Welcome to today's meditation where we're going to use a settling breath work practice to help slow down any feelings of panic and anxiety.
So I want to invite you to find whatever position feels most comfortable and sustainable for you.
For a lot of you that might mean lying down on the back of the body and perhaps placing the left hand on the heart and the right hand on the belly.
And if it's available perhaps bringing a cushion or bolster or folded blanket underneath the hips so that you can raise the hips just slightly above the heart which is going to help to lower the blood pressure and the heart rate.
And if you are taking this supine position supine position just make sure that the spine is softening down into the ground.
Perhaps you're laying on a yoga mat or on a bed and that the head is supported and the neck is free.
So if there's anything underneath the head like a small pillow or a folded blanket it's just underneath the base of the skull,
The back of the skull and the neck is free.
I would suggest but it's entirely up to you that you bend the knees and plant the feet flat on the ground and if there's any tweakiness in the lower back you might like to just widen the feet and knock the knees together so you create a pyramid out of the legs.
And then bringing the hands onto the body with the left hand on the heart and the right hand on the belly allow the shoulders to really soften down the back and relax down into the ground so you can feel that space almost opening up between the shoulder blades around the back of the heart.
I'm trying to let that softening and that yielding find its way through the whole of your body so you're consciously relaxing from the crown of the head down to the tip of the toes and just letting any tension melt out of the body.
Sometimes we don't even know that we're holding it and that gripping and that resistance is exactly what heightens our sense of anxiety or stress or panic or overwhelm.
So just taking the next few moments to scan through the body and consciously invite all of the muscles of your body to release and relax.
So important if we are to send that signal physically around the body that everything is okay.
So just releasing around the eyes and the forehead and releasing the muscles of the cheeks and the jaw,
Really important.
And releasing and finding some space between the back teeth top and bottom and just allowing the full weight of the head to release into the ground.
Let the throat soften,
Relax the shoulders,
Feel those muscles of the back,
Letting go into the earth.
The weight of the pelvis and hips softening into that bolster,
Cushion or blanket beneath you.
And the legs nice and heavy so the weight of the femurs,
The thigh bones are just dropping down into the head of the hip sockets.
And you can feel the feet softening into the ground as well.
And just feeling yourself supported completely from the ground.
So there's no holding of your body weight,
You are giving the weight of your body into the ground.
And you're allowing gravity to do the work here of just melting you and drawing you downwards.
Really nice.
And now together let's just take our awareness to the breathing body.
So we've established that weightiness and that sense of release through the muscles.
And now just it's our time to sense into the ebb and flow of the breath.
Just as the breath is naturally.
You can begin by sensing into the touch of your hands against your body,
The warmth of them.
The feel of the fabric of your clothes against your hands.
Against your hands.
And then just noticing where in the body you experience your breath.
And it may be that it's mostly located in the upper body.
It may be that you're experiencing this panicking or this anxiety or this overwhelm.
And therefore the breath is very shallow,
It's just in the chest.
And that would make sense because how we breathe affects how we feel and how we feel affects how we breathe.
So our conscious practice is going to be about deepening the breath,
Slowing the breath.
And working to change the physiology and change the hormonal response that we're receiving by having a very short and shallow breath.
So no judgment if you're noticing,
Yeah the breath is quick,
The breath is shallow,
My heart's racing,
I feel out of control.
And I'm with you here in this practice as we begin to deepen the breath.
And I'm with you here in this practice as we begin to deepen the breath.
And let me just talk you through how that's going to go.
So with as much non-judgmental loving-kindness towards ourselves and towards this body which may be stuck in a panic response,
We're going to keep our awareness of the breath in our hands on the body.
As we begin gradually just to deepen the breath in through the nose and try to expand into the sides of the body and down to the belly as you breathe in.
Might feel a bit unnatural at first and as you breathe out you're going to breathe out from the belly and the sides of the body,
Through the nose or the mouth,
Whatever feels good for you.
And often out through the mouth can feel really relieving and releasing.
And again breathing in,
Trying to just work gently to extend and expand the breath lengthways and widthways.
And breathing out slowly from the pit of the body.
Releasing every last breath.
Good.
Just a slow expansion here.
There's no rush as we increase the breath capacity.
And you might like to imagine that you are breathing into a balloon,
Inflating a balloon,
And it widens and lengthens at the same time.
So its volume is like the volume of your ribs,
Your lungs,
Your belly,
Your side body,
Your waist.
And you're looking to gently expand that breath to fill all of the body,
Particularly the torso.
The torso.
You're going to find your own rhythm here,
So hopefully you're just continuing here,
Keeping the underside of the body relaxed.
Checking that we haven't tensed up in the collarbones,
Shoulders,
Knees.
And we're allowing the breath to flow more deeply.
It's almost like it's massaging the inside of the body.
Caressing the body with this balanced,
Equal ratio between in-breath and out-breath.
And it's a conscious breath.
We're staying with it.
We're mindful of it as it happens,
Because we're deliberately and intentionally expanding it.
Maybe you tune into the sound of the breath as it enters the nose.
And maybe you tune into the sound of the breath as it exits the body.
And the goal here is not to try and stop thinking,
But instead just to let the awareness,
The attention,
Rest on the deepening,
Broadening,
Widening breath.
A breath that we have control over,
So that we can change our stress response,
And viscerally override that stress response,
Taking back control of our body and our emotions and our mood.
You're doing so well.
This is so good for you.
Just riding that wave,
So that you sense into that connecting point between the end of the inhalation and the start of the next exhalation.
And the same in the other direction,
Sensing into that ending point when the exhale finishes up.
And the next inhale comes through.
For some of you,
It can be really helpful to count the breath as well.
And if that's the case,
Then we're aiming for a roughly equal inhale to exhale.
And this simple counting as you breathe in and counting to the same number as you breathe out,
It's just another way of keeping the mind anchored to the here and now.
So feel free to add that to your practice if you like.
Really nice.
Just continuing in the same way,
Allowing the breath to be a little drowsy-making,
Really soothing that panic and anxiety response.
Thinking of the breath as something that nourishes you,
Changes the channel,
And allows you to be free.
And to feel safe within your own mind and body.
Knowing that you can come to this practice anytime you need to.
And we'll just be here together practicing for about another minute.
And I will leave you in silence.
Just stay with your breath in this way,
But I'm right here with you.
All right.
So nice.
Really well done.
You are,
Of course,
More than welcome to continue laying here in this free flow of deepening waves of breath that nourish and recover you.
If this feels good and you want to continue your practice,
Feel free to do so.
And equally,
If you're ready to come out,
Just take your time to roll gently over to your left or right side,
Lying in a fetal pose,
Before slowly pushing your way up to a comfortable seated position,
Keeping the eyes softly closed.
And just taking a moment there to keep the gaze turned inwards and to let things settle.
And to let things settle as you notice any changes or any effects of your practice.
If you'd like to join me in giving thanks for this practice,
You can bring your hands together in a prayer position at the heart center.
And we'll take a gentle,
Soft breath in through the nose together.
And as we breathe out,
Bow the head in the direction of the heart.
Namaste.
