Center Yourself With 4-7-8 Breath

4-7-8 breath is grounding and calming, helping to bring you back to the present moment. In only a few rounds of this centering breath, the mind clears, the body relaxes, and you are reset. Use this breath morning, afternoon, or night to regulate the nervous system and promote wellbeing.

If holding the breath causes you to feel lightheaded, skip the breath hold and do the 4-count inhale and 8-count exhale.

Transcript

Coming to a comfortable seat, This is a 4-7-8 breath practice. This breath is intended to lift your spirits if you feel tired or you feel off balance or it's intended to help bring you down and balance you and calm you down. So it's quite of an adaptogenic breath. So coming to align the spine nice and straight, Find a comfortable seat or lay down on the floor, Close the eyes, Let all the muscles of the face begin to relax downwards. As the eyes close, Looking into the third eye, The space in between the eyebrows, Letting all the muscles of the face relax, Relax, Scanning the body from head to toe and observing where you might be holding on, Contracting, Just observing those spaces in the body and offering them a moment to release, To relax, To let go, To surrender. Softening the hands, Softening the soles of the feet, Softening the belly, Softening the heart space, Finding the natural rhythm of breath in and out, The natural rise and fall of the belly, Up and down. Slowing down the breath, 4-7-8 breath means that we'll be breathing in to the nostrils to a count of four, Holding it at the top, Retaining the breath for seven, And then slowly exhaling to a count of eight out the mouth, Like you're taking a sigh. So it's a cooling breath, It's cooling down the systems, And so take a big inhale through the nose to begin, Exhale out the mouth and let everything out, Big sigh of relief, Closing the lips and beginning to inhale through the nostrils to a count of one, Two, Three, Four, Holding it at the top, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Opening the mouth and letting all the air out, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Squeezing everything out, Closing the lips, Inhale to a count of one, Two, Three, Four, Hold, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Exhale slowly out the mouth, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Squeezing it all out, Closing the lips, Inhale through the nose, One, Two, Three, Four, Hold everything in and up, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Exhale slowly out the mouth, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, One more round, Closing the lips, Inhaling through the nose, One, Two, Three, Four, Holding it at the top, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Slow exhale out the mouth, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Beginning to breathe normally, Into the lowest part of the spine, Into the lowest part of the belly, Fill up the belly, The ribcage, The heart, The chest, The throat, And to the top of the head, Exhale, Letting go of the breath, The shoulders melt away from the ears, Bring the chin to the chest, Stretch the back of the neck, Bring each ear to the shoulder, Side to side, Slowly start to move the fingers and the toes, The ankles and the wrists, And coming back into a state of harmony, Balance, Rubbing the hands together, Creating that warmth, Creating that energy movement, Focusing on a positive word, Peace, Love, Abundance, Friendship, Trust, Divinity, Whatever it may be, And when you're ready, You're going to send that warmth from the hands, The energy from the hands, And that beautiful positive word, Somewhere into the body, To the heart, Or the eyes, Or the knees, Or the belly, Or one hand heart, One hand belly, Sending that beautiful energy into yourself as you feel the chest and the heart rising to meet the hands on the inhale, And the chest and the heart and the belly falling and softening on the exhale, Another breath, Feeling the body rising to meet the hands, And softening on the exhale,