2-Minute Deep Breathing For Stress Relief

Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? Take two minutes to focus on your breathing, activating your parasympathetic nervous system to calm and soothe your body and mind. This practice can be done anytime and anywhere, as often as you need.

Transcript

Welcome to this quick two-minute guided breathing session.

This is a great practice to do anytime you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed.

Deep breathing helps to activate our parasympathetic nervous system,

Which promotes greater feelings of calm and relaxation.

To get started,

Find a comfortable seat.

I like to lie down if possible,

As I find it easier to breathe deeply here.

But you can do this wherever you are,

Sitting,

Standing,

Or lying down.

If you want,

You can close your eyes.

And now take your attention to your breath.

Simply notice your inhales and your exhales.

Notice how your breath is right now.

Do you feel it in your chest,

In your belly?

Does it feel quick or slow?

Simply start by taking stock.

Now invite your breath to travel deeper into your body,

Out of your chest and into your abdomen.

Inhale.

And slowly exhale.

I like to rest my hands on my stomach,

Feeling the rise and fall with each breath.

If you don't feel any movement right away,

That's okay too.

Don't force it.

Simply encourage your breath to travel farther.

Notice any tendency you might have here to rush.

And gently slow down your breathing.

Inhale.

And exhale.

Find a comfortable pace.

There's no hard and fast rule as to how many seconds each breath has to be.

Simply try and slow it down a little bit more than it normally is.

Continue breathing slowly and deeply for as long as you need.

Thank you.

Reviews

I loved this. Not only did you have a very calming voice but it was nice to hear that there’s no rule about how long each breath should be. I feel like there’s always a lot of pressure to breathe for 3-4 seconds each way and that’s not always easy to do. Thank you for taking the stress out of it. 🙂

Lovely

Thanks Kiara! Your voice is soothing & you speak at such a calming pace.