Introduction To Box Breathing - 10-Minutes

This 10-Minute Guided Box Breathing experience will take you through a valuable technique designed to relieve stress and activate your parasympathetic nervous system. Moving you from a flight-or-flight response and into rest and recovery.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this box breathing guided meditation.

My name is Salvatore Liberti and I will be your guide in this experience.

First,

I want to introduce box breathing to you,

What the technique is,

What it does,

And then we will dive into a beautiful breathing meditation.

Box breathing is a technique designed to promote relaxation,

Rest,

Recovery,

And stress relief in the nervous system.

You see,

Our sympathetic nervous system is what is activated when we are in fight or flight,

Whenever stress is in our lives,

Whenever we are triggered.

And so this breathing technique is designed to bring you from the sympathetic nervous system into the parasympathetic nervous system where rest,

Recovery,

And relaxation can take place.

This technique is designed to upgrade your nervous system and you can take it with you wherever you go.

Box breathing is done exclusively in and out through the nose.

And if you can picture in your mind's eye a square box with four equal sides,

We will breathe with four equal counts of the breath.

So inhaling,

Holding at the top,

Exhaling,

And holding at the bottom.

In this session,

We will count to five.

I now invite you to find a comfortable place to sit or lie down wherever you may be.

Find your own space.

Make your space.

And once you've arrived,

We will begin box breathing.

So you can gently close your eyes,

Take a deep breath in through the nose,

Exhaling through the mouth.

Two more.

Inhaling in through the nose,

Letting go of anything that you came here with.

One more.

Inhale in.

And letting go with a sigh and a sound.

Now all you have to do is follow my voice and keep the count.

And you can begin by inhaling in through the nose for one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Hold at the top for one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Exhale through the nose.

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold at the bottom for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And inhale,

One,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Hold one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Exhale five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Hold one,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five.

Exhale five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Hold five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And keep the count on your own now.

Inhaling.

Holding.

Exhaling.

Holding.

That's it.

Keep going here.

The count is designed to keep your conscious mind occupied to maintain your focus on this breath.

If your mind begins to wander and lose the count,

And it surely will,

All you have to do is remember,

Notice,

And bring it right back to the breath,

Right back to the count.

Counting silently in your mind's eye,

Or even out loud,

Whatever you need.

That's it.

On every hold and every exhale,

You feel the magic,

The relaxation as your shoulders begin to drop away from your ears,

Your brow softens,

Your jaw relaxes,

And any tension in your body begins to now melt away.

That's it.

Feeling of the mind has begun to stray away into thought,

Into to-do's,

Into tomorrow,

And bring it back to the present,

Back to the breath.

You may already begin to notice shifts in your body.

The weight of your shoulders becoming lighter.

Any tension melting.

As you continue connecting with the breath,

You realize that you're in the present moment,

Where everything is perfect,

Right here,

Right now.

Something to do,

Nowhere to be,

Simply breathe.

Keeping that count,

You're doing so good.

Staying with the breath a few more rounds,

As you begin to enjoy the stillness of each hold,

The relief of each exhale,

And the new life in each inhale.

That's it.

Wherever you are,

Take a deep inhale in through the nose and hold it as long as you can,

Feeling the magic being in the stillness.

When you're ready,

You can let go through the nose.

As you slowly come back into your body,

Shaking your hands out,

Shake your head,

Wiggle your toes,

Noticing the difference,

Feeling better than before,

And opening your eyes whenever you're ready.

Welcome back.

I'd like to acknowledge you for making the time to be here,

To breathe,

And to take care of your mental,

Spiritual,

And physical being.

My name is Salvatore Liberti,

And it's been an honor to be your guide.

Thank you.

Reviews

I learned box breathing at the end of the Covid pandemic, when I felt as though I was ready to explode. It was used in conjunction with biofeedback. Results were visual. I felt as though it pulled me back from the edge. Life got better & better. Eventually, I let go of my practice. Late 2024, I was diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer. I had a full year of treatment that involved 4 rounds of chemo & immunotherapy, and the rest of a yr's worth of just immunotherapy.
Gratefully, I was steered to a program for brain fog. Breath work is being emphasized. I'm so grateful to have found you.
Thank YOU! You are becoming a part of my therapy.

Thank you for this! Exactly what my heart and soul needed. With gratitude 🙏

His voice is so soothing it helped me to feel wonderful. Thank you!

Thank you. The guidance after we start can be disturbing.Prefer silence or background music. Blessings.

Excellent meditation for box breathing. I was having chest discomfort before I started this meditation. Afterwards, the discomfort disappeared. I felt alot calmer. Thank you very much for this mediation!! So relaxing & your voice is soothing as well!🙏🙏

Excellent… calm demeanor, direction. Beautiful voice!

Lovely instructions to guide me into this practice, and best outro - so relaxed and grounded.

Lovely, Salvatore is a brilliant guide. Im very grateful. Thanks

Thank you for your beautiful, soulful, rich voice. It filled my minutes with complete peace and joy.

Merci. Namaste💜🕊️

This was new for me. Gift from my friend 🧡 very nice. Thanks! Will add to my practice!

Great way to end the day. Refreshing and refocusing.

Grande Salvatore!!! Gracias, grazie, thank you 🙏🏼🌷

A perfect guide for beginners an a lovely reminder for a busy mind..

Thank you. I was surprised by the impact of this breathing exercise. I would like to do this outside in a field or a wood.

I really do enjoy the box breathing technique - so calming. Thank you. 🙏

Thank you. I look forward to hearing more from you on IT.

I had been trying to do this breathing technique for a long time and this meditation has helped tremendously I now feel I have more confidence and understanding Thanks

That was much needed. I appreciated the instruction and the positive reinforcement.

I did this with a friend who had never tried box breathing before. Both of us were markedly calmer and focused afterwards. Thank you Salvatore.