, and enjoy the meditation with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
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Let us sit back with our shoulders relaxed, body relaxed. Now, let's breathe in and lift our shoulders up to touch our ears if we can.
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So that our spine is elongated, is stretched. And then bring our shoulders back and we breathe out and relax.
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Now, let's close our eyes and become aware of our whole body. Let us recollect the weight of our body.
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Whatever it is. 60 kilos or 120 lbs, 150 lbs. Whatever is our weight, let us just recollect.
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We take a deep breath in and as we breathe out, let's place the weight on the chair, on the sofa, or on the floor we are sitting.
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Rather, let us realize the chair we are sitting is carrying the weight of our body.
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We came into this planet weighing just 5 kilos or 4 kilos, 8 lbs. And today we weigh 60, 70, 80 kilos.
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Let us honor our own body. Our body is a precious gift to us from nature.
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Our body has billions and trillions of cells. Let's feel our own body. Body is the first dimension of our existence.
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Now, let's become aware of the second dimension, the breath. Let's take a deep breath in and let go.
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Let us become aware of the air all around us and inside of us. Let's become aware of the air all around us and inside of us.
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And let's take a deep breath in and breathe out. Incoming breath energizes the body and outgoing breath brings relaxation.
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And this phenomenon is happening all the time. Let us welcome the incoming breath with a smile and let us see off the outgoing breath like we would do any honored guest.
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Let us breathe in with reverence to our own breath and breathe out as you would see off any of your friends.
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Now, let us become aware of our mind. Our body is like the wick of a candle and mind is like the glow all around it.
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In fact, our life is radiating from every cell of our body. Whatever thoughts are coming in the mind, just let them come.
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Good thoughts, bad thoughts, let's give a big hug to them all. Embrace all the thoughts and let us take another deep breath in and let go.
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As the body relaxes, the mind seems to be expanding. Let us become aware of the walls of the room we are in or the space around us.
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A deep breath in and relax. Let us become aware of the empty space above our head.
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And let go all of our efforts. This moment, there's nothing to do and nothing to know, either.
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Just for a few minutes, let us just relax. Let go all of our efforts.
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Nothing to do, nothing to know. And allow the sound to fill the entire space.
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Relax into this more and more. We are peace. We are peace. We are love.
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We are the source of life. You are peace. Repose in yourself. Let go. Let go of all efforts.
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Let us take our attention to the top of the head. Simultaneously, let us take our attention to our breath.
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Notice the rhythm of the breath. Our breathing has become very subtle. Let us keep a big smile on our face.
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As we smile, all the muscles in our face get deep relaxation. Repose with a smile.
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Let us repose in ourselves with a smile. Let us observe the temperature of our breath, the volume of the breath.
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And let's keep relaxing more and more. Let our smile percolate to the back of our head.
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Just imagine the back of your head is also smiling. The effect of smile getting into our ears.
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Our ears are smiling. And let it percolate our throat and neck. Let every cell of our body start relaxing now.
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Let them smile blossom. Relax. Right this moment. As though our whole body is blossoming, relaxing, smiling.
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Let go of all your efforts. Any tension anywhere, just let it be. If you find some discomfort, let it be for a little while.
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Let's be with all the d
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Another deep breath in with a smile and breathe out with a smile. You are peace. You are peace.
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You are peace. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti. Let's take notice of the temperature of our breath now.
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Let's notice that the entropy is down. Let us become aware of the space around our body.
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The space in the room we are in. Another deep breath in. With a smile and breathe out with a smile.
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This time let's become aware of the vast sky and millions of stars out there.
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Another deep breath in. And as we breathe out, let us become aware of our body and surroundings.
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And slowly and gradually we may open our eyes.
Topics:hormonal balancebreathworkpranayamameditationSri Sri Ravi Shankarendocrine systemstress reductiondopamineserotoninmindfulness
