Breathing Into Relaxation

This practice is great for any time you need a break from life! If you are overwhelmed with work, or feeling anxious about jumping on a plane for the first time, this is a great practice to bring with you! This practice uses ratio breathing to slow down the breathing pattern, which can help to ease anxiety and provide a break from the tight grips of stress. This practice can also be helpful for people trying to quit smoking because the pattern mimics the habit. All it takes is 5 minutes!

Transcript

Find a comfortable seated position.

Sit up nice and tall.

You can close your eyes or just soften your gaze.

Just start by taking a few breaths in through your nose and out through your nose.

Just taking a moment to notice where you are right now.

Notice any tension in the body.

There's no need to try to physically move or twist that tension out of the body.

You're just making a little map of your body as you breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your nose.

Check in with your mind.

Just notice whatever arises there.

Maybe it's a chaotic river of thoughts or there's emotions swirling around.

Whatever it is,

Try not to react too much.

Just continue to breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your nose.

We're going to use ratio breathing to help lengthen our breath.

As you inhale,

Calmly count all the way to the top of your inhale.

Pause for a 3 count.

As you exhale,

Count the same way as you did your inhale.

Now you're just going to check in with whatever your breath is right now.

Just add the ratio to it.

Try to count calmly and slowly.

Just get used to breathing to a ratio.

Now,

We're going to start our 4-7-8 ratio breathing.

This breath will help reduce anxiety or the symptoms of anxiety and help release tension in the body and stress in the mind.

As you inhale,

Count to a 4.

Make your inhale a 4 count.

Then pause and hold the air in your body for a 7 count.

Slowly exhale for an 8 count.

Your inhale will be like this.

1,

2,

3,

4.

Then you're going to hold 1,

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7.

Then exhale 1,

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7,

8.

Then continue with that breath for the next few minutes.

If you find that this ratio is causing a little bit of stress or anxiety,

You can lower your inhale to a 3.

Lower the hold to whatever feels comfortable.

Then exhale to a 6.

The most important thing is to make sure your exhale is longer than your inhale and that you retain your breath in for some amount of time.

Continue to breathe like this for 10 breaths.

Then release the breathing technique and take a few natural breaths.

Allow your breath to be whatever it is.

Notice how you feel after you do a couple rounds of the 4,

7,

8 breath.

Notice the sense of calm,

Of contentment that just breathing in this way can bring about.