Box Breathing For Anxiety Or Centering

By allowing thoughts to happen, you can come to terms with accepting them. Four-part "box" breathing is used with breath retention. Lovingkindness practice ends the session. Our Peaceful Ocean composed by Music Of Wisdom - Licensed from Meditation Music Library.

Transcript

Hello and welcome,

My name is Amber Love and I'm here to guide you on a meditation about allowing thoughts to happen.

So first I'd like to invite you to be comfortable.

I don't believe in sitting through something that's painful.

So if your legs are crossed and you're fine with that,

That's great.

If you feel like you need to shift yourself at any time,

Allow your body to do that because otherwise you will be distracted simply by your physical body being uncomfortable or perhaps in pain or body parts falling asleep.

And that's not going to help with a meditation.

I'd like to refer to Jon Kabat-Zinn when he says,

"'Meditation does not involve trying to change your thinking by thinking some more,

It involves watching thought itself.

'" He also goes on to say that,

"'We can't force positive thoughts and call that meditation,

It's just more thinking.

'" So what I'd like you to do is begin by finding your breath.

And that might help if you place a hand on your chest and a hand on your belly,

Or if you'd like another option,

You can place your hands on the sides of the body so that when you inhale,

You feel your ribs expand out to the sides.

Allow that deep breath to happen.

Release it naturally.

And allow the next cycle just to come naturally in and out.

As you do this,

It might be obvious that your breath starts to slow down and that you start to feel a more sense of control.

Sitting there and letting the inhale come in,

And letting the exhale go out.

Letting that inhale come in,

And letting the exhale go out.

I'd also like to make a note here for you that everyone's breathing is going to be unique and different.

So if you're trying to follow along,

With a counting tempo,

It might not work for you.

We'll try that now.

And if it works,

That's great.

If it doesn't work,

That doesn't mean you're doing something wrong.

So if you want to place your hands,

Again,

Either on your chest or on your belly,

Or if you're ready to take a breath,

Or on your belly,

Or if you're ready to just release your hands to your lap,

You can allow that movement to change.

We'll inhale for four.

Ready?

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

We'll hold here for four,

And then release for four.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold at the bottom,

And inhale.

So that's called square breathing,

Or box breathing.

We'll try this again,

And you might find that it's difficult to hold the breath after the exhale,

Because we're not used to doing that.

We're used to inhaling in and then holding onto our breath unconsciously.

So let's try those four counts again.

Inhale,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold it out,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And now just let your breath return to normal.

Take a big,

Deep breath,

And we'll try that box breathing again.

When you're ready,

Inhale,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold it out,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Inhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Hold it out,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And allow your breath to either continue that pattern if you feel comfortable,

Or just allow it to return to a natural pace.

Now if you feel that your thoughts are still pouring in,

Or whirling around,

Or if they're just stuck on one particular thing perhaps you're worried about,

It's okay to have the thought,

And I invite you to take a deep breath in to have the thought,

And I invite you to just give it some distance.

If you want to see and envision the thought as words itself,

Or as an object,

As a person,

As a color,

As something abstract,

Just come up with a kind of sensory analogy for that.

Maybe it's a smell or a sound even.

Something that's going to represent that thought that keeps keying into your brain,

Wanting attention.

And in your mind you're going to take your mental hands,

These imaginary hands inside your mind,

And you're going to just hold that object or that sense and pull it away from you so it's at arm's length.

And now you can experience it with some distance.

You can even turn it around if you like the visuals,

Or if there's an aroma perhaps as it moves in space in this ethereal plane,

Perhaps the fragrance changes.

Maybe it takes on another characteristic like vibrating,

Pulsing,

Or something textural and tactile as this embodied thought,

This object representing your thought is out there with those ethereal hands of yours,

Knowing that you have some control over where that thought is.

So again,

If you want to push it out farther away,

Maybe there's just a little bit more space between you and that thought.

And then what happens if you reach out and you pull that imagery or again,

You're going to feel that energy or again,

Another sensory representation of the thought,

What happens when you bring it halfway closer to you?

What happens in your body?

Maybe your mouth is going dry or your heart is speeding up,

Or maybe you're adjusted to it and you're okay with it being that close to you.

If you feel any sensations of anxiety or panic,

I invite you to return to the box breath.

Inhaling for four,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Retaining the breath,

Exhaling it out,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And holding it out.

And try repeating it,

Inhaling for four,

Holding it at the top,

Exhaling it out,

And holding it out.

And you can continue working on that box breath,

Or if you're ready to return to normal breathing,

Welcoming yourself back to your body,

Bringing some movements to your hands,

Drop your chin to your chest and roll your chin from side to side across the chest.

It's probably not really touching,

But it's just the movement getting those stretches in,

And lifting the head,

Raising the chin high,

Feeling the front of your throat area nice and open.

And bring your head back so your chin is parallel.

Let's take those shoulders up towards the ears,

Really shrug them high,

And then roll them down the back of the body.

And do this a couple more times,

Rolling those shoulders,

Lifting them up towards the ears,

And rolling them back and down.

And one more time,

Lifting those shoulders up,

And letting them roll down.

Bringing your hands together in a prayer position,

What we call in yoga,

Anjali Mudra,

And inviting yourself to practice some loving kindness.

When we do this first,

We direct the energy towards ourselves,

So our thoughts are on ourselves,

Giving ourselves blessing.

May I be happy,

May I be healthy,

May I be peaceful and at ease,

May I be filled with loving kindness.

And then we focus on someone else,

And perhaps this is the subject of the thought that was invading your space,

Your mental space before.

Or maybe it's someone else,

Maybe it's someone you know casually through passing.

May you be happy,

May you be healthy,

May you be peaceful and at ease,

May you be filled with loving kindness.

May all beings be happy,

May all beings be healthy,

May all beings be peaceful and at ease,

May all beings be filled with loving kindness.

Peace to you.

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