"I'm Okay" Breath Practice for Stress & Anxiety

This calming, reassuring and compassionate meditation, uses a spacious breathing technique, a heavy blanket or cushion, and a steady affirmation to guide you to regulation when you are feeling stressed, tense or anxious.When we are stressed, anxious or generally activated, two particular things change - our sense of being okay and the rhythm of our breathing. Until we attend to these, we can stay stuck on the "alarm button" and we know the effect that has on our capacity to feel grounded, safe and calm, in our bodies and open to the present moment. Have a thick folded blanket, pillow or cushion with you for this practice and learn a technique that you can use whenever you need to.

Transcript

Give yourself some time to get settled and make sure you have some room around you and a folded blanket or weighted lap blanket or cushion handy that has a little bit of weight to it.

You're going to use that now to help yourself and to help yourself feel better and calmer.

And I want to begin by saying to you that you are okay.

You're okay,

You're safe and however you're feeling and you might not be feeling good right now,

It's still true that you are okay and you're safe and you are here and you're a whole person.

There's nothing wrong about you even though you may be experiencing some really uncomfortable feelings.

You're safe and you're still you.

All of you is allowed to be here.

You're okay.

See if you can connect to a feeling of the compassion that's really flowing softly towards you and into your body right now.

The whole world is full of kindness,

The earth is full of kindness,

The universe flows with kindness and it's flowing towards you and into you and you're here in a gentle safe space that's holding you and what you're feeling.

So perhaps first taking your thick folded blanket or your bolster,

It could be a heavy-ish cushion or maybe one of those weighted lap blankets like I said,

And place it on your belly and especially your lower belly.

Make sure that's covered and then you can place your hands over it too.

And as you do there,

As you're there with your hands and feeling the weight of what's on your belly,

There may be a little bit of a release in your lower back.

There might not yet but there may be a sense of something dropping.

Remember we have many parts and while one part is struggling,

Other parts are settling.

So have space inside you to acknowledge that there are parts right now that are settling already and feel the support underneath you.

So as you release,

As your body releases naturally with gravity,

The earth is coming up to meet you underneath your body like a little hug,

A little push up and that's the earth saying I don't need anything from you but I'm here supporting you.

I need nothing in return and I'm always here to support you and I have your back.

And maybe you could take that as an invitation or a permission to land a little more into that support.

And you can also give yourself a really simple sentence and that is simply that I'm here and I'm okay.

I'm here.

In this moment you're here,

You're not somewhere else.

I'm here.

I can feel it.

I can feel the air here.

I can feel what's underneath my body.

I can feel my clothes against my skin and my hands and the blanket or the cushion.

I'm able to see or to sense what's around me.

I can hear Allison's voice.

I'm here.

I'm okay.

And then without worrying what your breath is doing,

Just seeing if you can invite yourself to feel your breath inside you.

No matter what it's doing,

You're breathing.

Your body's breathing.

That's all that matters.

And then just start to notice how when you breathe,

The blanket or bolster or cushion will move.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Just feeling what's on your belly moving.

If your hands are there,

You'll feel that underneath your hands.

And next time you inhale,

Direct your breath down to your lower belly so what's on it will lift up.

And then when you exhale,

Your belly will release and the blanket or cushion will come down again.

So just being with that rhythm and there's nothing to block here,

Nothing else that you need to do.

Let what comes,

Come.

It's all being processed into this movement so it's fine to be here.

And now add those words,

I'm okay.

As you inhale and the blanket lifts,

As you exhale and it goes down.

I'm okay.

Or if you like those words,

I'm here.

I'm okay.

With your inhalation and your exhalation.

And you might soften the muscles of your face,

Smooth your frown,

Release your eyebrows,

Let your jaw release and drop.

You might let your shoulders drop their weight and soften through your face and your chest and your belly.

And now with your next inhalation,

See if you can breathe into your belly,

Pause and then breathe into your bottom ribs and then exhale.

So you're bringing your breath a little bit higher and pausing and then exhaling and releasing it all every last drop.

So again with your next inhalation,

Breathe into your lower belly and pause and then up to your bottom ribs and pause and then one exhale releasing it all every last drop.

And then it's belly and pause,

Ribs and pause and then release it.

And you don't have to go with my cues,

You should go with your own breath.

And all the time saying,

I'm okay.

I'm okay.

And then you're saying,

I'm okay.

I'm okay.

We're going to go a little higher with the breath if that's comfortable for you.

Otherwise,

Just go as far as you can.

So the next time you inhale,

Go belly and pause and then ribs and pause.

And then all the way up to your collarbones and pause and then exhale,

Collarbones and ribs and belly.

So with your inhale,

It's belly and pause and ribs and pause,

Then collarbones and pause and then it's collarbones,

Ribs,

Belly,

Let it all out.

Anytime this makes you feel uncomfortable,

Of course you can go back to a normal rhythm of breathing,

Reset and try again.

You're doing so well.

Well done.

