03:31

Guided 4-6 Pranayama (Breathwork)

by Living Well Ayurveda by Melanie Warner Spencer

Rated
4.5
Type
guided
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone
Plays
55

This guided meditation instantly engages the parasympathetic nervous system to calm and reset the fight-or-flight response. By working with a shorter in breath and elongating the out-breath, equilibrium is restored.

BreathworkMeditationRelaxationParasympathetic Nervous SystemIntentionParasympatheticBreath CountingIntention SettingSoft FocusBelly BreathingPortable Meditation

Transcript

Hello!

Let's meditate.

Today I'm going to show you another really quick meditation that you can take with you anywhere.

You can do this at home,

In your formal meditation space,

While you're in the kitchen,

While you're driving in the car.

If you do it while you're driving,

Obviously we don't want you to close your eyes,

But this one is great for any time you just need a little reset.

We're going to take a breath in,

That is about four counts,

And we'll breathe out at about six or eight counts.

And what this does is activate your parasympathetic nervous system,

Which is getting you out of fight or flight or out of that sort of frenzied state,

If that's where you are,

And gets you into a more equal and balanced state,

So you can chill out and rest.

So,

As always,

Let's take a moment to center ourselves.

We can either put our hands at heart center or leave them resting in your lap or on your knees,

However you'd like to do that.

And again,

As always,

You can either close your eyes or not.

If you opt to keep your eyes open,

Just softly focus on something in front of you,

A candle,

Or it could be anything,

Just a dot on the wall,

Whatever makes sense to you.

And just sort of have your eyes very softly half open,

And allow things to blur softly a little bit.

The key here is softness,

As you can see.

And we're going to take a few breaths just to indicate to our minds what we're about to do.

So breathe in,

A nice full breath through the belly,

And sigh it out.

Breathe in,

And sigh it out.

You might want to consider an intention,

That could be something as easy as peace,

Or whatever word pops into your brain,

Or you don't have to set an intention,

That's up to you.

And now let's do a four count in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six.

And in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six.

Once again,

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

And out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six.

And now take another moment to sort of see if you can sense into a shift of any kind.

And if not,

Continue to do the breathing exercise,

Continue the meditation.

Otherwise,

Flitter open your eyes.

If you're going to continue on,

Feel free to pause this and come back when you're ready.

And make sure that you have felt that shift,

However long it takes.

And that's it.

Again,

Practice this one whenever and wherever you like.

Thank you for meditating with me today.

Meet your Teacher

Living Well Ayurveda by Melanie Warner SpencerNew Orleans, LA, USA

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© 2026 Living Well Ayurveda by Melanie Warner Spencer. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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