Hi,
This is Keith McPherson and I'd like to guide you today through a practice called the slow down breath.
To begin,
Find yourself in a comfortable seated position.
Stop everything that you're doing and place your hands on your knees or thighs.
Feel your feet planted down into the ground below.
Sit up straight and relax your shoulders.
Close your eyes and take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the nose or mouth.
To begin this practice,
Continue to narrow down your focus to one breath at a time.
When your mind wants to wander and get distracted,
Just notice and bring yourself back to this one wave of breath at a time coming in through the nose and spilling out through your nose or mouth.
Tune into the words slow down.
Bring your attention first to the word slow as you take a slow breath in through your nose.
Focus on the word down as you take a deep breath in through your nose.
Focus on the word down as you breathe out through your nose or mouth.
Once again,
Take a slow breath in as you focus on the word slow.
And as you breathe out,
Drop down and focus on the word down out of the busy mind.
Down and focus on the word down out of the busy mind and into your body.
One more time,
Inhale slow breath in.
Breathe down into the body and relax.
We're going to continue this inhale and exhale focus.
Every breath in,
Focusing on the word slow.
Every breath out,
Focusing on the word down as if you're dropping down into relaxation.
Inhale slow for one,
Two,
Three.
Hold the breath.
Exhale down for three,
Two,
One.
Inhale slow one,
Two,
Three.
Hold the breath.
Exhale down three,
Two,
One.
Inhale slow one,
Two,
Three.
Hold.
Exhale down three,
Two,
One.
Inhale slow one,
Two,
Three.
Hold.
Exhale down three,
Two,
One.
Try another two to three rounds of slow down breath on your own rhythm.
Focus on the word slow as you breathe in and focus on the word down as you breathe out.
As you breathe out.
Taking one more slow breath in through the nose and dropping down on the breath out into presence and relaxation.
Slowly open your eyes.
Slowly open your eyes and become aware of how you feel in this now moment.
Feeling the effects of what it means to truly slow down in your mind and your body.
More peace,
More clarity,
More presence.
May you bring this into the rest of your day.
Namaste.
