So this is a practice that supports regulating the nervous system.
So you'll be doing some deep breathing,
Breathing in and out of the belly specifically,
And then extending the out breath to make it longer than the in breath.
If you struggle with belly breathing,
You can do this practice lying down.
Otherwise doing it sitting in a comfortable sitting posture and eventually you can do it anywhere.
Even waiting for the bus or on the bus or just a few 10 deep belly breaths is always a good practice.
So for now,
Finding a comfortable seated position.
If you're comfortable closing the eyes,
Close the eyes.
Otherwise,
Just gazing softly downward or at a fixed point in the distance.
And inviting the body to soften,
So softening the face,
The forehead,
Softening around the eyes,
The cheeks,
The jaw.
Softening the shoulders,
The arms,
The hands,
The legs,
The feet.
Inviting the body to let go of any holding,
Any tension.
The belly and the chest are soft,
Responding to the natural rhythm.
Of the breath.
I'm bringing one hand and placing it on the chest and another hand on your belly.
Beginning to notice the breath,
Noticing where you feel your breath.
Is it more in the belly?
Is it more in the chest?
He said a bit of both.
Just noticing naturally where your breath flows,
Where you experience your breath.
And on your own,
Beginning to invite your breath into the belly,
So that as you breathe in,
The belly expands.
And as you breathe out,
The belly folds.
Belly expanding as you breathe in,
The belly falling as you breathe out.
And as you do this belly breathing,
You're still also breathing in the chest.
The chest is expanding too.
But you're focusing on bringing the breath all the way into the belly as well.
Beginning to slow down the breath.
So slowing down your breath,
Extending out the breath,
Lengthening the breath.
As much as you comfortably can.
So you're not gasping for breath either,
But just slowing down the breath as much as is comfortable to you right now.
And breathing in and out of the belly so the belly expands as you breathe in.
And falls as you breathe out.
And if you can't access that belly breathing you can.
.
.
Do this practice lying down on your back.
Or you can use your hand to help to guide the breath in and out of the belly.
Or even visualizing that the belly is a balloon being filled with air as you breathe in and the air being squeezed out of the balloon as you breathe out.
Just slowing down the breath.
And breathing in and out of the belly.
So the purpose of deep belly breathing is to really access the nervous system.
There's this nerve called the vagus nerve,
And it runs throughout our entire body,
Helping the body to function.
And this deep belly breathing helps,
Works in tandem with that vagus nerve to literally calm down the nervous system on a physiological level.
And it's a great practice because you can do it anytime,
Anywhere.
You don't have to be sitting down with your eyes closed,
But you can do it.
You know,
When you're in a line,
When you're waiting for something,
When you're driving,
Just 10 deep belly breaths,
Just creating that habit of learning to regulate and calm the nervous system.
And then if you want to take it a step further,
You can do the next part of the practice,
Which is making the out-breath longer than the in-breath.
So we'll start bringing in some counting.
So we'll breathe in to the count of four and breathe out to the count of six.
And then you're welcome to adjust that to make it longer or shorter to suit your needs.
So breathing out together.
And then breathing in 1,
2,
3,
4.
Breathing out 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Breathing in 1,
2,
3,
4.
Breathing out 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Breathing in 1,
2,
3,
4,
Breathing out.
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
And just continuing counting on your own.
And if it's too long and you're gasping for air,
Just make it shorter.
And if you feel like you could go further,
Make it longer.
But just clarifying that the out-breath is longer than the in-breath.
And if you can increase that difference to make the outbreath even longer than the inbreath.
Please do so.
It's just that extending of the out breath really helps with the calming,
Working with the nervous system and calming it,
Calming it down.
And you're still breathing in and out of the belly,
So the belly expands on the in-breath and falls on the out-breath.
Just slow,
Deep,
Expansive breaths in.
And out.
Body soft.
So the face,
The forehead soft.
Shoulders soft.
Arms soft,
Legs soft.
Hands and feet as relaxed as possible.
Slowing down the breath.
Breathing deeply.
Belly expanding as you breathe in,
Falling as you breathe out.
And using those numbers,
That counting,
To extend the breath and make the out-breath longer.
Than the in-breath.
Just a few more deep,
Expansive breaths in and out of the belly.
And then you can keep going and doing a few more rounds of this.
Otherwise,
Whenever you're ready,
Letting go of the counting,
Letting go of the extending of the breath.
And allowing the breath to settle.
To return to its natural rhythm.
Body breathing all on its own.
Gentle rhythmic presence of the breath.
Experience of being alive.
And then whenever you're ready.
Opening your eyes,
Maybe stretching a little bit and going back into the rest of your day.
And another,
Just one other thing you can add to this practice if you are doing it out and about and just taking a few deep breaths is adding the mantra,
I am safe.
It's just,
I am safe and the world is a safe place.
It's just an added element to help.
Calm the nervous system.
The nervous system has different beliefs about ourself and the world depending on what's stated in,
But.
.
.
But a calm nervous system,
Usually the belief is I am safe,
The world is a safe place.
And other things,
Which is something we can explore in future sessions.
