1:1 Breath For Stress & Anxiety Relief

A Somatic Breathing Practice technique to regulate your nervous system. When we breathe consciously, we directly communicate with our vagus nerve - the master switch of our relaxation response. This simple practice helps shift from stress to calm.

Transcript

Hi,

Welcome to the Embodiment Lab.

My name is Alba Porras and today I will share with you a breathing practice that will help your nervous system move into that window of regulation where you can feel more relaxed and more at ease.

So I'm going to invite you to begin by finding a position in which you feel comfortable to do this practice.

Make sure you're not driving and you are in a safe space and allow yourself to find that comfortable position.

And as you settle into that space where you are,

I'm going to invite you to check in with yourself.

Notice perhaps the level of activation that you can feel in your body.

Do you feel more mobilized?

Perhaps you can feel anxiety or a sense of urgency or a sense of irritation or a need to hurry.

Or perhaps you are feeling more into this immobilized space in which you feel a lack of energy.

Maybe you feel flat,

Collapsed,

Hopeless.

Wherever you are,

I just invite you to notice where you are without judging anything or without trying to change anything.

Just become aware of where you are at this very moment.

Checking in with your body and your mind space and allowing to be with yourself just as you are.

And once you have found that presence with your current state,

I invite you,

If it resonates with you,

To lower your gaze or if it feels comfortable,

To close your eyes.

And begin by bringing softness into the muscles around your face.

Allow the shoulders to relax.

And you might even bring the shoulders a little bit closer to the ears and then slowly bring the shoulders down.

Allowing the shoulders to relax and soften.

Allow the muscles of your spine to relax.

Keeping your spine long,

But relax and at ease.

Now bring your awareness to your abdomen and your torso.

And allow the muscles of your torso to soften.

Perhaps even consciously push the belly bottom out and away from your spine,

Allowing your abdomen to soften.

And then notice your legs and consciously let go of any tension around your legs.

And as you soften your entire body,

I'm going to invite you to begin noticing your breath.

And notice how your body is breathing.

Allow your body to breathe on its own.

Just noticing and observing your body breathing.

And perhaps allow yourself to locate where your body is breathing at this moment.

Perhaps you might feel your belly breathing or your chest.

Or perhaps you feel your breath somewhere else.

Just allow yourself to locate where your body is breathing.

And now very gently move your awareness to the tip of your nose.

And begin noticing the air coming in through the nostrils as you breathe in,

And the air coming out of your nostrils as you breathe out.

Perhaps notice the temperature of the air as it comes through your nostrils.

You might notice the cool air coming in through your nostrils as you breathe in,

And the warmth as it comes out.

Now bring your awareness to your throat and notice that part of your body breathing.

Perhaps you might notice a swirling at the back of your throat.

And now move your awareness to your chest and gently notice your chest breathing.

Perhaps you might notice the gentle rise and fall of the chest with each breath cycle.

Now allow the awareness to move to your belly.

And perhaps even invite your belly to come into this breathing cycle,

Gently expanding and deflating your belly with each breath cycle.

Allow your body to continue to tune in with your breath.

Now in this full awareness of your breath,

I invite you to bring your whole attention to your inhalation.

And I'm going to invite you to begin to count the length of your inhalation.

How many counts does it take to breathe in?

And now very gently bring your awareness to your exhalation.

And now begin to count the length of your exhalation.

How many counts does it take to breathe out?

Take a moment to notice the difference between your inhalation and your exhalation.

Notice which one is longer.

And you may stay there for the rest of this practice.

Or if you feel comfortable,

You may begin to lengthen both the inhalation and the exhalation slightly,

Just by one count.

And if adding one count to the breath feels uncomfortable,

Please go back to that initial count.

Remember that we're not trying to force the breath to do anything.

Soften your torso,

Your belly,

The muscles around the face and the neck.

And just invite the breath to deepen,

Just to keep the pace where it's slightly longer but feels comfortable.

Now as you make this count a little longer,

Or as you continue to breathe in that original count,

I'm going to invite you to bring the awareness to whichever part of your breath that is shorter.

Perhaps your inhalation is shorter than your exhalation.

Now notice if you can lengthen that shorter part of your breath by one count.

And continue to tune in with your breath and to elongate that shorter part of your breath until you're able to match both the inhalation and the exhalation.

Do it slowly,

Being gentle,

Bringing a sense of kindness to yourself.

And if this feels difficult,

Then honor that and just return to the length of the inhalation and the exhalation that feels comfortable for you.

Continue to match the inhalation and the exhalation.

Perhaps that might mean you are counting four to inhale and counting four to exhale.

Staying fully present and aware of your whole body breathing.

Continuing to count your breath and using the counting of your breath as an anchor to stay with your breath.

Allow your body to relax a bit more,

Softening with each breath cycle.

And as you match the count of your inhalation and your exhalation,

You might find your body is inviting you to breathe a little deeper or not.

And that's okay too.

Find a pace that feels easy and comfortable.

Breathing equally in the inhalation and the exhalation.

Counting the breath for a few more rounds,

Staying with your body and softening through your body.

Slowly and gently let go of the count of your breath.

Let's take a breath together.

Take a breath in through your nose and breathe it out through the mouth.

And before we end today's practice,

I'm going to invite you to take another baseline of your nervous system.

Check in with your body.

Notice what changed.

Notice the quality of your body sensations.

Notice if there was a shift in your breath,

Your energy,

The state where you started this practice.

And whatever happened,

That's perfect.

This is just a practice of reconnecting with yourself.

With your beautiful body and with your breath.

Once you have checked in with yourself,

I'm going to invite you to very slowly open your eyes if you have them closed and just take a moment to look around where you are.

Noticing the colors and the shapes.

Noticing what you can see.

And if it calls to you,

You might even stretch your body.

Bring some gentle movement rolling on your shoulders or your neck,

Stretching your whole body.

Thank you so much for allowing me to guide you today's practice.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and I look forward to connecting with you soon.