Hi,
I'm Miriam Amavi and now we are going to practice a regulating breathing exercise together which helps release anxiety,
Stress,
Tension,
Overwhelm and even panic.
This exercise has a very calming and regulating effect because it signals safety to your nervous system and when your nervous system feels safe it can return to the rest and adjust mode allowing you to feel more relaxed and clear.
So I invite you to find a comfortable seat or you can also lie down wherever you feel most comfortable and if you feel safer having your eyes open you can definitely leave your eyes open.
I invite you to start to take a deep breath into your lower belly and then as if you're blowing out a candle breathe out through your mouth and let it all go and it's okay if these breaths are not too deep yet just allow yourself to be where you are and you can take another deep breath into your lower belly and breathe out with pursed lips and let all the tension,
All the anxiety flow into the ground and now we're going to practice a nervous system technique called the physiological sigh and this is very regulating for the body and you can just take another deep breath into your belly through the nose and once you are full with air and you feel like you can't take in any more air just take one more little sip of air through the nose and breathe everything out through the mouth and then you can take another deep breath through the nose into your lower belly,
Let your belly rise and take one more sip and breathe out and you can just find your own timing and pace and what is important here is to just make the exhales a little longer than the inhales you can take a deep breath into your belly until you feel like you can't take in any more air take one more little sip through the nose and breathe everything out and let all the tension release and breathe all the tension out you can just keep going with this breathing pattern letting your belly rise,
Fall there's no way to do this perfectly just breathe in your own pace and you can also see if after taking that last sip of air you want to hold that breath for a few seconds and then breathe out and let all the tension,
All the heaviness flow into the ground let yourself be held by the surface that you are sitting or laying on and see if you can allow yourself to just be here and acknowledge to yourself that you may be in a moment of suffering and that that is so human and we all suffer and you're not alone with this and now i'm going to describe another little somatic technique that we can use to further regulate your system and you can decide if you want to adopt it or if you want to leave it out and just keep on breathing so as you're taking these deep breaths doing the physiological sigh you can start to gently tap on your face or just caress your face with your fingertips and generate these neutral or pleasant sensations and in our face there are so many touch receptors and even vagus nerve endings which signal safety to our nervous system if they're being stimulated in a very gentle way soft touch signals safety to our nervous system so you can just notice whether you can feel the texture of your skin with your fingertips and keep on doing these deep breaths into your lower belly extending the exhale and noticing the temperature of your face if it changes if you move your hand to a different place in your face and you can also put your hands on your chest and make circular motions with your hands on your chest is up to you if you want to add on to this breath or not sometimes breathing is all we can do and that is okay that is so kind to yourself to just be here and breathe show your system that you're safe because you are there's no danger here it's just a misinterpretation of the nervous system and if you like you can also start to hum as you do your deep breaths and you can just hum a quite low note so that it still feels comfortable for you but notice the vibrations of this humming in your chest and your mouth and humming like this in whatever volume you want to help stimulate the vagus nerve even more and the vagus nerve is one of the cranial nerves that send signals of safety to our brain in the stimulated and this can help the brain to come out of that fight or flight or survival mode the stress mode and come back into a ventral vagal state which is the rest and digest state where we feel comfortable clear safe and just see which ones of these suggestions you want to add on to your breath third tapping your face caressing your face being these circles on your chest or humming noticing the vibrations and if these add-ons overwhelm you that's totally okay then you can just leave them out and there's nothing you have to achieve here you can just let yourself be let yourself sink into the surface with every outbreath you can let all that tension go and surrender to your breath and stay present with your body stay present in the now and this is also a way that we can signal to our brains that we are safe because all the bad things often either happened in the past or we think will happen in the future but if you're just here now in your body feeling these vibrations of your humming feeling the rise and fall of your belly or feeling the texture in your skin these are all ways to show to our brain that it is safe to let go and just let your belly rise and take that little sip of air once you've filled up and as you breathe out just let everything go breathe out all the fears all the pressure all the tension and it is so kind from you to just be here and allow yourself to have this human moment to be vulnerable with yourself to not abandon yourself but to meet yourself with kindness with a deep breath and allow your muscles to let go to become heavy for you to just be held by the surface and let yourself be held by these deep breaths you can just breathe in your own pace and if you're humming you can notice how far this vibration travels within your body maybe you can even feel it in your fingertips or your toes and as you continue to breathe maybe you can also find a place in your body that feels neutral or even pleasant if you like you can bring your attention there and reside there for a little bit showing yourself that suffering and neutral sensations can coexist and if exhaustion rises up in your body you can allow that and perhaps it's an exhaustion from fighting against these feelings you have and it's okay to just give up for a little bit and maybe there's heaviness or tiredness coming upon you and if you can just allow that let your body come into a place of recovery into this place of rest that is essential for recovery and observe your belly rising and falling perhaps your breaths are becoming even deeper and longer and you can either stay here and maybe even be seduced by sleep or a little nap otherwise you can slowly come out and let your breath be natural again and you can return to this exercise as often as you like whenever you need it it's here and I especially recommend practicing it in the evening or morning as a preventative measure and if you're looking for more support to feel calmer inside check out my course on Insight Timer it's called Stress,
Anxiety and Overwhelm Practical Tools to Regulate Your Nervous System I'm Miriam Amavi and I'm wishing you a wonderful day.
See you soon.
Bye
