Let's start by finding a comfortable place for this meditation.
So you're welcome to do it seated on the floor or on the chair.
And you're also welcome to lie down on the bed or on your mat on the floor.
If you're seated on a chair or the floor,
Finding a comfortable place here,
Rolling the shoulders back,
Placing the hands either on the thighs or perhaps on your lap,
Letting one thumb go over the other.
And if you're lying down,
If you do use a pillow under your head,
You want to make sure it's a flatter one.
We don't want to be too elevated here.
We want to keep as neutral a spine as we can,
Both seated or lying down.
And if you're lying as well,
Letting your feet and your legs fall open,
Bringing your hands by your side.
Finding a comfortable place for the next 10 minutes for us to focus on our breathing and on relaxing our nervous system.
When you're in your comfortable place and if you do need a moment to adjust or if you want to switch locations,
Feel free to just pause this video.
But when you have found your comfortable seated or lying down position,
Start by just focusing on your breath without trying to change it.
But just noticing what your breathing is like right now.
Noticing if the breaths are even or perhaps they're not,
Even if perhaps the inhale or exhale is a bit longer.
Noticing if your breath is deep,
Going all the way,
Making your belly rise.
Or if your movements,
Your breathing movements feel a little bit more shallow,
If they seem like they're ending more in your chest than in your belly.
Noticing if the breathing feels quick or slow or neutral.
Maybe you don't really have a frame of reference and you haven't paid that much attention to the breath.
Noticing perhaps the pace and the pace and the rhythm and the depth of your breathing,
Just as it is right now.
Now we're going to work on deepening that breath and lengthening that exhale.
So we're going to use some counting here.
So what we'll do is we will inhale for four counts,
Hold the breath for six counts,
And then exhale for eight counts.
So this is a breathing exercise I really love to do in the evening or before bed.
And you may have to adjust.
You may have to maybe make it four,
Five,
Seven rather than four,
Six,
Eight,
Depending on how you're feeling.
And the way you know if you have to adjust it is if you ever feel like you need to gasp for breath,
You're pushing a little bit too far.
So we want it to be a little bit of a challenge.
But we never want to feel like it's hard to breathe.
That should not be the challenge.
So try it.
Let's all try it with the four,
Six,
Eight.
And if that is too much for you,
Feel free to adjust it as you need to.
So start by exhaling all the air from the body.
And now breathe in two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Continuing now for a few more rounds with your own counting and adjusting it if you need to.
If you need to make it a bit shorter,
The counts are a bit longer.
I personally really like the four,
Six,
Eight.
It works for my breathing pattern.
Yours might be different.
So just finding a rhythm where we're practicing inhaling,
Retaining breath and exhaling the breath,
Which are kind of three of the four breath works that we work with in yoga.
Now we're going to continue counting,
But change up the counts a little bit.
So we're going to lose our retention,
Lose the holding of the breath and just work on extending our exhales.
So we're going to start with inhaling for four and exhaling for six.
And then with each round,
We're going to press the exhale a little bit longer till we get to eight.
So till we're doubled the inhale.
Again,
Listening to your body,
You can always keep it at six as the exhale if that is the count that feels better for you.
So when you're ready on the next inhale,
Breathe in two,
Three,
Four,
Breathe out two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Continuing now with your own counts,
This double exhale or wherever your limit is.
The important thing here is that we are extending our exhales.
And we're beginning to learn how we can use our breath as a tool to help relax us and to help balance the central nervous system.
Since we're in our first day now and continuing these nice deep breaths with the long exhales,
Let's perhaps add in a little bit here of visualization.
As you continue to breathe deeply,
Imagine in your mind what it would feel like if you slept fantastically tonight.
If you fell asleep within the first 15 or 20 minutes,
If you slept through the night and if you woke up,
Feeling well rested.
Imagining what that would feel like in the body.
Imagining as if you were getting ready to have that perfect night's sleep now,
Imagining how relaxed and sleepy you would already feel in body and mind.
Imagining all your running thoughts or worries or anxieties were just slipping away.
Though you will still be there in the morning,
I promise you,
And letting them fall away now at night as the mind starts to prepare for a different phase of consciousness or dream state or sleep state.
Imagining how it would feel if all the tightness or tension in your body just melted away as you began to drift off for this perfect night of sleep.
Allowing with each exhale some of the tension in your body or some of the anxious thoughts or worries,
Let those things that are perhaps impeding your ability to sleep,
Let those leave the body with the breath bit by bit.
Allowing yourself to drift into a deep relaxation that I hope will prepare you for bed tonight.
Thank you for joining me today.
Have a lovely rest of your evening or night.
