Welcome to Calm Down Bliss Out,
A Bradcliffe breathing exercise.
Wherever you are give yourself a full body stretch or as much of one as possible.
To prepare find a nice quiet place and sit comfortably,
Preferably on a chair.
Plant your feet firmly on the floor.
Feel the connection between your feet and the ground.
You can gently cup your hands on your lap or place them palms down or if you like palms up on your lap.
Take a moment to make sure you're right back against the chair and settle in here so you can relax your stomach,
Loosen it,
See if you can let it go.
Let go of any tension you might hold here.
Loosen your shoulders,
Find what works for you.
Either a gentle shoulder roll or soften,
Create some softening and some length through your neck and shoulder area.
Now we have prepared ourselves we're going to start to contract or tighten and then relax a few key areas of our body.
First up we're going to tuck our chin inwards,
Draw it back in towards your spine and hold it for one two three four five and release.
Next open your mouth widely to drop your lower jaw for one two three four five and then release.
Close your mouth softly and if you're comfortable here place your tongue behind your top teeth.
Finally we're going to stretch the fingers of one hand and then the other.
Open and stretch them wide,
Separate your fingers on each hand and separate and stretch out your thumb.
Take your opposite thumb and gently massage it into the fleshy section of your palm at the base of the other thumb.
Do this first on one hand and then the other.
Now that our body posture and muscles are ready we're going to draw our attention and focus to a quiet breath.
Focus on a quiet gentle breath in and out through the nose.
Feel your waist expand gently as you breathe in and feel it soften and relax slowly during the outbreath.
Notice how breathing in flows into breathing out.
There's no need to hold at the top of the in-breath.
Gently breathe in through your nose,
Soften and relax as you gently exhale.
If you can,
Appreciate the small relaxed pause at the end of the exhale.
Don't hold it or force it,
Just let it go.
Gently breathing in through your nose,
Soften and relax to exhale.
Exhale.
Pause.
Don't hold,
Just let it go.
Now that we've drawn your attention to your breath we change our focus to quiet in the mind and still our busy brain.
Let's concentrate on silently counting numbers during the relaxed pause at the end of the outbreath.
This can be done with your eyes closed or softened and your gaze lowered.
Don't try to stop your thoughts,
Simply concentrate on the flow of the numbers.
Start at one and work up to ten and then back down all the way to one.
If your mind wanders or interrupts just start again at one.
Breathing in,
Soften to exhale.
Count one at the pause.
Work all the way up to ten.
And then slowly back down to one.
When you get back to one,
Stretch,
Smile and enjoy the calm.
