Welcome to this guided mindful breath work session.
I call this mindful breath work because it's essentially a combination of breath work and mindfulness meditation.
So this is a calming practice,
A grounding,
Centering practice.
So go ahead and find a comfortable seated position.
You can either be in a chair with your feet on the floor,
Or seated on the floor with your legs crossed,
Whatever feels good.
Allow your hands to rest either in your lap or on your knees.
Make sure that your spine is straight but not too rigid.
And if it's safe for you to do so,
Go ahead and close your eyes.
We're going to begin by simply noticing the breath,
Just how it is in its natural rhythm,
No need to change it or control it right now.
Just notice yourself breathing,
Bring your awareness to your breath.
When you're breathing in,
Know that you're breathing in.
And when you're breathing out,
Know that you're breathing out.
Now getting curious about your breath,
Again with no need to control it right now,
Just observe what it feels like.
Does it feel hot or cold?
Does it feel calm or rushed or labored?
Simply observe it without trying to control or judge it in any way.
We'll go ahead and deepen the breath just ever so slightly,
Making our inhales a little bit deeper and longer than they were in its natural state.
And I just want you to notice where you feel the breath most prominently.
Meaning,
Do you feel it in the nose on the inhale?
Or do you feel it more in the rise and fall of your chest or belly?
Or maybe you feel it most on the exhale as the air graces your upper lip.
Just notice where you feel it most prominently and allow your awareness to rest there.
We're going to take some deep breaths,
Some diaphragmatic breaths.
We're going to inhale through the nose and we're going to exhale through the mouth but through pursed lips as if we are blowing the air out through a straw.
So on the inhale,
I want you to allow your belly to fully expand.
This will allow your diaphragm to fully expand so that you can completely fill the lungs.
And we're going to make the exhales slow so that they're just a little bit longer than our inhales.
And you can make that hole in your lips smaller to increase resistance and help you extend that exhale.
Making sure that we're fully emptying the lungs on the exhale and this will require a little bit of squeezing of the abdomen,
Kind of sucking the belly button towards the spine.
So again,
Breathing in through the nose,
Filling all the way up and exhaling through the mouth through pursed lips.
So on your next exhale,
Completely emptying your lungs,
Making space and room for our inhale.
Go ahead and inhale through the nose,
Allowing your belly to expand and exhaling through that straw.
Squeezing and fully emptying the lungs,
Inhaling again through the nose.
And exhaling through our straw.
Go ahead and continue at your own pace.
Exhale.
Exhale.
Exhale.
Exhale.
Exhale.
Exhale.
Exhale.
And at the end of your next exhale,
Go ahead and just allow your breath to resume its natural rhythm.
And take a moment to just bring your awareness to your body,
Feeling your body from the inside out.
Notice how your body feels after these few minutes of deep breathing.
Just notice any sensations,
Tingling,
Anything that arises,
Just notice.
And simply let yourself enjoy the sensation,
This rest,
This peace,
This calm after our deep breathing.
Thank you so much for joining me today for this mindful breath work session.
I hope that you are gentle with yourself as you make this transition back into the normal pace of life.
And remember that the breath is always here.
We can always turn our attention to our breath to ground us and recenter us in the present moment.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day,
And I will see you next time.
