Welcome to this guided breathing practice.
During this session,
We will take some time to focus on our breath,
And I will lead you through a breathing exercise called box breathing.
During that portion of the meditation,
We will complete five cycles of the technique,
Where we will inhale for a count of four,
Hold the breath for a count of four,
Exhale for a count of four,
And then hold for a count of four,
And then repeat.
To begin,
I invite you to relax into the most comfortable position available to you right now.
It should be a relaxed yet alert position.
And as you settle into this relaxed position,
I invite you to gently close your eyes.
If you prefer to keep them open,
I invite you to soften and relax your gaze.
I invite you now to begin bringing your awareness to your breath.
For now,
There's no need to fix or change it.
Just bring your awareness to your in-breath and your out-breath.
And now I invite you to begin relaxing your breathing just a bit.
Taking a few slow,
Gentle breaths.
A nice,
Gentle inhale,
And exhale.
Now let's do that again.
A nice,
Deep inhale,
And exhale.
We'll do that one more time.
A nice inhale.
We will now begin the box breathing portion of the meditation.
I will guide you through and count each cycle,
So you can simply focus on your breath and gently follow the rhythm of inhaling deeply through your nose,
Holding the breath,
Exhaling from your mouth,
And holding again as you prepare for the next inhale.
Let's begin.
Breathe in.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4,
And exhale.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4,
And inhale.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4,
And exhale.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4,
And inhale.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4,
And exhale.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4,
And inhale.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4,
And exhale.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4,
And inhale.
Next one.
Inhale.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4,
And exhale.
2,
3,
4,
And hold.
2,
3,
4.
Very nice.
Now I invite you to take a few slow inhales and exhales,
Gently returning to your natural rhythm of breath.
And as you do this,
I invite you to keep your eyes closed and take a few moments to just notice the sounds around you,
Feel the chair or the floor beneath you,
Taking a few moments to tune in to what you hear,
You smell,
What you feel.
You may notice that your breathing is now just a little bit slower naturally than it was before this session,
And your heart rate might be a little bit slower too.
I invite you now to begin slowly bringing movement back into your body,
And you can fully bring your awareness back to the room around you.
If your eyes were closed,
You can go ahead and open them now and bring your gaze and awareness back to the room around you.
This practice can be a wonderful way to start your day or end your day.
I also really find this helpful as a reset in the middle of the day,
Particularly if I've been running from place to place and just feel like a brief reset would really help me with some clarity and focus and calm.
Thank you so much for joining me in this meditation.
May you feel safe,
May you feel peace,
May you feel joy,
And may you feel loved.