So one more time,

Inhale belly and pause,

Ribs and pause,

Collarbones and pause and then let it all out,

Collarbones,

Ribs,

Belly to the earth.

And then you can take out the pauses.

So you've created all that space and your breath flows freely.

And if it doesn't feel that way,

Just notice subtle changes because they'll be there and you're okay.

Whatever's happening now,

You're safe and you're here and you're okay.

You may feel that as you inhale,

Your breath is coming from your lower belly up the front side of your body.

And as you exhale,

Exhale,

It's going down the back.

See if you can feel that.

You're breathing up the wide open front of your body and down the wide space of your back body.

No forcing,

Just a simple breath that is you and comes from inside the friendliness of you.

So it's almost like your breath flows in a circle up the front of your body and down your back.

You can even take the blanket off your belly now and stay connected with your breath that way.

Or you can keep it there.

What works for you?

What works for you right now in your body?

And also giving yourself that really simple sentence,

That truth,

That I'm here and I'm okay.

I'm here.

I'm here.

I'm not somewhere else.

I can feel it.

I can feel the air here.

I can feel what's underneath my body.

I'm able to see or sense what is around me.

And I can hear Alison's voice and I can hear myself breathing and I'm here and I'm here and I'm okay.

Is there a breath you might have been holding on to you just want to free from your body now?

There might be a long breath you want to let out that you didn't even know you were holding.

Now we're just going to start to move our arms.

If this feels good to you,

If you prefer to listen to my voice and stay where you are,

That's fine too.

Whatever you do,

You're okay and it's okay.

So as you inhale now,

Stretch your arms up over your head and as you exhale,

Bring your arms back down to your sides and keep going.

So with every inhale,

You're reaching your arms up and maybe a little bit behind you as far as you can.

And then with each exhale,

You bring your hands back down to where they started and you're just simply linking simple movements to a breath.

When you inhale and reach up,

Feel your inner body brighten.

It's brightening.

And as you exhale,

Keep that brightness as you bring your arms down,

Simply softening.

Softening your shoulders down your back,

Softening your skin like a silk scarf,

Relaxing over the light inside you.

Reaching up,

Inner body brightens.

Keep that brightness as you exhale.

Outer body soft.

Then come to rest.

Finish that last movement for yourself and stay in your bright inner body with your outer body soft and receptive.

Imagining your skin,

Your energy body as that silk and scarf,

Resting gently over the light that you are.

Saying to yourself,

I'm here.

All of me is here.

I'm okay.

Soften your skin,

Soften your eyes,

Soften your face and soften through your chest and your belly.

Begin to listen to the sounds of the outer world.

Listening particularly for what is sweet and kind and even delightful and gently letting your eyes open if they've been closed and very slowly taking in the space where you are now.

Keeping your gaze soft,

Adding some very slow,

Slow motion movements.

You could take your head over to one side,

Give your neck a stretch and then to the other side,

Really juicing out that stretch in the back of your neck and some super slow rolls of your neck and your shoulder,

Your head.

Maybe in slow motion,

Bringing your shoulders up to your ears and squeezing there and then letting them relax all the way down,

Down,

Down.

Slowly opening and closing your hands like the petals of a flower and flexing and pointing your feet like a ballet dancer,

Moving softly and sweetly,

Enjoying the slow juicy stretch of your ankles and your toes and then simply being,

Feeling the clothes touching your skin and your body releasing into what it's resting on,

Those solid feelings.

And you might still,

Even if you've taken it off,

Feel that firm support on your belly and your breath inside your body constant and saying to yourself,

I am here,

I am safe,

I am okay.

Give yourself a hug and thank yourself and I thank you too.

And when you're ready,

You can move into your day or night again,

Your next activity,

Taking these feelings with you,

The feeling or even the memory of the feeling of the steadiness of your breath in your body,

The firm weight of the blanket or cushion and the solid truth and the solid truth that you are here and you are whole and you are okay.

Reviews

I’m so glad i found this breathing meditation ❤️ It does a lot for me. Thank you 🫶

What an excellent resource ! Thank you so much. I am bookmarking this and will use it frequently I am sure. 🥰

Beautiful, powerful, comforting, soothing and relaxing track. I love the "I'm here and I'm okay" mantra. For me this practice felt like a 20 minute mini Retreat for self love, kindness and compassion. Thank you so much, Alison.

Wow! That was so good. I loved the combo of affirmations, breathwork, and somatic practices. I found this randomly and I'm so glad I decided to listen to it. I went from feeling scared about my finances and stressed about a recent client case, and now I feel grounded in myself and like the universe has my back. Thank you so much!

I had a difficult time choosing which track to listen to. Other than a little discouraged and not feeling quite myself, I couldn't pinpoint the cause or exact feeling I was experiencing. This track was a great choice. It was very gentle and kind. It ended up that it didn't matter the what or the why when I started. Halfway through I already felt okay and very calm. 😊 (And the weighted warmth on my belly was my 7-pound dog. 😆) Thank you for this gift! 💜