This session is part of the 21 Day Breathwork Challenge.
If this is the first time tuning in and you'd like to start at day one,
If you follow my profile Inge Bolsink,
You can find all the available previous sessions there.
You can also find all the other tracks in the playlist,
The 21 Day Breathwork Challenge.
Are you ready?
Let's begin!
Hello and welcome.
This is a very quick and effective anxiety and panic relief tool called Triangle Breath.
Let's jump right in.
Feel free to keep your eyes open and move around if you want to.
Breathe through the nose.
Imagine three sides of a triangle.
Inhale going up the peak of the triangle.
Exhale going down the peak of the triangle and hold at the base of the triangle.
Breathe as lightly as possible.
Take inhales through the nose.
You can take exhales through the nose or through pursed lips,
Through the mouth.
Whatever you feel calms you down the most.
Inhale for two.
Exhale for two.
Hold for two.
Breathe normally and lightly for ten seconds.
Again,
Inhale up the triangle.
Exhale down the triangle.
Hold steady.
Inhale up.
Exhale down.
Hold steady.
Breathe normal and light.
You're doing great.
Just keep following my voice.
Inhale for three.
Exhale for three.
Hold for three.
Inhale up.
Exhale down.
Hold.
Exhale down.
Take regular breaths.
We will extend for the last time,
But only if you feel comfortable.
Ready?
Inhale for four.
Exhale for four.
Hold for four.
Inhale up.
Exhale down.
Hold steady.
Exhale down.
Hold steady.
Breathe normally.
Allow your breath to relax and flow freely.
If this practice worked for you,
Great!
It means that probably you were feeling anxious because you were over-breathing before and offloading too much carbon dioxide.
And this technique allowed your carbon dioxide levels to rebalance and therefore improved oxygen uptake in your tissues.
If this technique did not work for you,
There may be several reasons why you may be panning.
Perhaps panning is too much to say focused on breath cues and counts.
Another technique that can be helpful if breath-holding feels too complicated to do is to breathe into cupped hands or into a bag.
This will allow you to re-uptake some of the carbon dioxide you have expelled and it will have a similar effect to triangle breath without complicating things.
Sometimes we feel stressed because there's too much carbon dioxide in the blood as opposed to too little.
This happens when we have been breathing too shallow and too little for too long,
If you've been behind the computer for too long.
In that case,
Practice the physiological sigh which will help you to offload carbon dioxide.
It can also be that becoming too focused on the internal processes in your body makes you more anxious,
Or anxious thoughts keep pulling you back into an erratic breathing pattern.
If this is the case,
Next time try to keep your eyes open instead of closed and focus your attention outside your body.
You can,
For example,
Name objects in your room or name three objects in your room that are yellow.
Movement can also help because this produces carbon dioxide and it helps you to focus your attention on the external world because you have to look where you are going instead of on the anxious thoughts that may be happening in your mind.
You can even take a walk outside while you practice breathing or have someone with you that does the triangle breath with you.
This was a quick and short SOS breathing tool adapted from the traditional box breathing technique and it helps to visualize going uphill,
Downhill and stabilize to keep the anxious mind visually occupied while building up carbon dioxide.
Triangle breath as opposed to box breath only has one breath hold at the end of the exhale to maximally build up carbon dioxide without triggering a feeling of air hunger or suffocation which might enhance anxiety again.
If you often suffer from anxiety,
Practice triangle breath on a more regular basis,
For example during work breaks or before you go to sleep,
So you train your body's relaxation response and will be able to access it in times of extreme stress.
Thank you for practicing with me.
I'm looking forward to our next session together.
Now that we have practiced three new relaxation techniques,
Namely the physiological sigh,
Box breathing and triangle breathing,
You are proficient in relaxing your body.
So it is time to take this challenge to the final level,
Moving into mixed and complex breathwork practices that will allow your body to move through stress,
Through relaxation,
Back up the stress and back into relaxation.
These practices are advanced,
So if you suffer from any chronic illness and the contraindications that I've often and perhaps to your bore mentioned throughout this course,
Take it super lightly.
Be sure to take these relaxation practices with you in the back of your mind,
So you can always bring your body back to base level.
I'm really looking forward to sharing the next session and the next advanced practices with you.
Just as a point of preparation,
Our next two sessions on resistance training and resistance breathing will take place outside.
We're going to do a walking practice and,
If you're up for it,
A running practice.
So make sure for your next two sessions you have a set of comfortable clothes and some shoes you feel comfortable walking or running in.
I'm looking forward to our final few sessions together.
Let's keep it up.
