My name is Michael and I run Room to Breathe and thank you for attending this evening's session.
So the reason why I started doing these sessions is because I noticed something in myself that with everything that's happening in the world and the constant bombardment of news that we have and people telling us how we should live our lives,
I realised how anxious and stressed I was becoming and how that was just sitting with me and it wasn't really being processed.
I realised that if this is happening to me it's absolutely going to be happening to other people.
So I started these sessions just so that we can all kind of get in touch with some of the emotions that perhaps we shy away from and allow ourselves to start to process them,
Maybe to let go of the things that are beyond our control and focus on what we need to focus on.
So that's why we're here today,
So thank you for being here.
The format of this session is we'll spend the first part,
There'll be music playing,
We'll spend the first part just getting into a much more relaxed state.
Then we're going to do something called coherence breathing which is where we breathe basically in for the count of four,
Out for the count of four or five or three,
But essentially the breath is the same length on the inhale as it is on the exhale as I'll guide you through that at the time.
After that we're going to do something called,
Well I call it wave breathing and it's a type of conscious connected breath but it's very slow,
It's very gentle,
We're not speeding,
We're not forcing ourselves to go anywhere,
We're just connecting with our breath.
And it's a breath where we breathe deeply into our lungs so that we can feel our stomach move as our lungs start to inflate.
And I call it a wave breath because it feels like a wave of movement as we inhale.
So you feel the movement first of all in your stomach and then you feel it rise up so that your ribs start to move and then your chest starts to move and then you can even feel the movement in your neck and your throat.
So you're breathing in through the nose from your belly all the way up to your neck and then as soon as the lungs are full you let go.
You don't force it,
You just stop holding on to it.
So the wave of breath rides up your body and as soon as it reaches the peak you let go.
You don't force the exhale,
You just allow it to do what it needs to do on its own.
And we're doing this through the nose,
We're doing it nice and slowly,
We're not pausing at the top or the bottom of the breath and we're going to keep our awareness on our breath the whole time.
We're going to notice the impact that it has on our body and on our minds.
At the end of that section I'm going to invite you to do a small breath hold.
Now if at any point you find this type of breathing uncomfortable just go back into the 4 and 4 breath,
The coherence breath or any kind of breath that feels good for you.
But I'm going to invite you to do a breath hold.
So after an exhale when your lungs are empty and I'll give you plenty of warning,
Hold your breath.
We won't do it for too long,
If you want to do it for a bit longer than I suggest then that's fine,
But hold your breath.
And then I'll invite you after about 30 seconds maybe to take a deep inhale,
Feel your lungs and then we'll hold the breath again for a few seconds before letting go.
And then we're just going to take shallow breaths,
We're just going to take as much air as we need.
And we're going to do that for a short period of silence and then we'll come back.
So hopefully you're all nice and comfortable now.
So as the music starts,
That's the signal that the session,
The breath work is now going to begin.
So we're going to start by taking three long stretch breaths.
So we're going to breathe deeply in through the nose,
Fill in the lungs as much as you can comfortably,
And at the top just hold.
Take a sip more air and hold and then slowly out.
Just noticing the effect that that breath has had on your body.
And let's take another,
Breathing in deeply through the nose,
Fill in the lungs as much as is comfortable,
And at the top hold.
Take a sip more and hold and slowly letting go.
And notice if that breath has had any impact on your mind.
And let's take a third and final one,
Breathing in through the nose,
Nice and deep.
At the top hold,
Take a sip more and hold,
And one more sip and hold.
And this,
Allowing everything to relax,
For everything to start to melt away.
Starting to become aware of your body,
Your forehead,
The muscles around your eyes and cheeks,
Allowing the muscles in your neck and shoulders to soften.
And noticing your arms,
The skin,
The muscles.
Maybe you can feel the pulse of your heart as they become.
Bringing your awareness to your chest.
Noticing the movement of your breath in your chest.
The movement of your heart as it beats in your chest.
