Breathwork For Anxiety: Box Breathing

Box Breathing is a simple breathing technique which is a helpful tool for finding calm in times of stress, anxiety, panic, overwhelm or any other heightened emotional experience. This breath involves an inhale, hold, exhale and hold which is typically equal counts in length. Join me as I guide you through four rounds of Box Breathing. Feel free to experiment with different varieties of this technique, for example perhaps holding the breath or exhaling for longer. Find what works for you.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Bianca and welcome to this box breathing pranayama or breathing practice.

Box breathing is a really calming grounding breath which can be really helpful for anxiety,

Panic and emotional regulation.

It's a great tool and one that is so easy to follow.

It involves an inhale for a specific count,

Breath retention for a specific count,

An exhale for a specific count and then another hold or breath retention for a specific count.

Today I'm going to be guiding you through four rounds of box breathing and we're going to be doing the inhale,

The hold and the exhale for four counts each.

Now after I guide you through those four rounds,

You're more than welcome to continue in your own practice and the invitation is to extend the length of the inhale,

The hold and the exhale.

So for example you might want to extend up until five counts,

Six counts,

Seven counts and so on.

Okay,

So if you're ready to begin with me,

Please find yourself in an upright seat,

Your spine nice and long,

Broadening out through your collarbones and maybe just taking a cleansing breath before we get started.

So inhaling through your nose and exhaling through the mouth.

We'll close our mouth and inhale through the nose for four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Two,

One.

Exhale,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhaling,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Exhale,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhaling,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Exhale,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Last round,

Inhaling for four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Exhale,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And hold for four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Continue like this.

Otherwise,

Allow your breath to return to its natural rhythm before you finish up,

Just observing how you feel,

Noticing if anything has shifted or changed energetically.

Thank you so much.

Namaste.