Welcome.
So to begin,
I invite you to find a comfortable position,
Seated or lying down,
Whatever feels best today.
Most of us live on the inhale in life,
Pulling in,
Bracing,
Trying to take in more of the day,
More of the air.
More of whatever we think we need.
And so we can end up with shoulders up,
Chest high.
And a breath that never really finishes letting go.
For the next 10 minutes,
We're going to live on the exhale instead.
Invite you to close down your eyes if that's comfortable.
Take a normal breath in,
Don't make it anything special.
And let it out slow,
Really slow.
Slower than you'd expect.
Again a normal breath in.
.
.
A long breath out,
Like you're sighing without making a sound.
And a few more like that.
The in-breath is just a small in-breath.
The out-breath is long.
And maybe you'll notice The body starts to soften on the exhale,
The shoulders dropping a little.
Jaw loosening.
The belly letting go.
That's the signal we want.
Keep going like this,
Small in.
Long out.
Small in Long out.
With each exhale,
Let one more thing release.
That might be a muscle.
A worry,
A sentence you've been rehearsing in your head all day.
Slow exhale,
Letting one more thing fall away.
Out slow.
If your jaw is clenched.
Let it fall a tiny bit on the next exhale.
If your shoulders are up to your ears,
Let them drop on the next exhale.
If your belly is held in.
Let it round out and soften on the next exhale.
Continuing to breathe out slow.
And you can keep the out-breath about twice as long as the in-breath.
That's the rhythm.
Counting helps breathe in for three.
And out for six,
Or in for four,
And out for eight,
Whatever doesn't strain.
Keeping this simple,
Each exhale longer than the inhale.
Each exhale.
Allowing one more thing to release.
And muscle.
Or a worry.
Or any type of contraction in the body or mind.
The exhale is what signals to your nervous system that you're not in danger.
The longer the exhale,
The more the body believes in you.
And so we're not just slowing the breath.
We're telling the system it's safe.
And a few more breaths just like this.
Each exhale letting go.
Softening.
Any rigidity or holding in the body.
Softening any stickiness in the mind.
Now the last couple of slow exhales for today,
For this practice.
And now let the breath go back to whatever it wants to be.
Don't manage it,
Just let it find an organic,
Natural,
Normal breath Notice if anything is different now.
Not big maybe,
But maybe something's different.
And slowly in your own time invite you to open the eyes and to remember your exhale throughout the day.
And thank you for practicing here with me today.
