When we are stressed or feeling anxious or overwhelmed,
Our breath can be shallow,
Short and sit high in the chest.
Deep breaths can create calm in our body.
Through deepening our breathing and extending our exhale,
Our heart rate can slow down.
The vagus nerve recognises these physical cues of safety and sends that information to parts of the body so they can turn off the fight,
Flight or freeze response that has been activated as a result of our stress.
Our meditation will be focused on the breath and the soothing potential available to us in slowing down the breath.
We'll be exhaling through an invisible straw.
I'll be guiding you throughout the practice.
Let's begin.
Sitting in an upright position,
Shifting gently forwards and backwards,
Side to side,
To find that comfortable,
Relaxed position that feels good for you in this moment.
Lower your gaze or close your eyes,
Softening the jaw,
The shoulders.
On your next exhale,
Soften the belly too.
We're going to use our pretend straw now.
I'll guide you through this,
But first we'll take an inhale and an exhale in preparation.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Taking a big belly breath in through the nose,
A light pause,
And then emptying out through your mouth as if blowing air slowly through a straw.
Taking a breath in through the nose,
And as we breathe out,
We'll breathe out slowly through our invisible straw,
Emptying the full exhale.
Again breathing in,
A gentle pause,
And then breathing out through the straw.
Taking a big belly breath in through the nose,
A light pause,
And emptying out through your mouth as if blowing air slowly through a straw.
Emptying all of that exhale through the straw,
And one more time,
Taking a big belly breath in through the nose,
A light pause,
And then emptying out through your mouth,
Through the straw.
Return to a relaxed and effortless breath.
Sit gently in the sensations of your body.
Become curious to the sensations in your body.
As you're breathing,
Where do you feel the air go?
Is it going all the way down into your tummy?
Or is it sitting high in the chest?
As you exhale,
Where is that coming from?
Is it all being emptied out?
Follow your natural breath.
Bring curiosity to it.
The breath can be used as an accelerator and as our breaks,
And through different breathwork practices,
We can choose to uplift our mood or slow down our body's response to stress by slowing down our breath,
As we have done just now.
Starting to gently wiggle your toes,
And moving your hands and fingers and feet.
Let yourself reconnect to your surroundings as we close this meditation.
