Calm your mind with coherent breathing.
If you're new to the practice of breath work,
Coherent breathing is the perfect yoga technique to help bring calm to any moment that may be stressful for you.
It's especially helpful if you have racing thoughts and want to encourage more space and clarity in your mind.
It will also help soothe your nervous system and bring more peace into your body.
Here's how we'll practice today.
We'll begin by inhaling through the nose and then exhaling for longer than we inhale.
Doing this will give you a new awareness of the nurturing quality of your breath.
We'll take a deep breath through the nose for a count of four and then exhale for a count of eight.
We'll do this 10 times in a row,
Then pause and check in to see how you may be feeling.
Then we'll do two more rounds to encourage even more calm to flourish within you.
Our last round will be a slight variation of the pace of this breath work to further increase the benefits of the practice.
Now sit comfortably with good posture.
Let your belly be relaxed as you do.
Take a few deep breaths in and out.
And breathe in through the nose for 1 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Take an easy breath in and relax.
Good.
Can you sense how focusing on your breath in this easy way can make you feel more empowered during challenging moments?
You may have already noticed a sense of calm entering your body.
Let's try this again now to build on the benefits of the first round.
And we'll breathe in through the nose for 1 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Breathe in 2 3 4.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Easy breath in and relax.
Well done.
Have you noticed any differences in how you feel from when you started today?
If certain emotions or thoughts come up,
Just observe them passing through and focus on the breath flowing within you.
Now we'll try one more variation on this breath work.
This time we'll breathe in deeply for a count of 8 and then breathe out slowly for a count of 16.
We'll do this 10 times.
If you find this challenging for any reason,
You can always pause if you need to take a break and just continue imagining your breath going in and out for the remaining rounds.
Now breathe in through the nose for 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
Breathe in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
Breathe in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
Breathe in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
Breathe in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
Breathe in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
Breathe in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
Breathe in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
Breathe in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
Breathe in 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.
Exhale 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.
And breathe.
Wonderful!
You did it!
Now you have coherent breathing as a tool you can use to de-stress any time,
To relax your mind,
Calm your nervous system,
And soothe and balance your emotions whenever you need to.
If you practice regularly,
You may find yourself having more mental clarity and becoming naturally more resilient because your body will remember this more calm feeling for each day you've practiced.
