Breathing into balance.
Welcome to this guided meditation for honoring and acknowledging your breath and inviting it to help us find a baseline of calm and rest.
Start in a comfortable position.
Seated is fine,
But for this meditation I like laying down with the knees bent and the feet on the floor.
You may also like to be laying down for your rest to go to sleep at night.
That works as well.
When you're ready,
Take a moment to notice how you're genuinely feeling in your body.
Notice areas of tension,
Especially around your shoulders,
Your jaw,
Or your stomach.
Soften what you can and see if you can observe what your breath is doing right now.
It takes some practice to notice your breath without changing it.
It's totally okay if it changes.
Just focus on relaxing your body as much as you can and watching your own breath.
Sometimes I like to open my mouth while I'm doing this,
Just to free the airway and try to see what's happening there.
Notice if your breath feels like it's loaded more at the top of the breath,
At the top of the inhale,
Or more at the bottom,
Near where the exhale ends.
Does this breath reflect your mood,
How you feel emotionally or energetically?
Our breath naturally changes when we're stressed,
Sad,
Angry,
Happy,
Excited,
Joyful,
And so on.
Our breath is always trying to help us,
Trying to give us what we need to focus on what's ahead and then,
When it's time,
To return us to a calm,
Healthy,
Restful baseline.
See if you can allow your breath to do whatever it wants to do right now.
And you might find that that includes a sigh or some other kind of breath,
Which is fine.
Let it do what it wants to do.
There is something really basically restful and kind about allowing your body to do whatever it needs to do and trusting that that is the right thing.
Feel free to simply continue to do this,
To let your breath find its own way back to baseline for as long as you like.
Otherwise,
We'll give it a little bit of help so that we can do that.
You may like to begin to breathe through your nose if you're not already.
Imagine stretching the breath just a little bit,
A slightly longer inhale and a slightly longer exhale.
Notice the moment when your breath would naturally switch from an inhale to an exhale.
See if you can stretch gently into that space.
Notice when your breath would naturally switch from an exhale to an inhale and stretch gently into that space.
This stretch could last a second or two or it might simply be imaginary.
There's no right or wrong.
Just imagine the breath lengthening slightly.
Now,
We'll begin to imagine your next inhale drawing up along the left side of your body,
Inhaling from the left foot up to the left nostril.
As you exhale,
Imagine that exhale moving down along the right side of your body,
From your right nostril down to the right foot.
Then draw the inhale back up along that same right side to the right nostril and then allow the exhale to move down along the left side of the body.
Inhale up along the left side and then exhale down the right.
Inhale up along the right side,
Exhaling down the left.
Inhale along the left side and exhale right.
Inhale back up along the right and switch at the top of the breath.
The breath begins to make a kind of infinity symbol,
Switching directions at the top of each inhale.
If you go in the wrong direction or you skip a breath or you miss something,
Nothing bad will happen.
Just do your best.
Continue to imagine the breath running along the two sides of the body.
If you like,
We can add on to this physically using alternate nostril breath.
You can bring your right hand up to your face,
Resting your peace fingers on your brow.
As you inhale along the left side,
Seal your right nostril with your thumb.
Exhale down the right side as you seal your left nostril with your ring finger.
Inhale up along the right side,
Briefly seal both nostrils and then exhale down the left,
Sealing the right nostril.
Inhale left,
Briefly seal both and then switch to the right side as you exhale.
Continue to run the breath in this infinity symbol pattern with the directions switching at the top of each inhale,
Using the fingers to help you shift the breath from the right to the left nostril and back again.
Continue to allow the breath to be as long or as short as feels right to you.
Don't force the breath to go any faster or slower than it wants to,
But you might be stretching it gently in the direction of length and slowness.
Continue on at your own pace a little bit longer.
Feel free to take your hand away when that feels right.
When you feel ready,
Exhale out the left nostril and then you can remove your hand from your face if it's there.
Breathe simply through both the nostrils and notice how you feel.
Notice how the pace of the natural breath may have changed and how that may have shifted how you feel inside your body.
Notice if you feel in any way calmer,
Slower,
Or more relaxed.
You may like to rest here as long as you like.
Perhaps you're choosing to drift off to sleep from here.
Otherwise,
If you feel ready to complete this meditation,
Take a moment to thank yourself for spending this time listening to your breath and moving towards balance.
Thank you for listening and I hope you have a wonderful,
Calm,
And relaxed rest of your day.
