Abdominal Breathing

This audio serves as an intentional guided breathing exercise tailored specifically for stress reduction and personal resetting. Listeners will be warmly invited to adopt a grounded sitting position with a strong posture to naturally stabilize their environment. By maintaining focused observation of structural physical contact and systematically expanding long, slow exhales, participants can shift from high-tension states back to authentic full-body relaxation.

Transcript

This is an abdominal breathing practice. This is really good for when you're feeling any kind of stress and you can do it anywhere and in any situation and you can do it more obviously by pursing the lips and having a bigger exhale or you can do it quite discreetly if you need to. So let's do this one sitting up. So, Getting yourself comfortable. So, Ideally, We'll have a strong back. I'm gonna open front. Closing your eyes if that feels good. And just settling into the moment. Whatever's been happening. The last few days, All the morning. We're just going to reset the lovely breathing practice. So just start by noticing your body on the chair. Perhaps the position of your body. Any areas that pull for your attention. Perhaps where the body meets the chair. Feet on the floor. And let's start with softening that jaw. To bring a sense of relaxation. Allowing the forehead to soften. And the shoulders to drop a little further. So, Stretching up with the in-breath. And relaxing with the out-breath. So just noticing what your general mood is like. Your mind and your body. Not judging. Trying to change. Just noticing. And now we're going to switch our focus to our breath. Again, Just that noticing. Not trying to change it at this moment. Okay, I invite you to put one hand on your chest. And the other hand on your belly. And just feeling the movement. Of those hands as you breathe in and out. You'll start to notice the rhythm of the breath. Perhaps one hand is moving more than the other. Just noticing which. When we are stressed, We tend to breathe in a shallow way. Into our chest. So actually what we're going to do is start to actively breathe more into the lower hand. So, Into the belly. If it doesn't feel comfortable, Just breathe normally. If you can, Just breathing more into that lower hand. Feeling the in and out, That hand moving. And then gently letting go of your upper hand, Just placing it on your lap. Or wherever feels comfortable. You have one hand on your belly. Breathing into that hand. Can you slow that breath down a little? Making the exhale nice and long. As long as feels comfortable. I really like to purse my lips and kind of force the breath out but slowly. I find it gives me control, More control, As if you're blowing out candles really slowly. So we're not counting at all, But just breathing in and then a long, Slow out-breath. Just whatever feels comfortable. If you feel dizzy at all, Just go back to your normal breath. But if it feels okay, Just breathing in and then. Nice, Long, Slow out breaths. And as you do, You might feel your hand on your belly coming in. Your belly contracting as you breathe out. Just at your own pace. Breathing in. And then a long, Slow out-breath. Keep doing that for a few moments. You might notice some different sensations in your head or in your body now. Just paying attention to them as you're breathing in that way. Perhaps you can feel the cool air coming in through your nostrils. And the warmer air coming out through your mouth. And with each out breath, Just allowing your whole body to just soften. Bringing that sense of relaxation. In doing this, This is activating what's called the parasympathetic nervous system, Which is the opposite to the stress response. So even if your mind is very busy, It's still having a calming effect on your body, Which will then impact on your mind too. Okay! So just letting go of any different kind of breathing. And just breathing normally. You might want to let go of your hand that's on your belly. Just noticing. How your body and mind is feeling now. Perhaps a little slower. Little calmer. Perhaps that makes you want to have a smile. Okay, As we're coming to the end of the practice, Just switching your focus once more to your body on the chair. Feet on the floor. Gently opening your eyes. If they were closed. Bringing some movement into your body. And taking this sense of relaxation with you throughout the day and knowing just those simple longer out breaths can really impact on your stress levels and your mood.