Breath Meditation To Cultivate Inner Calm

Welcome to my guided breath meditation to cultivate inner calm.

We are going to explore three simple breathing practices that together will help to regulate your nervous system,

Calm down your mind,

And balance out your emotions.

So please come into a comfortable position and this can be sitting on a chair,

It could be sitting on the floor,

Or it could even be lying down,

Whichever feels best to you today.

And as you arrive in your chosen position,

Just begin to tune into your natural breath.

Letting the eyes come to close and inviting your body to soften as you exhale.

Let's spend the first few minutes just connecting to the body and releasing any surface stress or tension.

Start with the face.

Sensing the eyes,

Nose,

The mouth,

And you may even want to stretch your mouth open,

Closed,

Wiggle your nose a little bit,

Or scrunch up your forehead and smooth it out,

And just feel the tension from your face releasing.

Take that relaxation into the brain.

Imagine your brain like a muscle and feel it beginning to loosen its grip and relax.

And just feel your breath coming in and flowing out.

Now shift your attention into your neck and shoulders.

Feel the breath circulating through them.

As you exhale,

Let your shoulders just drop an inch down,

Away from your ears.

And let that release travel down into your arms.

Let your arms surrender here.

Let them become heavy and let that weight travel down into your hands,

Into your fingers and thumbs.

Then sense your torso,

Starting with your rib cage,

Your heart,

And lungs.

Move down into the space of your belly,

All the way down into your pelvis,

And just let go.

Let go wherever you can.

And lastly,

Take your attention to your hips.

Start to feel from the hips down to your knees,

Down to your ankles,

Into your feet,

And feel the legs just dropping their weight into the earth.

Take a breath in and out.

Allow your body to be at ease here.

Allow your body to feel comfortable.

Feel the natural rhythm of your breath flowing in and out.

And we're going to begin to regulate the breath.

The first practice we're going to explore is called one-to-one breathing.

It's really simple.

All you do is make your inhales and your exhales equal length.

So let's do this with a relaxed count of three to start,

And I'll guide you through this.

So I'd like you to breathe out completely,

And then breathe in for three,

Two,

One,

And breathe out for three,

Two,

One.

Breathe in for three,

Two,

One.

Breathe out for three,

Two,

One.

Breathe in for three,

Two,

One.

Breathe out for three,

Two,

One.

Breathe in for three,

Breathe out for three,

Breathe in for three,

Breathe out for three,

Breathe in for three,

Breathe out for three,

Breathe in breathe out breathe in breathe out breathe in and breathe out.

Beautiful.

So release that practice and just let yourself once again breathe naturally.

Notice how you feel.

Now we are going to move into our second breathing practice,

And this one again is really simple,

And it's called one-to-two breathing.

So we will breathe in for a relaxed count of three again,

But this time we're going to exhale for a count of six.

So please don't strain if this feels like a struggle for you.

You are more than welcome to just return to the one-to-one breathing,

Or you can adjust the length of the exhalation to maybe a count of four or five,

Whatever works for you.

And again I'll guide you through this practice,

And we'll begin first by just breathing out all the air from the lungs,

Taking a relaxed breath in for three,

Two,

One,

Relaxed breath out for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale for three,

Two,

One,

And exhale for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale for three,

Two,

One,

Exhale for six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale for three,

And exhale for six.

Inhale for three,

And exhale for six.

Inhale for three,

And exhale for six.

Inhale,

And exhale.

Inhale,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Inhale,

And exhale.

Great,

Now just let that breathing practice go,

And return again to your own natural breathing rhythm.

Notice how you feel.

Lastly,

We are going to practice what I call straw breathing.

I love this practice for grounding,

And also I use it whenever I feel anxiety or a really high agitated energy.

I will use this breath to calm me down.

To practice it,

You'll breathe in just a natural breath for you,

And then you'll exhale through an open mouth as if you're breathing into a straw.

So your lips will be slightly pursed,

And you'll be slowly slowly pushing the air out for as long as you can without straining.

It's really simple.

So again,

Let's try it together.

So I'm gonna have you exhale out all the air,

And then just breathe in a comfortable breath.

Purse your lips,

And exhale through an open mouth like you're breathing out through a straw.

Slowly slowly slowly.

And you'll repeat that.

So inhaling just a comfortable breath,

Breathing out through pursed lips.

Continue in this way on your own,

Breathing in through your nose,

Out through your mouth as if you're breathing through a straw.

Slowly slowly slowly.

You You You Take one more straw breath Breathing out for as long as you can without straining And then let go of that breathing practice return to your natural breath And again notice how you feel The breath is a powerful tool And these three practices can be done safely by anyone One to one breathing Bringing balance to your inhalation and your exhalations one to two breathing extending your exhalation Longer than your inhalation And then straw breathing Slowing the exhalation way down by breathing out through an open mouth These three breathing practices are three of my favorites They're simple yet extremely beneficial to our body mind and emotional states Bringing them into balance Let's seal in this experience and this inner state of calm with just a bit of grounding So feel all the way down into the tip of your tailbone Notice your legs and feet Sense the floor beneath you And then sense the earth beneath the floor See if you can project your attention down into the very center of the earth And I want you to tether yourself to the center of the earth Anchoring yourself Maybe as you do this you'll feel as though your whole body can sigh out a little bit of relief The earth is always here to support you When this feels complete,

Thank the earth and then spread your attention back out to your entire body And just breathe And then stretch your body back out to your center of the earth And just breathe May you always remember that there is a calm place within you Thank you for joining me Namaste