_Volume 1 of A Short Course for the Use of Your Nervous System According to the Instructions of the Manufacturers_ Welcome! The better you know how to breathe, the better you can perform the mental activities of your day. If you spend a lot of time making decisions and solving hard problems with your mind, having access to simple techniques like these will help you stay focussed, keep your calm and guide your thoughts towards your goals and aspirations. Personally, what I always loved about these techniques is that I can adjust my current mental state rapidly to what I need it to be depending on the situation and challenge ahead. It is like an app-store for your mind! For example: 1. If you have trouble focussing, breathing deeply will get your focus back in mere seconds. 2. If you feel stressed out, alternating your breath between your left and right nostril will take off the edge quickly. 3. If thoughts crowd your mind and you need to make a decision, practicing one-minute breath will help you rapidly control your mind. These techniques exist. They’re easy to learn. Yet, until recently these techniques were kept secret. You are at the fore-front of learning how to train like a Jedi! In the coming days, I would like to teach you 3 essential Kundalini Yoga breathing techniques that I have personally tested and validated their benefits over extended periods of time. I will introduce you to each technique individually and provide you with a simple set of homework exercises respectively. The goal for me is to show you simple, easy and effective techniques that you can easily incorporate into your daily life. ### The real Jedi-Training Kundalini Yoga is the closest we have to real Jedi-Training. Historically, Kundalini Yoga is considered the most powerful, most comprehensive and effective yogic school in existence. In practical terms, the techniques taught in Kundalini Yoga are designed to rapidly affect the two control-systems in your body: Your nervous and hormonal system. Originating in the north-indian region of Punjab, and passed on through the centuries within the Sikh culture. Its techniques were kept strictly secret until recently. In 1969, Kundalini Yoga and Meditation was first openly taught in the West by Harbhajan Singh Khalsa as a very accessible way to feel better, think better and make better decisions. It is the only Yogic school that is taught “within society.” This means the techniques I will teach you were designed \*\*for people who have a real life, run businesses, and have a social and a family life to attend to. Kundalini Yoga is free of “magical mystery mumbo-jumbo” and instead provides a straight-forward approach to utilizing millennia-old yogic techniques to deal with the challenges of our times. It is for people who want to increase their decision-making ability to increase their personal success and the success of the people around them. Lastly, Kundalini Yoga does not require you to “believe” in anything else but your personal success. It is practiced and taught very matter-of-factly. Again, if your day-to-day is spent making decisions and solving hard problems you’ll gain an advantage having these tools in your tool-belt. ## Setting your mind First things first. Let’s set you up for success with these 3 techniques. The first thing I will teach you is to mentally prepare yourself to benefit at a maximum from these and future breathing techniques. When you have the right mind-set, it will be easier for you to get the most out of the other techniques. This first part is considered a Psycho-Cybernetic exercise in which you “pre-experience” your desired outcome by imagination. When given vivid mental scenarios, your nervous system can not distinguish between what is real and what is imagined. We will be using this opportunity to pre-program an ideal outcome before moving on to the actual techniques. This type of pre-experiencing a desired outcome is common in sports psychology to maximize the success of the actual practice. ### Instructions To kick-start your learning process, set aside 3 minutes and read the following section carefully. While you are reading it, mentally form a detailed picture of yourself acting out the instructions. Use your imagination to the fullest and enjoy the process. Notice that this is a mental exercise and you are not required to physically act-out the instructions just yet. In the next sections, I will instruct you to implement the actual techniques but for the this first part all you have to do is use your imagination. - Imagine yourself sitting on a comfortable chair in a quiet room. - See your feet planted firmly on the floor. Your feet and legs feel alert and relaxed. - See yourself turning off your phone and any other distractions around you. - See yourself straightening your spine. - Notice how the muscles of your back stay relaxed. - Notice that your chest, your shoulders, your arms and your face relax. - See yourself sitting calmly with your focus on your breath. - See yourself breathing deeply and without effort. - Notice how you feel confident about your breathing. - Observe yourself staying focussed and staying free of distractions. - See yourself experiencing a sense of success and accomplishment. - See yourself calm and clear-headed. - See yourself bringing this calmness and clear-headedness into your work day. - See yourself calmly thinking and evaluating options. - See yourself finding solutions to hard problems. - See yourself staying calm in the midst of a stressful work day. ### Your homework for the next 3 days For the next 3 days, find 3 minutes and re-read and mentally rehearse the preceding list carefully. While you are reading it, create a