Welcome to my evening wind down breath work.
Thank you so much for trying this ultimate restful breathing exercises.
My name is Natasha and I hope to share the mindfulness practices to help us reduce anxiety,
Promote inner peace and connect with ourselves,
Slow down our racing mind.
When the pandemic happened,
I was forced to close glow and I noticed that my anxiety went over the roof.
I started having horror dreams multiple times a night,
Bad sleep,
My resting heart rate elevated to 75 and I've noticed my first gray hair started popping up on my head.
I knew I was breaking down and I had to do something.
My meditation practice was not very effective so I leaned into breathing exercises.
I've tried so many and they started to work.
I kid you not but I think I've read over 12 books on breath work in three months and knowing about breath work and practicing breath work are different things.
So here I am to share the practices that truly helped me and also I don't want to seem vain but now two years later with daily breathing exercises and in my 40s I still do not have gray hair.
What it means to me and my health that I was able to reduce and manage my stress and here I am dedicated to share all the practices that helped me deal with my anxiety,
Improve my sleep,
Slow down my heart rate and I hope that they will help you too.
Many of us wake up a little tired for a few reasons.
Reason number one is often we don't breathe properly during sleep.
I recommend you looking into see if you breathe with open mouth when you sleep and try to correct that as soon as possible because that depletes our brain and its energy.
And the second reason is that we don't really have a good solid mental hygiene before we go to bed.
The routine of winding down.
So this practice is an excellent way to calm down and bring your mind to a still point.
Wind down your nervous system,
Shift it to parasympathetic state because when our brain relaxes it has all the energy to replenish,
Repair and regenerate you.
If you have a curious and analytical mind like mine it's a blessing but not when you're trying to go to bed.
I would recommend you to get a notebook with a pen and have it near your bed.
So when you go to bed you have something to write things down,
Let them go because if you're anything like me when you go to bed and all of your attention is only on your mind you get most amazing solutions popping up to all of the world's problems.
You all of a sudden remember all everybody's birthdays,
You have to send the gifts to,
Brilliant ideas come to visit and you are trying so hard not to lose that train of thought,
Afraid to forget it in the morning.
How can we go to sleep like that?
So please have a notebook,
Write things down so in the morning you can check with it and get things done whatever needs to be done.
This breathing exercise is not only good for winding ourselves down for sleep but also if you wake up in the middle of the night and you cannot go back to sleep and during the day when you're feeling scattered and need extra concentration and focus to complete your project.
Try it on.
Okay let's begin.
Take a comfortable seat or if you are going to bed go ahead and lie down.
This particular breathing exercise actually slows down our heart rate which is the best way to calm our nervous system down and to prepare ourselves for restful sleep.
It also relaxes our vascular system.
The slower our breathing rate is the softer our arteries and capillaries veins become which reduces our blood pressure is excellent for our heart and all of our organs,
Our brain,
Our cells receive nutrients and oxygen with more ease.
This breathing exercise also develops self-awareness.
You are aware of your own body,
Mind and most importantly we are aware of our heart.
I love the quote that says the longest journey a human being will ever take is the 12 inches from the head into the heart.
So beautiful.
Okay let's close our eyes.
Take a first breath that you are aware of.
Tell yourself I inhale and I exhale.
Notice any sounds around you and just let them be there.
Feel your body is supported and safe.
Every next breath we'll take we'll send towards some of our body parts and we'll try to flex and then relax those parts.
So let's inhale all the way down towards your toes and your feet and your ankles.
See if you can stretch your toes and pull them towards your knees pressing your heels away flexing your shins and ankles stretching your toes inhale hold that flexion and exhale release.
On the next inhale we are going to think of our knees and quads.
Inhale into knees and your quads send your breath there flex your quads pull your kneecaps up inhale and hold exhale relax your knees and your thighs.
Think of your glutes let's inhale squeeze the glutes hold exhale relax the glutes.
Think of your shoulders inhale into your shoulders and your back squeeze engage press them into the bed hold exhale relax your back your shoulders think of your face and your hands.
Let's inhale send your breath into your face and in your hands squeeze your fists and your face hold exhale release that tension.
Now bring your thumb onto the opposite wrist very lightly to find your heartbeat you can also place your hand onto your heart or top of your belly.
Once you found your heartbeat what we're going to do is to create harmony between our breathing and our heart beating.
Most likely our heart is a little elevated we just finish our day.
Our thoughts can actually make our heart beat faster when we try to figure things out our heart is sped up when we are trying to achieve things we're in a sympathetic state accomplishment state here we are trying to shift into the restful digestive repair state parasympathetic using our breathing.
Let's bring all of our awareness and focus to control and align our breathing to our heart beating.
So now that you have found your heartbeat we will breathe to four beats pause to two beats exhale to four beats and pause to two beats.
Don't worry if it's too challenging it all comes with practice and the longer you doing this exercise the slower your heart rate becomes and your breathing extends longer and longer.
The goal here is to make our breathing rate a little bit slower and you can also start counting one two three four pause one two exhale one two three four pause one two so all your mind is doing is feeling the heartbeat counting the heartbeat and breathing with it.
Let's begin inhale one two three four pause one two exhale four three two one pause one two do it ten times.
When we are aware of our heartbeat we pay attention to our subtle body we appreciate we notice our own life force this is such a profound practice.
Inhale one two three four pause one two exhale four three two one pause one two keep going.
What you'll notice is as you practice this breathing exercise your heart beat will be slowing down and calm and peace start flowing through your face your skull your neck your back your thighs feel relaxed your feet are soft calm and peace overflowing your mind and your body.
Inhale one two three four hold one two exhale four three two one hold one two keep going.
When you catch yourself on thinking with love and compassion bring your awareness back into your heartbeat.
When we do this practice for a few minutes our vascular system all of our rivers capillaries veins and arteries soften all around your body and you start feeling the palpation of blood all around even around your belly your ankles your eyelids your fingertips.
As you progress this exercise I invite you to extend your breathing to six but please no overachieving here be very gentle and only extend as long as it feels relaxing.
The whole purpose of this exercise is to feel calm and ease letting the serenity take over all of the system of your incredible fascinating body.
Inhale and exhale.
Open your heartbeat all around your body.
As you continue breathing you are sensing deep relaxation taking over your whole body you feeling sleepier your eyes are getting heavier your jaw is soft and tell yourself a prayer may I and all beings be calm and safe.
I let go of all control and let myself be cared away into a restful replenishing sleep.
Have a good night.
End this breathing exercise as long as you are feeling yourself awake and have a good night.
