Breath Awareness For Stress And Anxiety Relief

A gentle breath awareness practice to ease stress and anxiety and help you feel more settled in your body. We begin by noticing the breath at the nostrils, the cool air coming in and the warmer air leaving. From there, you'll be guided to carry that awareness to other parts of the body, letting the breath soften and steady you as it travels. This practice can help calm a busy or anxious mind, release tension, and bring you back to the present moment. It's suitable for beginners and can be used at any time of day, whenever you need a pause, before sleep, or when anxiety feels close to the surface.

Transcript

Find yourself in a comfortable place. Seated, Lying down. Anywhere where you can. Be undisturbed by this small micro practice coming into your body. Inviting you to bring attention to the natural rhythm of your breath. Not changing anything, Just becoming aware that you're breathing. This might be the first time that you've met your breath today. For this week. And just noticing what it feels like to meet your breath. That is with you all the time. And starting to deepen the breath. Pulling it in through the nose. And allowing it to travel deep down into the lower parts of the lungs. And back out through the nose. Holding our point of awareness at the tips of the nostrils where the air enters the body. Breathing in, Aware of the air coming through the nostrils, Down into the lower parts of the lungs. And breathing out. The air releasing, Softening, Moving back out through the nostrils. And now we invite you to travel with that breath. Different parts of your body. As you breathe in, Follow your attention from the nostrils. The air moving in, Push it all the way down into your feet. And then let it come all the way back up from your feet out through the nostrils. Twice more, Just like that. Breathe in through the nostrils. Air travels all the way down, Feel your feet. And exhaling back out through the nostrils. Inhale. All the way down to your feet. And back out through your nostrils. Let's move the air to our knees now, Breathing in. Travel to the news. Breathe out, Draw back up, Out through the nostrils. Again, Inhale to the knees. Exhale back up out through the nostrils. Move into your hips, Breathing in. Travel to the hips with the breath. Breathing out, Traveling back up to the nostrils. Inhale into the hips. Exhaling to the nostrils. One more inhale to the hips. Exhale to the nostrils. Breathing into your spine, Allow the air to travel from your nostrils and the top of your spine all the way down to the base. And then back up through your spine, Out through your nostrils. Breathe in. To the base of your spine. Breathing out, Back up. One more, Breathe in. Travel down the spine. Breathe out. Let's move into the shoulders. Breathing in. Air travels to the shoulders. Breathe out. Breathe in and out. Inhaling. Shoulders find the breath. Exhaling. Softening, Releasing, Coming back out through the nostrils. One more, Breathing into the shoulders. Breathing out through the nose. Breathing into the hands now, As traveling through the nostrils, Down the arms, To your hands and your fingers. Breathe out. And back up. Breathe into the hands. Breathe out. Back out through the nostrils. Last one, Into the hands, Breathe in. And out. The arms now, Breathe into the arms. And breathe out, Come back up through the nostrils. Breathe into the arms. Breathe out through the nostrils. Last one, Breathe in. Fill the arms up with your air and then slowly let it go. Come into the crown of your head now. Air is coming through the nostrils and all the way up. Top of your head, Almost through your brain. Through the space behind your eyes. And the exhale comes all the way back out. Inhaling. The crown. Exhaling out through the nostrils. Inhaling to the crown. Exhaling back out. Your forehead now, Breathe in. Air is travelling right to the forehead. Notice how much time it takes to get to these parts of the body compared to your feet. Breathe it out through the nostrils. Into your forehead. Out through the nostrils. One more breathe into the forehead. And out. Your jaw. Inside your mouth. Imagine the air moving there, Into the jaw, Breathing. Breathe out. Breathing in. Breathe it out. Stuffing in the jaw. Breathe in. And breathe out. And lastly, Let's come to your heart space, Your chest. Air travels through the nostrils down into your chest. Allow it to lift and feel and exhale. Travel with the breath back out through the nostrils. Two more times, Breathe in. Chest fills, Heart full. Breathe out. Inhale. Next to. And then allowing your breath to meet any part of the body that it wants to. I will too. Just for the last few moments of this practice. It might be a place that you've already visited or maybe it's a place we haven't visited together today. And if no place calls, Perhaps just resting with the breath coming in and out of the nostrils. And take three of those breaths, Moving it through your body. Whichever body part you London zone. Okay. And to close this practice. We'll take one deep breath in through the nose and we'll release it through the mouth. As the breath travels in. Can you visualize it moving to all parts of your body, Traveling in all directions? Just pause when you feel like you're full. Before opening your mouth and allowing it to sigh out. Let's take that deep breath now together, Breathe in. Hold your breath at the top. Whenever you're ready, Open the mouth, Let it sigh away. Spend a moment to check in with yourself, Perhaps you notice any change within. From the start of the practice to the end. And as always, Be kind and gentle with yourself. Take care.