Hello and welcome to this guided bedtime breathwork.
It's a wonderful practice to transition into that state of rest,
Allowing the body to move into a state of repair,
The mind to a state of ease,
Using our breath to work into the nervous system.
So through this practice we will use different patterns of breath,
Focusing on each component to try and lever the nervous system,
Shift the physiology,
And create the state of body to allow that transition to a deeper state of rest or sleep.
So to begin our practice,
Let's just draw in one or two conscious deep inhales,
Letting go of an obvious sigh,
As if with that sigh we can let go of our day,
Let the shoulders drop,
The face off,
And let there be noise,
Let there be a full body sigh,
And then seal the lips,
Unlock the jaw,
And begin to breathe in and out of the nose.
Just notice the sensation of breath as it moves into the nostrils,
And the sensation of breath as it flows back out.
Breathe at a resonant frequency of breath,
Shift the nervous system,
The heart rate,
The respiratory rate,
Syncing up these systems.
Breathe steady but soft,
Breathe in for a count of five and out for a count of five.
Wherever you might be in your breath cycle,
Just gently exhale,
Soft and slow in through your nose,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
And out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Inhale,
Feeling the air,
And exhale,
Soften the shoulders,
Inhale,
Belly rises,
Exhale,
Shoulders drop,
Inhale,
Feeling this slow rhythm now,
Exhale,
Inhale,
And exhale.
Can you become more present with your breath?
Feel the inhale expanding slowly,
Notice the exhale falling from the body,
An opportunity to let go.
Inhale floats into the body,
Gently expanding,
Exhale spills out of the body,
Following this rhythm,
We're not pausing,
We're not holding,
Tuning into the rhythm of our own breath.
Now we're just going to shorten the inhale and lengthen the exhale,
We'll breathe in to a count of four,
Breathe out for a count of six.
To bring us on to the same pattern of breath,
Let's all take one deep inhale,
Sigh of relief,
Letting it go,
A little pause,
And then breathing in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Inhale,
Gentle expansion,
And exhale,
Prolonged,
Soft,
Falling,
Inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And then exhale,
Letting it go,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Inhale,
Just notice where your mind is,
Exhale,
Relax your body,
And where do you feel the exhale?
Drawing in nice and slow,
Gentle expansion,
And letting go,
Nice and soft,
A little heavy,
Exhale gently expands,
Present with the breath,
And exhale,
Softening,
Relaxing the body.
If your mind wanders,
Draw it back to the physical sensation of your breath,
Which part of your body is moving,
Where can you feel the breath,
And focus with every exhale on just letting go?
Now we're going to keep the inhale the same,
But let's begin to stretch the exhale a little longer,
So we're going to breathe in for a count of four,
And out for a count of eight.
If you find this becomes uncomfortable,
Just the maximum length of exhale that you can tolerate comfortably.
Again,
Let's all just draw in one nice big sigh of relief,
So big inhale,
And that heavy exhale falling out,
A little pause.
Let's breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And out for eight,
Seven,
Six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Inhale gently expands,
And exhale for eight.
See if it can become this deflating balloon,
The body letting go of tension.
The inhale flows in,
Belly into the chest,
And then that exhale to a count of eight.
Feel your body slowly letting go,
As if you're sinking down with the exhale.
Inhale floats in,
A gentle expansion,
And exhale washes out from the body.
So it's the exhale that provides the break to the nervous system.
The longer and softer the exhale,
The more we transition into that state of safety and rest.
Let's take two more of these slow,
Conscious cycles,
Exhales becoming long and soft,
Shoulders relaxing.
Then together we're going to take a short pause.
So let's take one deep breath in through the nose,
Hold the breath a moment,
And then just relax and let it fall out of the body.
When the breath stops,
I invite you to stop.
Notice the stillness in the body.
No movement,
No thought,
No breath.
Just float in this space.
When your natural breath returns,
Just allow it to come back to its rhythm.
Stay with this state of stillness in your body,
Remembering length in the exhales to shift the nervous system into that state of rest.