clear and sharp mental picture of yourself. Increase the fidelity, the sights, sounds and feelings with every session. While you can continue giving the techniques a spin, I highly recommend doing this prep-work beforehand. ### Next steps Now that you have prepared your mind-set correctly, you are ready to move on the actual techniques. In the following parts, we will look at 3 specific breathing techniques. With your mind-set prepared correctly, I am certain that you will quickly pick up the practice. I recommend you to learn one technique for a few days instead of rushing through all of them at once. ## 1\. Increase your focus with Deep Breathing Deep breathing is an essential yogic technique that underlies all others. It is a simple technique but it also is still possible to do it wrong. I want you to know the exact way to do it right. Deep breathing will rapidly relax your body and calm your mind. After just a minute of deep breathing you will notice a significant improvement in how you think and feel about yourself, your environment and your challenges ahead. And, as a little a teaser, there _is_ a trick to breathing deeper that you most likely do not know. ### Instructions Here is how to prepare your Deep Breathing session: 1. Sit up and straighten your spine. 2. Place your feet firmly on the ground. 3. Slightly tilt your pelvis forward to further elongate your spine. 4. Gently lift your chest to allow your belly to relax. 5. Relax your shoulders. 6. Relax your face. 7. Close your eyes. For the next moments I want you to observe your breath without manipulating it. If your breath is currently shallow, that’s okay. Give yourself 10–20 seconds for this observation. Start deep breathing through your nose on your next EXHALE: 1. Begin by gently relaxing your upper lungs letting your breath flow out. 2. Continue your exhale by gently squeezing your ribcage from top to bottom. 3. Continue your exhale by slowly pulling in your navel towards your spine pushing out more air. 4. Finish your exhale by pulling your navel just one or two more inches further towards your spine. 5. To begin your inhale, relax the muscles around your navel, ribcage and shoulders. 6. Let air naturally and without effort flow into your abdominal region, let your belly expand. 7. Continue your inhale by letting your ribcage fill and expand itself. 8. Finish your inhale by letting your upper lungs fill and expand. It’s easy to tense up a bit here, so mentally remind yourself to relax here. 9. Repeat by starting at step 1. 10. Finish your session by holding in your last inhale for 3–5 seconds. 11. Exhale and relax for 10 seconds. ### Your homework for the next 3 days #### Day 1 - Set aside 3 minutes and re-read the instructions above. - Begin with 10 seconds of observing your current breath without manipulation. - Complete 5 deep breaths using the instructions with your eyes closed. #### Day 2: - Set aside 3 minutes and re-read the instructions above. - Begin with 10 seconds of observing your current breath without manipulation. - Complete 10 deep breaths using the instructions with your eyes closed. #### Day 3: - Set aside 5 minutes and re-read the instructions above. - Begin with 10 seconds of observing your current breath without manipulation. - Complete 15 deep breaths using the instructions with your eyes closed. ### Notes The exhale is done “mechanically.” That is to say, you will use the power of the muscles of your upper chest, the muscles around your ribcage and the muscles of your abdomen to squeeze out the air from your lungs. You start at the top of your lungs and finish with your abdomen and navel. The inhale should happen “effortlessly.” That is to say, try to relax the muscles around your lungs and let air flow in. You start inhaling into your abdomen and finish at the top of your lungs. ## 2\. Make better, more rational decisions with Alternate Nostril Breathing When your mind is clear and your emotions calm you can observe a situation from all angles and make your best decision. When you feel stressed and emotionally crowded it is much harder to make an objective decision. This technique will help reset your thinking/feeling system within a minute or two. This is one of my personal all-time favorite ways to feel better when things get crazy and I have to make a clear decision. Alternate nostril breathing is easy and can be done pretty much anywhere and anytime. I can’t wait to show you this one. ### Instructions Here is how to prepare your alternate nostril breathing session: 1. Sit up and straighten your spine. 2. Place your feet firmly on the ground. 3. Slightly tilt your pelvis forward to further elongate your spine. 4. Gently lift your chest to allow your belly to relax. 5. Relax your shoulders. 6. Relax your face. 7. Close your eyes. After giving yourself a few seconds to settle into this position, place your left hand on your left thigh. The fingers of your left hand are relaxed. Now bring your right hand towards your face. The fingers of your right hand are together and your fingertips point towards the ceiling. To practice Alternate Nostril breathing do this: 1. Your INHALE: Place the soft padding of your right thumb under your right nostril to block it off and deeply inhale through your left nostril. 2. Your EXHALE: Use your right pinky to gently block off your left nostril. Blocking off your left nostril will direct all the air of your exhale to exit through your right nostril. 3. Repeat: INHALE through your LEFT nostril and EXHALE through your RIGHT nostril. 4. Continue for 1–3 minutes. 