Fear and anxiety can be really overwhelming in our lives and take away our sense of joy and freedom.
There are many ways to deeply transform how you live with these feelings in your life but in this session I want to do some simple breath work with you that can be a helpful tool for you when you're out and about and you feel fearful or anxious symptoms arising.
When we are anxious we need compassion,
Not judgments or repression or disassociation.
If you can imagine a situation where you see an animal or a child terrified and anxious,
I'm sure you'd be drawn to give that animal or child love and compassion and help it feel safe and comforted.
Well it's the same with ourselves.
Calming and supportive breath work can be really useful in those times that we need it and is a much kinder approach than getting stuck in the head or judging yourself for feeling anxious or stressing about how long it's going to last.
In this practice I want to run through two breaths that can help support you in times of need when fear and anxiety has kicked in and you just need that sense of calm and safety.
The first breath is called a straw breath and the second is called an ujjayi breath.
The way that we use them is similar and it's easy to flow from one to the other or use them separately.
Whatever you feel supports you the best at the time.
So let me explain the straw breath first.
You're welcome to practice it as I explain if you like.
You'll take a deep breath in through the nose,
Hold for a second while you prepare to breathe out the mouth and as if you're breathing out through a fine straw,
Breathe a long slow out breath feeling your whole body relaxed down into the ground as you do that.
At the beginning of the out-breath rest there for two seconds and then back up again with a deep in-breath through the nose and repeat.
It will sound something like this.
This breath is especially helpful if you notice lots of obvious physical anxiety symptoms in the body like a raised heart rate,
Tense muscles and knot in the stomach or racing mind etc.
It really gives the parasympathetic system time to let the body calm down even if just for a little bit.
So let's try together for a few breaths now.
Gently close your eyes and spend a few moments gradually drawing your awareness away from the outside world towards yourself and resting in your body in the present moment.
Take a deep breath in through your nose,
Hold for a second and then as if you're breathing out through a fine straw breathe a long slow breath out through your mouth feeling the body relaxed down.
Hold there for two seconds and a deep breath in through the nose.
Hold and a long slow breath out through the mouth feeling your body let go and relax.
Rest at the bottom for two seconds and then a deep breath in through the nose.
Hold,
Long slow breath out.
Deeply relaxing.
Hold for two and then in through the nose.
Hold,
Exhale slowly.
Feeling the body relax.
Hold for two,
In through the nose.
Hold.
Deeply relaxing the body.
And then gently bring your breathing back to your natural breath for a moment and rest in the space that remains noticing how you feel right now.
The second breath I'd like to do with you is called the Ujjayi breath.
It's quite similar except slightly more subtle.
There's less sound to it so it can be useful when you're out and about and begin to notice symptoms of fear or anxiety arising.
The only difference with the Ujjayi breath is the out breath where instead of breathing out through the mouth you're going to slightly constrict the bottom of your throat as you breathe out.
So you'll take a deep breath in in the same way through the nose.
Hold for a second.
Slightly constrict the bottom of your throat as you breathe out which extends the out breath out and allows the body to relax.
And then rest or hold at the bottom for two seconds again.
It makes a sound something like this.
So let's try that one together for four or so breaths.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Hold for a second.
Slightly constrict your throat and let the breath come out slowly through your nose.
Feel your body relax down.
Let yourself rest at the bottom for two seconds and take another deep breath in through your nose.
Hold and constrict the throat and slowly out.
Relaxing.
Rest for two seconds.
In.
Hold.
Slowly out.
Deeply relaxing the body.
One more time.
In.
And then gently just rest there for a few moments on your natural breath.
There can often be a sense of lifting up when we breathe in.
For the next breaths we'll do together.
I want you to play with the feet feeling of breathing outwards in the body when you inhale instead of upwards and see how that feels for you.
What's really important with both breaths is the out breath and how much you can let and feel your body deeply relax as you breathe out.
Let's do a small bunch where we move seamlessly from the straw breath to the ujjayi breath.
Take a few moments to rest and settle.
And then when you're ready take a deep breath in through the nose.
Hold for a second and a long slow breath out through the mouth through the fine straw.
Feeling your body relax.
Hold for two seconds at the bottom and deep breath in again.
Hold.
Long exhale.
Relaxing down.
Hold for two.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Relaxing.
Hold.
In.
And out.
Now smoothly moving to the ujjayi.
Deep breath in.
Hold.
Constrict the throat a little.
Exhale.
Relaxing the body.
Hold for two.
Inhale.
Hold.
And exhale.
Feeling the body deeply relax.
Hold.
In.
Hold.
Out.
As you gently rest back on your natural breath.
Take a moment to notice how you feel.
Hopefully you feel calmer,
Your body relaxed and your mind slowed down a little.
These are two breaths that really encourage your parasympathetic system.
When you feel fear coming up you could take a few moments to stop,
Take a break and breathe.
When we're busy it can be challenging to do this as we feel we need to be carrying on with what we're busy with.
But often taking even just a tiny break to rebalance and realign means that you actually can be more productive.
If you found these breaths helpful and would like to explore a little deeper into how to transform your relationship with fear or anxiety or try some different support tools then you're welcome to have a look at my course Transforming Fear and Anxiety.
Thank you for meditating with me and hopefully see you there.
