In today's meditation we're going to practice a special type of breathing together called diaphragmatic breathing.
At first it may feel odd to breathe this way.
That is normal.
In fact this is an opportunity to give yourself grace.
Most of us were never taught how to breathe.
As a baby you took your breaths from deep in your belly.
Now you may find that you mostly breathe from your chest.
Let's take a moment and get curious.
Put one hand on your chest and one hand on your belly.
Allow your breath to move naturally without changing it just yet.
What do you notice?
Is your chest moving up and down or is your belly?
Many of us will notice our chest moving more.
We're going to learn to breathe in a way that stimulates our vagus nerve and calms our nervous system.
That is to say let's begin to breathe with our diaphragm.
A muscle at the bottom of our ribcages.
When the diaphragm moves down toward the belly button it causes our lungs to fill with air.
Now focus your attention on your abdomen and gently allow your muscles to release there.
Hmm wonderful.
When our belly muscles are tight and rigid our diaphragm can't move.
Let's practice together now.
Imagine a rolling ocean wave coming in and out.
That is the rhythm we're going for.
As we breathe into our belly our chest stays still.
We are almost pushing our belly gently out.
On the out breath allow your belly to deflate like a balloon and exhale through your mouth.
Imagine a balloon as you breathe in.
The balloon in the belly gets bigger pushing your belly out.
As you exhale the balloon deflates and we breathe out through our mouth.
Let's take three of these breaths together now.
In balloon inflating and out balloon deflating.
Notice if your chest is still moving.
We want a still chest and a moving belly.
Two more.
In balloon inflating out balloon deflating.
Last breath in and out.
If you'd like to keep practicing this breathing feel free to pause the meditation here.
Otherwise pause and notice how your body feels.
What sensations are you noticing?
Where in your body are you feeling the effects of breath meditation?
Rejoice in the goodness you gave yourself in these minutes.
That is all for now dear ones.
