Women's Moon Wisdom Podcast Intro - Rebecca Rankin (00:01):
Stories teachings and guidance. Welcome to the Women's Moon Wisdom podcast with your host, Rebecca Rankin.
Rebecca Rankin (00:18):
Welcome back to the Women's Moon Wisdom podcast. Today we're gonna work with a breathing exercise that helps us be grounded in our bodies. Cycles, bring balance, right? And we see this reflected all around us, the growing cycle of the vegetables in your garden, the cycles of the seasons, the cycle of the moon and our own hormonal cycle. And yes, our hormones keep us in balance. It's this beautiful dance and ebbs and flows that cycle throughout the month that helps us stay balanced. And for as much energy that we put out and being productive and getting things done and tending to social engagements, there must be the opposite to keep us in balance, to keep things in check. And I don't know about you, but when I'm in my Inner Waxing Moon and Inner Full Moon phases. So that's the follicular and ovulatory phases, which is basically from the day, your period ends to roughly the halfway point in your cycle.
Rebecca Rankin (01:26):
When I'm in that part of my cycle, I can almost lose my sense of self. I get swept away in the expansiveness, if you will. That comes with this time of outward expression within my cycle. Now our, our cocktail of hormones during these two phases can have us riding the wave of collaboration and community, which is great, making it all the more important to just reign it in when we shift to the more inward focus or self nurturing aspect of our cycle. So that would be our Inner Waning Moon and our Inner New Moon phases. So our Luteal phase and our Menstrual phases, that's our time to turn the focus back inward. We've got the first kind of half of the cycle, the Follicular Ovulatory phases, which is outward expression. And then we have this inward focus, nurturing, introspection. So our Luteal phase or a Menstrual phase, it's a time for inward focus.
Rebecca Rankin (02:26):
So how do you feel grounded again, when in your cycle, you make the shift from outward to inward focus. Well, a simple way is through self-care. You can always look to your self-care tools as your entry point into realigning, to your needs and desires and therefore to your cycle. So that feeling of kind of getting swept away and losing your sense of self and that more outward focus, then you can use tools in your self care toolkit, if you will, that can help you draw back in, feel more grounded and more in touch with the aspect of you to get more in touch with yourself. And a simple grounding technique that I highly recommend and I love to do because it's simple, you don't need anything other than your breath. And I love using this, especially during menstruation, is a breathing technique called Viloma Pranayama or a three part breathing exercise.
Rebecca Rankin (03:26):
Now, during your menstruation phase or your Inner New Moon phase, it's really important to make time, to get quiet with our thoughts and offer ourselves just time for clarity. So in this breathing exercise, you'll be able to calm the nervous system. You'll be able to just feel a bit more grounded in your body and therefore better connect with the aspect of yourself that is evaluating what's working and what isn't working in your life, because this time for inward focus, it's a beautiful time to just get real with yourself. And the best way to get real with yourself is connect to that grounded feeling of your sense of self. So Viloma Pranayama is an interval breathing exercise in which the exhaling breath is divided into three separate parts. And in this practice, you'll take a long inhale. When you exhale, you'll think of exhaling the first third of your lungs, and then briefly pause then exhale the second, third, and pause, then exhale the remaining third.
Rebecca Rankin (04:31):
And then you can visualize that as you inhale, you're drawing energy up from the earth. And then you can think as you're exhaling that you're sending energy down, along your torso, out the pelvis, back to the earth grounding you. Use this practice at any point in your cycle, but especially on those more inward focused times, or even just that, that transition from Ovulatory phase to Luteal phase. Use this practice to help you turn your focus inward and feel grounded in your body. And if you like this practice, I have plenty more practices where this comes from. So you can check out the show notes and take a look at the yoga on demand. So that whole library has over a hundred practices, some breathing exercises, some guided meditations, movement practices, all different lengths, all different styles. I also have a separate course that's called Women's Moon Wisdom. It's a self-care course that aligns with each phase of your cycle self-care practices. So once again, movement practices, breathing exercises and guided meditations to help align to each phase of your cycle. There's a wait list for that. So you can check that out in the show notes as well, link to that there. And mostly I just hope that you enjoy this practice, that it helps you calm the mind, soothe the nervous the system and just feel more grounded in your body.
New Speaker (06:11):
New Speaker (06:11):
Find your way into a comfortable seated position. Nice and tall. It can help if you're sitting like on a, a block or something, just to elevate the hips above the knees, or take this lying down on your back or even lying down in your bed and go ahead and lower your gaze. If it feels comfortable for you, you can feel free to close your eyes. First, just take a few rounds of breath here. Just a normal breath. Tuning in, let's begin. Take an inhale here. Fill all the way up then. Exhale a third. Exhale a third. Exhale the last third. Inhale. All the way to the top. Exhale a third. Exhale. Exhale. Inhale it all the way up. Exhale a third. Exhale another third. Exhale the last third. In help. Exhale a third. Exhale a third. Exhale the last third. Again, inhale. Fill all the way to the top. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Inhale. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Send the energy down. Exhale, exhale, send the energy all the way down. Inhale. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Inhale, all the way fill up to the top. Exhale, exhale, exhale all the way down to the ground. Inhale here, all the way to the top. Exhale a third. Exhale a third. Exhale the last third. Inhale. Fill it all the way up. Exhale,
Rebecca Rankin (08:37):
Exhale, exhale. Inhale, full, full all the way to the top. Exhale. Send the energy down. Exhale downward, exhale all the way down. Inhale, exhale, exhale, exhale. Inhale. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Inhale, full full all the way to the top. Exhale, exhale, exhale, inhale, full: all the way up. Exhale, exhale, exhale it out. Inhale. Exhale, exhale a little more, exhale it all the way out. Send the energy down, inhale it up. Fill it up. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Send the energy down. Inhale. Exhale a third, exhale a third, exhale it all the way out. Inhale. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Inhale. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Inhale, fill it up. Exhale, exhale, exhale all the way down to the earth. Inhale. Pull it up from the earth. Fill it up. Exhale a third, exhale a third, send the energy down. Exhale the last third, all the way to the earth. Inhale. Pull it up from the earth. Exhale, exhale, exhale it all the way down. Pause here, come back to that normal breath. Just noticing your normal everyday breath. Any sensations you feel, just noticing no judgment, just feeling what you need to feel. Notice what you need to notice
Rebecca Rankin (11:21):
When it feels right for you. You can add some movement and when you're ready, only then, opening your eyes and just noticing how you feel.
New Speaker (11:36):
