Welcome to today's short practice.
If anxiety has been your baseline for a long time,
Your breath has probably gotten very narrow.
It may live high in the chest,
Maybe shallow,
It may come in quick little pulls And when we do this for a period of time,
Our nervous system can learn to see this as normal.
And so it's not your breath that's wrong,
It's that the body adapted to a situation that's no longer happening.
Perhaps it learned to be ready.
And now even when you're safe.
The body keeps acting like you're not.
And so for the next few minutes,
We're going to breathe like the danger is over.
Because right now it is.
So to begin,
Let's get into a comfortable position.
You can be seated upright or lying on your back.
Spine long but no bracing.
You might place a hand on your belly,
The other hand on your chest.
And just feel for a moment which one moves when you breathe.
If it's mostly the chest hand,
That's fine.
We're going to gradually move the breath without forcing.
And so for now,
Take a slow breath in through your nose.
And as you do,
See if you can let the belly hand rise just a little before the chest hand does And if it doesn't,
That's fine,
Don't force it,
Just keep noticing.
As you breathe out slow.
Again,
As you breathe in through the nose,
Let the belly rise first,
If it will.
And breathing out slow.
And just keep going like this at your own pace,
Low nasal breaths.
Belly first if it comes.
Don't try to make the breath deep.
Trying to breathe deeply on purpose can actually make anxiety worse sometimes so just let it be soft and a little longer than before And if the body resists the belly breath,
That's information.
Means the belly's been holding for a long time.
Tight bellies are common in people who've had to keep it together for years.
And so we're not forcing it to open,
We're inviting it to soften a tiny bit at a time.
Notice the chest hand.
Is it moving less now?
If so,
Good.
If not,
That's okay too.
Now let the breath stay slow but remove the hand from your chest and just keep the hand on the belly.
Slow breath in.
Slow breath out.
Slow breath in.
.
.
Slow breath out.
As you breathe,
See if you can convince your body of one small fact.
This room is safe right now.
No one's about to walk through the door.
No difficult conversations being had.
No bill is being opened.
The body can stand down and settle.
And you don't have to believe it with your mind,
The body responds to the breath,
Not to thoughts.
So we're going to continue sending the message through the breath.
Long breath out,
Soft belly.
If at all comes that you're not safe or that something's wrong.
Or that you need to do something,
Just notice that.
Then come back to your next slow breath.
The thoughts will come.
They've been on duty for a long time.
They don't know that there's nothing to defend against right now.
Your job in this time is simply to give the body evidence.
That it's safe and the mind will catch up eventually.
Slow breath in.
.
.
Slow breath out.
You might notice the belly starting to soften.
Maybe some warmth coming into the chest.
Or the shoulders dropping a millimeter.
Tiny shifts.
The system letting go.
And if you don't notice anything,
That's fine too.
You're still doing the work.
And the body keeps a record even when the mind doesn't.
Staying with the slow breath.
And a few more like this.
Now let the breath go back to whatever it wants to be.
Don't try to keep the breath slow,
The body will hold on to what it's learned.
Notice what's different.
The belly.
Cheers!
Shoulders.
This is what safe enough feels like.
You can come back to it anytime just one hand on the belly and slow breath out.
And you've got a doorway back.
Invite you when you're ready to open your eyes.
To move slowly when you do get up.
The body's done some real work here.
I invite you to bring this tool forward with you.
And to allow your breath to flow.
Teach the body the sense of safety.
Thank you for joining me today.
