First,
Find a comfortable seat or go ahead and lie down.
It's entirely up to you.
And notice that whatever else is happening in the world around you,
Maybe there's some noise or maybe there's something happening in your environment that's causing a little bit of a distraction.
Whatever happens to be true in the moment around you,
It's okay.
So arrive,
Bringing your attention into your physical body as you feel comfortable sitting down or laying out flat on your spine.
And then I invite you to take three breaths.
Something fancy just to breathe and welcome yourself into the moment.
Two more.
If you would like,
You're welcome to let your eyes rest closed.
In this practice,
I'll guide you through two different breathing techniques.
And I really like them because you can really do them anywhere.
And it helps to shift your nervous system from being very alert and activated to settling down and becoming more relaxed and calm.
And what's kind of cool about all of this is that when we work with the breath,
When we become intentional and mindful in the way that we breathe,
We begin to use the vagus nerve,
Which connects the mind with the body and helps to regulate the movement of our heart and our lungs and also our digestive system.
In the same way that people will talk about our fight,
Flight,
And freeze response when we feel a stress experience,
You might hear people describe this vagus nerve as being responsible for your rest and digest response.
And as we go through this practice and we start to soften through the belly,
You might feel a little bit of movement in the belly,
Or you might hear some little sounds,
And that's completely okay.
When we are holding stress in the body,
Very often,
We'll hold that in the belly space,
A contraction in that middle body.
And as we begin to relax,
And as the middle body starts to release some of that tension,
Sometimes it does allow your digestive system to move and relax and shift.
So now,
I'd like you to bring your attention to the movement of your breath.
Feeling the physical sensation.
As you exhale,
Feeling your belly soften.
And as you inhale,
Feeling the rib cage and the lungs expand just a little bit.
Enjoy a few breaths where your only intention is to be curious about what it feels like to breathe.
And now,
Notice that when you exhale,
As you release the breath,
You will feel the breath there is a moment of complete stillness.
After you release the exhale,
And before you receive the next breath,
It's only there for a moment,
But within every cycle of breath,
There is this after exhale.
And you don't need to control or change your breath.
Just notice as though you could follow the movement of your breath almost like watching a ferris wheel rise and fall.
And at the end of every exhale,
That moment of stillness before you receive the next breath.
Take two more breaths like that.
Good job.
Now,
We're going to move on to our next breathing practice.
This one is called the cosmic hug.
And you'll do it by crossing the arms over your chest and then tuck the fingers in kind of near the armpit.
So your thumb stays outside,
But the forearms are crossed over your chest.
The palms of your hands are near the upper rib.
And because the elbows are relaxed down,
You'll feel the back of your hand is resting against the inside of your upper arm.
And this practice is called the cosmic hug because it kind of feels like you're receiving an embrace from an unseen,
Very kind force that's all around you.
And all you have to do here within the cosmic hug is just feel the movement of your breath.
You might notice the softness as you exhale,
Allowing the inner corners of your eyes to soften.
And we'll stay here in the cosmic hug for just a few more breaths.
Your body knows exactly what to do here.
There's nothing that you need to change.
Just enjoy and notice how it feels to be here.
Held within the sweetness,
The gentleness of this cosmic hug.
Five more breaths here.
Breathing with every exhale.
And when this breath is complete,
Release the hold,
Letting your arms come to rest.
If you're laying down,
Your arms will be beside you on the floor or on your bed.
And if you're seated,
Then your hands can just rest in your lap.
And depending on how you feel,
You might just ride this moment into sleep.
Or you might begin to open your eyes,
Maybe stretch,
Yawn.
And you can always do this practice.
Boys.
