5-Minute Breathwork: Calm Anxiety & Nervous System Reset

A 5-minute guided quick breathwork meditation using alternate channel breathing, slightly different than alternate nostril breathing—inhaling and exhaling through different pathways (nose and mouth) to recalibrate your nervous system, cultivate balance, and regulate stress.

Need a quick reset? Play this 5-minute meditation to help you pause, reconnect to your breath, and self-regulate anytime you need calm. Perfect to soothe anxiety, stress, or midday overwhelm.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this short five-minute meditation to recalibrate your breath.

This practice is perfect to take a pause,

Reconnect to the medicine of your breath,

And self-regulate whenever you need it.

Recalibrating your breath involves a practice I like to call alternate channel breathing.

Normally we tend to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth,

But in alternate channel breathing we are changing which avenue the breath goes in on each round to cultivate focus,

Mindfulness,

Balance,

And presence.

So what this looks like is starting the round normally,

Inhaling through the nose,

Exhaling through the mouth,

Then for the next breath you'll inhale through the mouth and exhale out the nose and repeat.

I'll be guiding you through each step,

So find your comfortable seated meditation position.

Lengthen the spine as you relax the body.

Close the eyes or soften your gaze,

Pausing here to just feel your inner landscape.

Honoring any and all emotions and sensations exactly as they are.

There's nothing wrong with them.

There's nothing you need to change or fix.

Then on your next inhale,

Mindfully draw in air through the nose,

Then exhale naturally out the mouth without any force whatsoever.

Let this exhale be graceful.

Mindfully draw in air through the mouth in an oval shape.

Seal the lips and exhale softly out the nostrils.

Inhale through the nose,

Exhale out the mouth.

Inhale through the mouth,

Exhale out the nose.

Inhale through the nose,

Exhale out the mouth.

Slow,

Conscious inhale through the mouth,

Then exhale out the nose.

Inhale through the nose,

Exhale out the mouth.

Continue this alternate channel breathing following this pattern between nose and mouth.

Feel yourself enter a state of complete equilibrium.

As you recalibrate your breath through the pathways it flows in and out of your body.

Completing your final round of this breath,

Ending with the exhale out the nostrils.

With the lips sealed,

Return to your natural rhythm of breath in and out the nose.

Pause and embrace this moment of peace and regulation,

Knowing it is always here for you.

The medicine of your breath is within you.

Thank you for joining me in this quick recalibration practice.

May you move through the rest of your day with steadiness and inward connection.