Noticing your abdomen.
Just allowing them to slow down.
Becoming aware of the muscles in your back.
Maybe they feel a little tense.
Maybe there's some tightness.
Just noticing that you can consciously start to release.
Allowing your entire body to become heavier against the surface beneath you.
Allowing your legs to become heavier.
Noticing the skin,
The muscles,
The bones,
The veins and the arteries.
The beat of your heart in your lungs.
Now taking your awareness to your feet.
Even your toenails.
As they all let go of the tension of the day.
The tensions that you have with you.
Maybe there's lots of little emotions.
Maybe there's one big emotion.
And you don't have to get into that emotion.
You don't need to step into it and fully feel it at the moment.
Just sit next to it.
Observe it.
How does it feel?
What does it look like?
Does it have a sound?
Or words?
What does it need from you?
Turning your attention away from your emotions now.
And coming to your breath.
We're just watching how we're breathing in this moment.
Feeling the air as it passes through your airways.
Noticing all the movements that happen with each breath in your body.
We're going to start taking coherence breaths now.
So we're all going to breathe in together.
In 3,
2,
1.
Inhale.
2,
3,
4.
2,
3,
4.
Exhale.
2.
Watching each breath as it comes in and out.
And if you get distracted by thoughts,
Notice what those thoughts are of.
And then turn your awareness back to your breath.
And any emotions that come up as you breathe like this.
Notice how they feel.
And as the music starts to change,
The invitation is to start changing how you breathe.
Starting to breathe deeply through your nose into your stomach.
And watching that breath wave right up from your stomach to your ribs,
Your chest,
And even to your neck.
Before letting go.
And there's no rush.
We're just getting used to the rhythm of breathing this way.
Breathing slowly but deeply through the nose.
No pause between the inhale and the exhale.
And if you start to feel any sense of anxiety or discomfort,
Know that you can slow down your breath.
Or you can return to a normal way of breathing as you're in church.
And notice the emotions that arise as you breathe like this.
Knowing that it's safe to feel your emotions.
Allowing yourself to breathe into your emotions.
Noticing if you can breathe slower.
What needs to be seen.
To be witnessed.
Released.
As you exhale.
In about a minute,
After an exhale,
I'm going to invite you to hold your breath with your lungs empty.
But for now,
Keep breathing deeply.
Allowing the wave of breath to rise up your body before you release it back.
And after your next exhale,
Holding your breath with your lungs empty.
Knowing that you can breathe again whenever you need to.
Feeling the beat of your heart.
Allowing everything to slow down.
And if you're ready,
Taking a deep breath in.
And at the top,
Hold.
And let go.
Allow yourself to breathe at a slow rhythm that's comfortable.
Not filling your lungs,
Just taking the amount of air that you need and that's all.
We'll have a few minutes of silence.
Observing the emotions as they arise.
What needs to be felt and what can be released.
What are you ready to let go of?
To leave behind here?
And what are you ready to pick up?
And as the music starts,
We know that it's time for us to start our journey back.
But let's just take a few moments to recognize anything that's happened during this session.
Now,
You may want to stay in this position and go to sleep.
Or you may want to get up and do more things.
Both are absolutely fine.
But if you are going to get up,
Just allow yourself to take some small movements first.
Maybe just moving the muscles of your face,
Your fingers,
Your toes.
Noticing where your body is asking to be moved.
And wherever you go after this session,
Making sure you take things slowly.
Don't jump up.
Straight away,
You may feel a little bit dizzy.
Make sure you're hydrated.
Make sure you allow yourself to rest when you feel you need to rest.
And maybe have something nice to eat as well.
Maybe start stretching your arms,
Your legs.
Maybe you want to do a neck roll.
Bend your back.
Straighten your back.
If your eyes aren't open yet,
Just starting to remember what the room around you looks like.
Colours,
The shapes of objects.
And when you're ready,
Gently open your eyes.
Thank you very much for being part of this session.
