Lying Down Breathing Practice

Relax with an eight-minute breathing break. Lying on the earth (or floor/couch/bed), we focus on expanding and contracting our breath throughout various places of the body. This practice can encourage relaxation before bed or as stress relief within a busy day.

Transcript

Begin by lying all the way down,

Finding the earth underneath your body.

Take a big inhale through your nose.

Open the mouth,

Sigh it out.

Take an inhale through the nose.

Exhale out the nose.

Start to feel the earth underneath you,

Noticing all the parts of the body touching earth.

The heels,

Maybe the calves,

Thighs,

Hips.

Notice the shoulders soft all the way down through the arms and the backs of the hands.

Bring awareness to the back of the head.

Let it feel heavy.

Without rush,

Place your right hand on your heart,

Your left hand on your belly.

Feel the natural rise and fall of the breath.

With the next inhale,

Feel the left hand rise in the belly and then feel the hand fall as belly falls.

Do that again,

Only moving the belly.

Inhale,

The hand rises.

Exhale,

The hand falls.

This time inhale,

Feel the belly,

Hand rises,

Then feel the chest,

The right hand rises.

As you exhale,

Right hand falls with chest,

Left hand falls with belly.

Again belly rises.

Inhale more,

Chest rises.

Exhale chest falls,

Belly falls.

Two more just like that,

Focusing on how the hands move with breath.

With the next breath,

Take your right hand and place it on your left ribs,

Crossing the arms,

The left hand goes to the right ribs.

Find an inhale and breathe into the left side of your body.

Exhale empty.

Do that a few more times,

Focusing on just expanding the left side,

Not right.

Inhale now expand just the right side.

Empty it out.

A couple more,

Noticing how you can control where the breath goes in the body.

With the next breath,

Take your right hand and release the hands back down to the side.

Palms up,

Backs of the hands rest against earth.

Taking about five more breaths,

Come back to the inhale that expands through belly first and then chest.

Exhaling chest,

Then belly.

For the last four breaths,

Expand the front side of belly and back side of belly.

Front side of heart,

Back side of heart,

The whole torso expands.

Then empty out first,

The back,

Then the front.

Again,

Inhale front of belly,

Back of belly,

Front of heart,

Back of heart.

Then exhale back side of body,

Front side of body.

Three more.

Release control of the breath.

Notice your natural inhale and exhale through the nose.

Start to add movement to the hands,

The feet,

Rolling on to the right side of your body.

Taking your time here and rising when you're ready.

Reviews

6 days ago, I was diagnosed with lung cancer; caught early, very treatable. At the end of the Covid scare I did biofeedback therapy and did two 20 minute breathing sessions a day. So helpful! Unfortunately, I let the practice slip away . I don’t think I noticed until the diagnosis just how much my capacity had diminished. I plan to include your meditation into my routine. Thank YOU!

Wonderful

Very nice and clear! If voice could a bit softer would be better in my opinion:))))

Great brief meditation with several new breathing techniques for me. Thank you!