Welcome to belly breath.
I'm Janna and today we'll take a real belly breath also called a diaphragmatic breath and this is because a belly breath unlike shallow breaths uses your diaphragm that fabulous dome shaped muscle below the lungs.
When you engage the diaphragm you can use your body to reset your mind.
The vagus nerve runs through the diaphragm so when it's engaged it can send a direct signal to your brain to relax and even lower your heart rate and blood pressure.
So close your eyes,
Close your mouth gently so you can breathe through your nose for a moment for this practice.
Your nose can do incredible things with your breath that your mouth cannot do.
It can heat and treat raw air,
It can monitor your hormones.
So we want to use that nasal breathing.
Before we start the belly breath I just want you to notice how your body breathes.
Notice that you can feel the breath enter and exit the body through your nostrils.
The nose is the entry and exit point for air yet there's always some air moving throughout the body and it can be felt throughout the chest,
The rib area and when we breathe deeply also through the belly.
As your nose breathes in notice that all these other areas expand.
As the nose breathes out you can feel those areas deflate and this belly breath allows your body to expand and contract with each breath.
So when you inhale you'll expand from your belly upward to the collarbone,
Exhale downward from the collarbone to the belly.
Once we start the belly breath try to savor the air ever so slowly both on the inhale and on the exhale.
So this is really an extended belly breath.
Now place a hand on your belly and just notice that the belly is where you will feel this breath start and end.
I want you to begin by inhaling slowly and allowing the belly to gently inflate even pushing your hand outward.
Expand upward to the ribs,
To the chest and finally inhaling all the way up to the collarbone.
Pause for a micro moment and now even more slowly start to release the air exhaling downward the collarbone,
To the chest,
To the ribs deflating all the way down through the belly.
And that is a belly breath.
You can practice this on your own anytime throughout the day.
