Hey there,
This is Dana Mitchell and thank you for joining me as we go through how to do box breathing,
Or some people refer to it as square breathing.
And this is a technique that you can use if you've had a stressful day or you're trying to unwind before bed,
Or maybe you just need to kind of ground yourself in the moment,
Maybe your anxiety is rising or you're in the middle of like a fight or flight situation.
So I'm going to talk you through how to do this process.
So I like to envision a square,
A box,
And if you start at the bottom left hand corner and you breathe in for a count of four,
Basically you're going up the side of the box,
And then you'll come across the top holding that breath for a count of four,
And then as you come down the right side of the box you're breathing out,
And then you hold for a count of four,
Coming across the bottom of the box.
And what this does is it helps you to bring your conscious mind back to the moment and concentrate on the breathing,
Settling down your nervous system,
Calming your breathing to a calm pace,
Relaxing your muscles,
And at the same time it may be that your thoughts are scattered and you just bring them back to the sound of my voice,
And if they start to wonder and that's fine,
Bring it back to the sound of my voice.
Just make sure your feet are on the floor if you're sitting in a chair or you're laying comfortably where your back is supported.
So we're going to begin and I will count you through this process,
And as you do this begin to notice your muscles in your body starting to relax.
So take a deep breath in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Then two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Blow out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Continue breathing as you listen to the sound of my voice,
Relaxing one muscle at a time,
From the top of your head,
Through your face,
Over your shoulders,
All through your chest,
Down through the muscles of your stomach.
Also releasing all the tension in your back as you breathe in,
Hold,
Breathe out,
And hold.
And if you squeeze all those muscles in tight and then release them all at one time,
You may find that that relaxation comes a little bit quicker and a little bit easier.
Continue your breathing as you settle those muscles in your chest cavity,
Over your heart,
Down to your stomach area,
And anything that feels tense,
Begin to picture the loosening of the knots.
Those muscles begin to loosen and relax.
And if you're ready,
We will do that count of the breath again together.
Ready?
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe in,
Hold,
Blow out,
And hold.
Breathe in,
Hold,
Blow out,
And hold.
Continue your breath as you listen to my voice,
Going as fast as you need to.
We've started at the top of the head,
Releasing your shoulders,
Relaxing your stomach muscles,
And your back tension.
And now you'll feel that relaxation rolling down around your legs,
The top of your thighs.
If you need to clench those muscles real tight and then let them go,
It will bring on additional relaxation.
And that relaxation is going to roll over your knees,
Down through those calf muscles,
Down to the feet.
So from the top of your head,
Through your face,
Over your shoulders,
Through the chest area,
Continuing through the stomach,
Over the legs,
Around the knees,
Through the calf area,
Down to your feet.
Continue to do this as you feel all those muscles in your body relax,
All the tension releasing,
The pulling apart of the knots,
The release,
The release,
The release.
And if your mind is wandering,
It's okay.
You will feel that tension release,
Your pulse will slow down,
And that fight or flight response will level out.
And come back to this and listen to it again.
Anytime you need to pull back your energy to settle it out,
To calm down that fight or flight,
To feel you're safe in your body when you need to feel grounded and calm.
So we'll close out this session with another counting of the breath.
In that box,
Going from the bottom left hand corner to the top,
Where we hold,
Coming down you blow it out,
And then you hold coming across the bottom.
Ready?
Take a deep breath in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Blow it out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe in,
And hold,
Blow it out,
And hold.
Continue breathing at your own pace and relax as long as you need to.
And I hope you have a wonderful day.
