I Can Breathe My Way Through Anything

I Can Breathe My Way through Anything brings together a variety of breathing techniques from different schools of thought to cumulate in five mini-meditations, hopefully giving listeners some more tools for their meditation toolbox.

Transcript

Hi everyone.

Today we're going to be learning a few short breathing practices to help you calm down and de-stress.

For those of you that would like to add an expressive arts level to this talk,

I would like to invite you to grab a piece of paper and a pen.

Nothing fancy,

It's just a quick visual reference.

When you're ready,

Take a moment to notice the quality of your breathing.

Is it shallow,

Moderate,

Deep?

Is it quick?

Are your inhales longer than your exhales,

Or the other way around?

I want you to draw a line that represents your breath.

You might find that it looks like a heart-bounded line.

Once you're done,

Just set it aside and we'll come back to it later.

When we are anxious or triggered,

It is not just our minds that are affected,

Our bodies are as well.

The fastest way to rebalance ourselves and emotionally regulate is to control our breath.

So today I'm going to teach you some breathing techniques to help you calm yourself and bring yourself back to equilibrium.

I will take you through five different techniques.

You might know some or none,

Depending on your practice.

Give them a try and I hope that they're helpful tools for your meditation toolbox.

The first is the sigh.

Sighing is attached to the part of our brain that calms us.

That is why when we feel relieved,

We let our breath out in a big whoosh.

This is something we all do naturally,

But not something that we do consciously.

But when we do it,

It can help us release tension and bring ourselves back to a calm faster.

So take a deep breath.

Let your belly expand and your chest fill all the way up until you can't breathe anymore.

Hold your breath for a second and then let it out in audible whoosh.

Repeat this three more times,

Letting all the tension from your body release.

Now we're going to try polyvagal breathing.

When we say we are triggered,

It means that we have triggered ourselves into fight or flight or something else has.

Our breathing becomes shallow and quick.

Stress hormones are dumped into the body by our brain as we gear up to either fight or run for our lives.

If we are facing a bear in the woods,

This is necessary to our survival.

But when we are caught in an old memory or in the grip of a past trauma and can't pull out of stress over time,

It's not good for us on any level.

If we have suffered trauma,

We use the right side of our brain more than the normal left side dominance.

This is because the mind is struggling to deal with heart emotions.

This takes up an enormous energy and is what keeps trauma survivors from being able to concentrate and be productive.

When triggered,

The left hemisphere of our brain shuts down,

The one that helps us think logically.

To pull our left side back online,

Polyvagal breathing is really helpful.

So sit with your hands on your thighs.

Start tapping your thighs alternatively.

Right,

Left,

Right,

Left.

Keep doing this as I instruct you on how to breathe.

Take in a deep breath quickly for three seconds to completely fill your chest and abdomen.

Then hold that breath for a count of five seconds.

Then slowly let it out for a count of seven.

Keep breathing like this for a few minutes.

Three and quick.

Hold for five.

And then slowly out for seven.

Three.

And then slowly out for seven.

And then slowly out for seven.

And then slowly out for eight.

And then slowly out for nine.

And then slowly out for ten.

And then slowly out for ten.

And then slowly out for ten.

And then slowly out for ten.

And then slowly out for ten.

And then slowly out for ten.

And then slowly out for ten.

The next type of breathing is resistance breathing and comes from yogic practice.

It is useful if you're struggling to calm down because you literally force yourself to breathe more slowly by limiting your intakes and exhales,

Kind of like breathing into a paper bag.

We will be using our thumb and middle finger to alternatively block our breathing.

Place your thumb on the right side of your right nostril.

Gently press on the side and close it.

Breathe in deeply through your left nostril.

Then slowly let it out through the same nostril.

Then switch,

Blocking your left nostril with your middle finger,

Breathing in deeply through your right nostril.

And slowly let it out through the same nostril.

Repeat this for several minutes.

And then slowly let it out through the same nostril.

Now we're going to try breathing into the heart.

