Now many of us live our lives jumping from activity to activity in a state of chronic stress.
Our autonomic nervous system,
Responsible for internal mind-body balance,
Spends much of the day in overdrive,
In the sympathetic,
This fight-or-flight response.
And so it can be difficult to wind ourselves out of this state while it only takes one moment to jump into a sympathetic response.
Think a rush of adrenaline you get as you nearly fall on the stairs but catch yourself,
Or a distressing message you receive on your phone,
And the resultant rush that you might get from this.
Yet it can take 90 minutes to deactivate and return to a restful,
Parasympathetic response.
The breath is like a power switch that we can actually use to speed up this process to turn on the rest-and-digest response and accomplish this task of intentional relaxation through these specific ways of breathing.
The 4-7-8 breath practice works to strengthen this rest-and-digest response in order to help us relax and fall asleep.
This is an antidote to our stressed-out lives and stressed-out sleep.
For the practice,
We will inhale for a count of 4,
Then we'll hold the breath for a count of 7,
And exhale for a count of 8.
If you're pregnant or if you have respiratory issues,
You can skip this practice and move on to the next one,
Which is the coherent breathing practice.
So we'll do this for a few minutes.
Again,
It's an inhale for a count of 4,
Hold your breath for a count of 7,
And then exhale for a count of 8.
Taking our seat,
Or this could be done lying on a bed or a couch.
Inhale for a count of 4,
Hold for a count of 7,
And exhaling for a count of 8.
Releasing and inhaling for a count of 4,
Breath hold for 7,
And exhaling for a count of 8.
Inhaling for 4,
Breath hold for 7,
And exhaling for 8.
Inhale for 4,
Breath hold for 7,
And releasing for 8.
Inhale for a count of 4,
Hold for a count of 7,
And exhaling for a count of 8.
Releasing and inhaling for a count of 4,
Breath hold for 7,
And exhaling for a count of 8.
Inhaling for 4,
Breath hold for 7,
And exhaling for 8.
Inhale for 4,
Breath hold for 7,
And releasing for 8.
Inhale,
Hold,
Exhale.
Inhale,
Hold,
Exhale.
Now continue on at your own pace.
If you find yourself lost in thought,
Just bring yourself back to the exercise of the 4-7-8 breath.
Wrapping up the breathing exercise,
Just bringing ourselves back to the room that we're in,
Noticing how we're feeling.
Again,
When the out breath is longer than the in breath,
We're engaging our rest and digest response.
And it's going to make ourselves feel calmer and more physically relaxed.
This is the principle that the 4-7-8 breath operates on.
We're dilating the blood vessels throughout the body and results in lower blood pressure and greater relaxation.
This is,
According to Charlie Morley,
A natural tranquilizer for the nervous system.
So unlike drugs,
They're going to lose their power over time and usage.
This is going to gain its power with repetition and practice.
Thank you for practicing,
And try to continue this practice on a daily basis or any time that you're having difficulties falling asleep.
