Welcome.
My name is Joy Koneska and today we're going to do a box breathing practice.
Now box breathing can help to calm the mind.
It can increase your sense of focus and can aid in stress reduction.
So how this works is you're going to inhale through your nose for a count of four,
Pause at the top of the breath for a count of four,
Then exhale for a count of four,
And pause at the bottom of the breath for a count of four.
Now these aren't forceful breaths.
They're simply slower,
Easy breaths.
And you want to think those pauses that are at the top and at the bottom.
It's not a hard hold of the breath.
It's just like a suspended transition between your inhales and your exhales.
So basically you're going to inhale,
Pause with the lungs full,
And then exhale and pause with the lungs empty.
All equal parts.
They call this box breathing because,
You know,
You could visualize a square or a box shape.
Inhaling up the side of a box,
Pausing across the top,
Exhaling down the other side,
And then pausing across the bottom.
And if a four count breath seems too long for you,
Please feel free to do a two or three count breath instead.
Or if you need to go longer,
Do a five or six count.
Just remembering that this really is a personal practice and I'm just here as a loose guide for you.
Remember to adjust the volume of my voice to an appropriate level for you.
And when you do box breathing,
Typically you can do this anytime,
Anywhere you want.
But since you're following my voice today,
I would encourage you to find a safe and comfortable position.
Either sitting in a chair or you can be lying down if that feels more comfortable.
Be in a position that allows you to breathe with ease.
Your eyes open,
Fixed on an object.
You can soften your gaze or you can softly close your eyes.
Whatever you prefer,
Feel free to do that now and let's get started.
So first just take a moment to connect with your breath.
There's no need to change the breath but just notice the inhalation and notice the exhalation.
Create an awareness of the breath without any judgment of it.
I'm going to guide you through four rounds of box breath and if I'm counting too fast or too slow,
Please continue at a pace that works for you.
So here we go.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Pause two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Pause two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale two,
Four,
Pause two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Pause two.
And continue a couple more rounds at your own pace.
And after you finish the round of breath that you're on,
Just go back to normal easy breathing.
Follow the breath in,
Follow the breath out.
And let's do another round of box breath here.
Two,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Pause.
Again inhale,
Pause,
Exhale.
Continue a couple more rounds.
And again after you finish this round of box breath,
Go back to your normal and back to the box breath.
Go ahead and inhale for four,
Pause for four,
Exhale for four,
Pause for four.
Continue a couple more rounds.
Finishing the box breath that you're on and then go back to normal easy breathing.
And let's repeat one more round of box breath and go ahead and go at your own pace.
Inhale,
Exhale,
And repeat the cycle.
And again just finishing the round that you're on and back to your normal breath and reassess your breath.
Notice how you feel in your body,
Your mind,
Feeling that connection with your breath,
Feeling a sense of groundedness and security.
And as we finish up this box breathing,
Feeling that sense of calm.
I want to thank you for trusting me to be your guide for this box breathing practice today.
Again my name is Joy Koneska.
I want to thank you and have a great day.