This is a short Qigong exercise that you can do from standing or seated position,

But requires enough room to extend your arms fully to both sides.

If you're standing,

Start with your feet shoulder width apart,

Gentle buoyancy through your joints,

Knees slightly bent,

Back straight,

Arms out to the side,

Slightly relaxed.

If you're doing this from a seated position,

Sit on the edge of a chair,

Not so far forward that you feel unbalanced,

But enough that if you can sit with your back straight and extend your arms fully.

Your feet should be placed flat on the floor,

Evenly apart.

Bring your hands into a prayer position in front of your heart,

Taking in a deep inhale.

Then as you exhale,

Lean forward slightly,

Pushing your palms out and away,

Extending to your sides,

Thinking or saying,

I release fear,

Anxiety,

Worry,

Whatever emotion that you wish to release.

Then inhale your palms back to center,

Leaning back to center,

Say or think,

I bring in calm,

Peace,

Tranquility,

Or whatever emotion you wish to bring in at the moment.

Exhaling all negative energy and inhaling everything that is positive and healing for you,

So you can create a little breathing space for yourself to be able to deal with whatever is coming your way.

Exhaling and inhaling.

Continuing as long as you need to.

So this final breathing technique is really good if you find yourself in a tight spot where you can only do the simplest of practices.

When breathing in,

Say in your mind,

Breathing in calm,

And when breathing out,

Say in your mind,

My body relaxes.

You do not have to close your eyes or change your breath in any way.

It acts as a soothing command to the body to calm down.

I find that it's helpful to do this if you keep turning the same thing over and over again in your mind or when I've just woken up from a nightmare or something.

So just try that.

Breathing in calm,

My body relaxes.

So before we finish,

Let's take a few moments to notice the quality of our breathing now.

What is the depth?

Is there a pause between your inhalation and exhalation?

How far is your rib cage expanding?

Just pay attention to any changes that you may have in your breathing.

And draw another line of your breath.

Is your line different from before?

Do you feel calmer and more centered?

I really hope that you do,

And I hope you have a couple more meditation and breathing techniques in your toolbox.

I hope that you are safe and well and that this was of some small help to you.

Namaste.

Thank you.

Reviews

Beautiful
Simple
Calming
East
Delightful
Your voice is part of the majic
Thank you 🙏🏼

These are wonderful tools and helped me immensely. I’m only learning how valuable a tool the breath can be. Gentle music . Gratitude to you Olivia for sharing more of your wisdom. Wishing you peace and calm. ✨🥰✨🌷✨

Thank you so much for this helpful, deeply calming meditation. Physically I've reduced tension, mentally I'm much more spacious and calm. Adding more tools to my toolbox is always welcome. Bookmarked. 🙏

Such a calming voice. So relaxing. Thank you 🙏

such a wonderful experience to practice these breathing techniques to your lovely voice and music. namaste

Thanks for this wonderful sampling of breathing techniques. Your voice was so calming, too.

Very helpful 💕

Nicely narrated with super helpful breath work techniques. Thank you

Very helpful. Thank you!🙏💖

So helpful! My breathing changed significantly from beginning to end. It became more relaxed, smoother and deeper. Drawing it was an effective technique for me. Thank you!

Perfection! Although I was aware (& use daily for some) of each (except for the thigh tapping during inhale/hold/exhale), the combination altogether - your instructions - was heavenly! Thank you! Namaste🕉🙏🏽

Thank you. A gentle way to cope with stressful times. We all need to be more kind to ourselves and breathwork is a powerful tool.

Nice introduction to different breathing techniques. Is 3-5-7 the same type of breathing as 4-7-8?
Thank you 🙏🏼

Nice repertoire of techniques for breathing. Very relaxing.

Thank you so much for this offering!

Great start to the day! Thank you ☺️

The Return to Breath that I needed. Brought me back to Presence. Thank you.

Thank you 🙏 Feeling calm and well! Love this breathing meditation. Sending blessings and gratitude 🙏