Hello and welcome to this practice which will give you a simple,
Highly effective breathing technique to help ease your stress.
Coloured breathing is a great technique to use whenever you are feeling stressed,
But will also help if you feel angry,
Agitated,
Anxious,
Upset or triggered in any way.
For this practice we will focus on helping you relieve your stress,
Because stress is such an unpleasant but common experience for most of us,
And unfortunately research shows that it can be harmful for your mind,
Brain,
Nervous system and body if you don't learn to manage it in your day to day life.
So let's start by finding a comfortable sitting posture on a straight back chair.
Let your feet be flat and grounded on the floor.
Gently roll your shoulders back and feel your chest open up,
Your lungs feeling expansive and open.
This will help you breathe freely and deeply.
Close your eyes,
If that feels comfortable for you,
Or soften and lower your gaze.
Scan your body and notice what you are feeling emotionally.
You might be upset,
Angry,
Hurt,
Shocked,
Scared,
Threatened,
Agitated or feeling some other negative emotion.
Just let yourself feel whatever you are feeling for a few seconds.
Now focus on your body and mindfully scan your face,
Throat,
Arms,
Hands,
Chest,
Back and belly.
What do you notice?
Perhaps tense,
Tight muscles,
Maybe a sense of heat or rising energy in your chest.
You might feel a tight knot,
Churning sensation or butterflies in your stomach.
There is no right or wrong way to feel,
So just lean into whatever somatic sensations you are experiencing right now.
Check in with your posture,
Again rolling your shoulders back and letting them drop.
Make sure you are sitting in an upright but relaxed posture.
Start slowing and deepening your breath,
In through your nose and out through your mouth.
Let your breaths be slow,
Deep and even,
Counting to 4 on the in breath and 4 on the out breath.
Keep breathing,
Slow,
Deep,
Smooth and steady.
If you find yourself distracted by thoughts,
Memories,
Plans,
Worries or anything else that's perfectly normal.
Your mind might keep circling back to whatever stressful situations you are dealing with right now,
Which is fine.
But as you notice you are distracted,
Just keep gently bringing your attention back to your body,
Back to the breath.
As you breathe in,
Know you are breathing in.
As you breathe out,
Know you are breathing out.
Keep breathing deeply for another minute.
Now let's add another element to this practice.
As you breathe in,
Visualise a soothing colour.
For some people that might be pink,
Purple,
Blue,
Green or gold.
But just pick a colour that seems soothing for you.
And as you breathe in,
Imagine you are breathing in your soothing colour.
See it travel in through your nostrils and down your throat,
As it fills your lungs,
Chest,
Back and belly.
See your whole torso light up with this warm,
Gently soothing colour.
Enjoy that for a few seconds.
Then on the out breath,
Imagine you are expelling all that stressful energy.
Again pick a colour that best represents your stressful feelings,
Which might be black,
Grey,
Red or some other strong colour.
As you breathe out,
Imagine exhaling every molecule of stress,
Blowing it out through your mouth like smoke,
So it leaves your body for good and vanishes into the atmosphere.
Breathing in your soothing colour,
Breathing out your stress.
Stay with that for a minute.
Again if you get distracted,
It's fine.
Just gently bring your attention back to your body,
Back to the breath,
Back to those colours flowing in and out for another minute.
Now you can let go of visualising the breath in this way and allow your breathing to find its natural rhythm.
Without releasing all your efforts,
Just sit,
Peacefully,
Feeling a sense of calm,
Ease and relaxation in your body and mind.
Just enjoy that for a while.
Then bring your focus to the weight of your body resting on the chair,
Your feet on the ground,
Sounds reaching your ears from all around.
Then when you're ready,
Slowly open your eyes.
Now re-engage with the external world,
Carrying these feelings of calm,
Contentment and peace into the rest of your day.
