Welcome to this short guided breathwork reset.
It's designed to help you to take a moment during a busy day.
When I'm working with clients I often ask them to do this exercise two or three times a day if they can.
It helps bring them back to the present moment and also helps to switch off that fight flight and freeze.
Which can take over without us realising it.
You can do this when you're standing up with your eyes open.
But if you're somewhere that you can sit down now,
Find a comfortable position.
Place your feet firmly on the floor with your back upright.
And just shake off those shoulders to take away a bit of tension.
If it's comfortable for you to close your eyes,
Then do that now.
I'll talk you through the instructions before we carry this out together but it's nice and simple.
This exercise is often known as 7-11 breathing.
You're meant to breathe in for a count of seven.
Then you'll find there's a natural pause.
And then you breathe out for a count of eleven.
If you like working with numbers and breathing to a cycle of numbers then this might well work for you.
I will say however that you might not manage the 7-11 cycle.
That's quite deep and long for beginners.
So really as long as the out-breath is longer than the in-breath,
That's all that matters.
That's what really kicks in the parasympathetic nervous system.
So we're going to breathe in nice and fully through the nose and take that breath all the way down to the belly.
When you're full,
When you've breathed in as much as you can,
Then breathe out slowly through the mouth.
And it might help to breathe out as if you're blowing bubbles like you used to as a child.
So making that nice round shape with your lips.
I'm going to do three cycles with you now and I appreciate you might not be able to stay with me.
You might be a little bit faster or a little bit slower.
That's okay.
It's just as a guide.
So nice and comfortable.
Let's breathe in through the nose.
Here we go.
And then out.
And again in through the nose nice and full.
And out through the mouth for longer.
And one final breath in this cycle of three in through the nose nice and deep.
And then when you're full,
Breathing out for longer.
And now it can be really useful to notice any changes.
Does your body feel more relaxed?
Have your shoulders released?
Has your chest opened up a little?
Whatever you notice,
Then this is right for you.
And if you can get into a routine of doing this,
As I said,
A few times a day,
The benefits will really begin to show in your life.
I've even found that just asking people to do this can really reduce the incidence of things like panic attacks or outbursts of anger and frustration.
So thank you for joining me today.
And I wish you all the best with your breathwork pause as you try and build it into your day.