5. To finish up, exhale completely and hold your breath out for 3–5 seconds. The relax for a few seconds. ### Your homework for the next 3 days #### Day 1: - Set aside 3 minutes and re-read the instructions above. - Begin with 10 seconds of observing your current breath without manipulation. - Complete 10 rounds of alternate nostril breathing with your eyes closed. #### Day 2: - Set aside 3 minutes and re-read the instructions above. - Begin with 10 seconds of observing your current breath without manipulation. - Complete 15 rounds of alternate nostril breathing with your eyes closed. #### Day 3: - Set aside 3 minutes and re-read the instructions above. - Begin with 10 seconds of observing your current breath without manipulation. - Complete 20 rounds of alternate nostril breathing with your eyes closed. ### Notes One of your nostrils is usually more stuffed than the other. If you feel you’re not getting air in or out fast enough, quickly blow your nose before a session. Re-use the deep breathing technique you learned earlier to really get the most out of this one. When you use your pinky to block your left nostril, be gentle but ensure that you block off air-flow completely. When you use the soft padding of your thumb to block off your right nostril, place it **under** the opening. You will notice it fits nicely. ## 3\. Learn how to control your mind with One-Minute Breath Here is a challenge. With the two preceding techniques under your belt, it’s time to step up your game. Our mind produces hundreds of thoughts per minute (and that’s a good thing.) However, only when you have a steering-wheel you can guide and direct your thoughts towards the goals you have in your professional and personal life. Learning to do the one-minute breath will allow you to rapidly gain control over your thoughts in hectic and stressful times. Technically speaking, breathing at the rate of one breath per minute develops cooperation between the hemispheres of the brain, brings the mind under control and releases worry and anxieties. Another cool thing is that like Deep Breathing, it’s pretty easy to do without anyone around you noticing you’re doing it. So, here is another really cool stealth technique for you. #### A heads-up In practice, the goal of a One-Minute Breath is to segment your breath into three 20-second partitions: - Inhale for 20 seconds - Hold your breath in for 20 second - Exhale for 20 seconds However, this takes real practice and can be overwhelming the first few times. So, to make it easier for you to learn, we will begin with smaller partitions starting at 3 seconds each and gradually increase over time. ### Instructions Here is how to prepare your one-minute breath session: 1. Sit up and straighten your spine. 2. Place your feet firmly on the ground. 3. Slightly tilt your pelvis forward to further elongate your spine. 4. Gently lift your chest to allow your belly to relax. 5. Relax your shoulders. 6. Relax your face. 7. Close your eyes. For the next moments I want you to observe your breath without manipulating it. If your breath is currently shallow, that’s okay. Give yourself 10 seconds for this observation. 1. Slowly inhale through your nose for 5 seconds. 2. Suspend your breath for 5 seconds, lifting your chest and relaxing your shoulders. 3. Slowly exhale through your nose for 5 seconds. 4. Without pausing, inhale through your nose 5–6 seconds 5. Suspend your breath for 5–6 seconds, lifting your chest and relaxing your shoulders. 6. Slowly exhale through your nose for 5–6 seconds. 7. Continue this cycle for 1–3 minutes while gradually increasing the length of each breath respectively. 8. To finish, inhale deeply, hold your breath for 3 seconds, exhale and relax for a few more seconds. ### Your homework for the coming 3 days #### Day 1: - Set aside 3 minutes and re-read the instructions above. - Begin with 10 seconds of observing your current breath without manipulation. - Complete 5 rounds of one-minute breath starting at 5-second partitions and working up towards 8 seconds. #### Day 2: - Set aside 3 minutes and re-read the instructions above. - Begin with 10 seconds of observing your current breath without manipulation. - Complete 10 rounds of one-minute breath starting at 5-second partitions and working up towards 8 seconds. #### Day 3: - Set aside 3 minutes and re-read the instructions above. - Begin with 10 seconds of observing your current breath without manipulation. - Complete 20 rounds of one-minute breath starting at 5-second partitions and working up towards 10 seconds. ### Notes On suspending your breath: It’s easy to tense up around your shoulders when suspending your breath. I know I still do sometimes. So, remind yourself periodically to relax your shoulders. If you really feel like you’re running out of air, you can always inhale a few more ‘sips’ to make it easier and take away the tension. ## The tip of the iceberg What you have learned is the tip of the ice-berg. There are hundreds more Kundalini Yoga breathing and meditation techniques that, just like an app-store for your mind, can benefit you immensely when tackling the inner and outer challenges you face today and tomorrow. You now know how to… 1. Optimize your practice by pre-programming your mind for success 2. Regain focus and clarity using Deep Breathing 3. Overcome stress and anxieties using Alternate Nostril Breathing 4. Learn to control your thoughts using One-Minute Breath With a little bit of practice, I am confident these techniques can serve you well as they have served me and prepare you for learning more. Finally, if you have followed this short course and want to learn more or have questions, I would love to hear from you. Please email me at[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) or comment below. Thank you and with best wishes, Alexis Rondeau