Directing The Breath To Soothe Anxiety

In this short practice, we use the breath as an anchor to come back to the present, and make small, gentle changes to the inhalations and exhalations to relax the body and soothe the nervous system.

For a longer relaxing practice, check out Keziah's audio track "Restful Body Scan".

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this quick beginner meditation with me, Keziah Gibbons. Today we're going to spend a couple of minutes practicing with our breath. Just to bring awareness to this present moment. How we are in this moment. And to allow ourselves to intentionally connect with a bit of that vital energy which is ultimately the purpose and intention of the breath. So I'll invite you first of all just to check that you're comfortable and if you need to make any adjustments to your posture you can do so now. There's no particular way we need to sit, Stand or lie, Just do what's going to feel good for your body in this moment. And then without making any changes or judgements, Just Noticing your breath. So noticing whether you're breathing through your nose, Your mouth a combination of the two. Noticing your breathing in your body, Can you feel it in your shoulders, Chest, Belly? Anywhere. And noticing the length of the inhale and the exhale. Are they the same? Is the inhale or the exhale longer? Do you feel that you're breathing quickly or slowly? So just enjoying that moment of being aware of your breath. And perhaps experiencing a moment of gratitude. Appreciating that you are breathing at this moment. On this day. And now we'll just make a couple of very gentle adjustments to your breath. How we breathe can affect our state and how regulated we are. And it's a great one to be aware of because it's something that we can have conscious control of in any given moment and you can do this anywhere. So first of all you might experiment with bringing your breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Out through your mouth. Just if that's comfortable. Directing your breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. And then we're going to just slightly alter the length of the inhalation and exhalation so that they're either the same length or for the exhalation to be slightly longer than the inhalation. This signals to your autonomic nervous system that we belong in rest and digest mode and not fight or flight mode. So, Breathing in. Breathing out. Staying within what's comfortable, So we're not forcing anything. But just letting your exhale be slightly longer than your inhale. And then finally just breathing slightly deeper. And slightly slower, So you don't have to make a lot of change. Anything slower than your normal breath will have a relaxing effect on the body. And again, We're not forcing anything here. Just allowing the breath to come deeper and slower. And you might place a hand on your belly or on your ribcage. Feeling the breath. Noticing how far down it seems to go and perhaps just intending to send it down a bit deeper. Allowing your lungs to fill just a little bit more with every breath. And letting your breath slow down. And we'll just sit here for a few moments more. Being aware of your breathing. Letting your body just do that naturally. And that's it, Our practice for today. Hopefully you'll be feeling that little bit more centred, More relaxed. I'm more able to be present and resourceful with whatever's coming next. I'd love you to come back and practice with me again tomorrow. And in the meantime, Have a wonderful rest of your day.