Thanks, Bodi, so I am going to share a practice with you all today. We're going to introduce the nine breathings of purification, also known as the nine fold breath, or the nine breaths. And it's a Tibetan Buddhist practice that has been practiced for 1000s of years, and something that Katie, Bodie and I have been doing for many years, and it's really supported us. I'm going to share a general overview, and then Katie is actually going to be guiding us in the practice. So this practice aims to use the body to purify the channels of our subtle body and connect to our own one's natural mind. So the subtle body serves as a link between the mind and the physical body, and this practice is really a methodical way to remove mental obstacles and distractions and deliberately use the breath to alter one's experience. So why are we learning about this practice? And like in connection with lucid dreaming. So for an order, in order for us to have more opportunity to have lucid dreams, it's really helpful for us to clear out the karmic traces, to really clear out our body before we go to sleep, so that we're less likely to get distracted in the dream, and then we'll recognize the dream as a dream, and we'll become lucid. And so in our lucid, lucidity induction group in March, we actually discussed emptying out before bed, and specifically the practice of recapitulation and clearing karmic traces. And we recommend that you return to that recording that's on the lucidity and lucidity induction group web page at the very bottom, I already put the link in the chat, and that you return to that recording and really listen to that practice again. Because this particular practice the nine breaths of the perfect purification, is a great companion to recapitulation. And I know some of you just can't wait. And you want a reminder, you want to know what recapitulation is, so I'm going to briefly describe it for you. So recapitulation is reviewing the day before going to sleep and remembering what occurred as a dream so particularly difficult emotions such as anxiety, anger, distraction and disappointment, and it's really helpful to practice recapitulation before doing the nine breathings to provide elements to work with with the nine breathings practice. So getting a little bit more detailed into this actual practice, so this practice can be used as a standalone purification method throughout the day. So I find it's really helpful for me if maybe I'm going from one meeting to the next, or maybe like leaving work, and then I'm going to go outside or something, and I want to be more clear in my thoughts and in my body. I'll do this practice. It's also a great preliminary practice before engaging in meditation, or as part of your ritual, before going to sleep. And it can be really beneficial when your mind is speedy or racing or windy, or if you're experiencing insomnia, it can help clear the mind of distractions and negative emotions, creating a more conducive inner environment for self awareness, lucid dreaming and sleep. So this practice in particular, works with explicitly, with the subtle channel, subtle energy channels of the body. So you may be familiar with these channels, hearing about them in acupuncture or yoga, and these channels are actually the conduits of prana. And prana, or wind, are also known as chi, is the foundational energy of all experience, of all life. And so the concept of this practice is to really completely clear out all the stagnant prana. So Katie is actually going to show an image right now on the screen. So while I am talking about these energy channels, you can see them and start connecting to them. So in this practice, we take an upright posture that supports wakefulness, and imagine the three channels of light in our body. So there's going to be a white channel that's on the right, a red channel that's on the left, and then a blue central channel. So the central channel runs from the top of the head to the basis of the spine, and the left and the right channels begin at the nostrils, curve up to meet the central channel near the top of the head, and then run parallel to it to a distance about four finger widths below the navel, where they merge with the central channel. And I recommend just taking your fingers and doing four finger widths below the navel, just so you can get an idea of where that actually is in your body. So the white channel on the right represents anger and aversion, the red channel on the left represents attachment and desire, and then the blue channel, the blue central channel, represents self doubt and ignorance. And these channels are connected to our experiences of these emotions, and we can use this practice to clear our subtle bodies before sleep, to support healthy, spiritual well being and our ability to have lucid dreams. So there might be a couple of words that I used in that description that I just want to go back and kind of redefine for you, because it's important that we have a deep connection to these emotions while we're going through this practice, so we can know what we're trying to bring up in our body, in our mind. So the first one is aversion, where anger and anger, which is on the right side the white channel, and this refers to a strong feeling of dislike or opposition towards something, it implies a strong inclination to avoid or turn away from something due to discomfort, displeasure or opposition. So say, you hear somebody say something, and right away your whole body just goes, That's not me. I'm not that right, like you just feel a push. That's aversion. The next one is grasping. So grasping refers to the mental and emotional clinging or fixation of things, ideas, experiences or relationships, as if they are permanent, satisfying or inherently real. So for example, this could be an idea that you just keep having about maybe a conversation that you had and replaying it over and over again. Really common at the beginning of romantic relationships, feeling like you want to be around that person all the time, really grasping onto it, feeling like you need it to feel real. The next one is ignorance, which refers to an ignorance is the blue channel in the center. And I realized I forgot. So grasping is actually going to be the left channel, the red channel, that's attachment, grasping and attachment. And then ignorance is the center channel, ignorance and self doubt, which is blue, and that refers to the misunderstanding of the true nature of reality, particularly impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and non self, nature of all phenomenon. So when we are wanting to make things solid, lasting and dependent real, so that our egos can feel real, that is ignorance. And so to complete my section on this um, I'm going to read a little section directly from this book from Tanzania ricochet. It's called awakening the sacred body. I'll put a link in the chat when I'm done reading um, so that you guys can check this out if you want to. And he goes into real depth about the nine breathings of purification in this book. He also talks about it in the Tibetan Yoga is a dream and sleep. I'll put links to all of these in there. And then Andrew talks about it in his lucid dreaming workbook. So, all right, so once again, I'm reading directly from Awakening the sacred body by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, After reflecting on the presence of challenges in one's life, the focus is brought to the inhalation as the breath is imagined moving through specific channels in the body held slightly and then released in the exhalation. As the practitioner releases the breath through a specific channel, subtle obscurations are released, facilitating the recognition of openness. After nine successive breaths, the practitioner rests in open awareness, bringing clear attention to the openness itself and connecting to the source of all positive qualities.
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