Help! I'm Stuck In The Stress Loop - Breathing Meditation

When you hear/read/see anything that triggers the fight/flight/freeze in your body, use this quick breathing meditation and hand position to bring more blood to the forebrain. When we are stressed, 80% of that blood leaves the forebrain, goes to the adrenal glands and triggers the stress loop. The hand positions used here can be done any time you feel those sensations of stress: elevated heart rate, tight chest, flushed.

Transcript

Hello and thank you for joining me.

I just want you to take a moment to settle into your practice,

Closing your eyes.

Just notice how you feel today.

Sometimes when we hear,

Read or see anything that triggers our stress response,

What happens in the body is 80% of the blood leaves the forebrain.

You may feel your chest tighten and a surge of energy that goes up through your throat into your head and it almost feels like you're flushed.

Your heart is racing.

Your body has triggered the fight or flight response.

And when we are in fight,

Flight or freeze,

We lose our ability to think clearly.

The front of your brain,

Your forebrain,

Is the cerebral cortex,

The area of logical thinking.

When it is deprived of blood,

It is deprived of oxygen.

When it is deprived of oxygen,

It does not function.

We cannot think clearly and your heart is closed.

So take this time now,

Placing one hand over the forehead,

One palm over the forehead.

Put the other palm at the back of the head.

Let your chin lift.

Just opening the throat.

And then just taking a moment to really focus in on your breath.

Feel the breath enter in through the nostrils and go down into the lungs,

Causing your belly to expand.

And then exhale and just allow the breath to release out through the nose.

You feel your belly contract inward.

And we're going to focus on the breath,

Keeping time with the music that is playing in the background.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

And just focus on the music.

Feel the timing of the music as you breathe.

There's no need to count.

You can just go with the flow of the music and breathe in through the nose and out through the nose.

It's okay to breathe in and out through the mouth.

That's fine too.

I'm going to let you be with your breath for a little while.

Enjoy.

You you Go ahead and release your hands Allow your breath to return to its natural rhythm And then just take a moment to be grateful This concludes our meditation for today Feel free to share this meditation and use it whenever you feel stressed Thank you for joining me Namaste and Miigwech

Reviews

Wow, that was helpful!!