Welcome to this 15 minute breath work for clarity.
Start by closing your eyes and arriving physically wherever you are right now whether you're sitting down or lying down.
Allow the body to get heavy and sink into that feeling of gravity.
I'm going to start with a short body scan to bring acknowledgement of the body into our experience and help us to become more present.
So start by bringing your awareness to the top of your head.
We're not trying to change how we're feeling in any way we're just simply being curious and bringing our awareness to each part of the body as we go through.
Going to the back of your head now,
Across to your face,
Cheeks down into the throat,
Neck into your shoulders,
The upper arms,
The elbows,
Forearms,
Wrists,
Arms of the hand,
Back of the hand and all your fingers and thumbs back up to the chest area.
Just notice how you're feeling in the space around your heart.
Notice how you're feeling physically and if there's any sense of emotion.
We're not trying to change it but just simply bring your awareness to it.
Bringing your awareness now down through the ribs and the lungs,
To the diaphragm,
The belly area,
Into the hips,
Down into the thighs,
The knees,
Shins,
Ankles,
Tops of the feet,
All of your toes,
Down to the soles of your feet,
Noticing the ground beneath you if you're sitting with your feet on the floor or notice any sense of lightness if you're lying down and they are splayed out to the side.
Your heels,
Backs of the ankles,
Calves,
Backs of the knees,
Thighs,
Buttocks,
Small of your back,
Your spine,
The base of your spine,
Shoulder blades,
Tops of your shoulders,
Whole of your spine and coming back to your chest area now.
Bringing your awareness to your breath,
To be really natural,
Breathing in a way that is really comfortable and effortless for you and start to use the breath as a way of looking inward.
You can almost imagine that the beginning of that breath is a light that is illuminating what's going on within you but also recognizing where there's resistance that can be released and where there is space for you.
Bring awareness to resistance,
Often it really does ease as you acknowledge it.
Feeling that natural breath coming in and out of the body,
Bringing your breath all the way down into your hips now.
So you'll physically feel the breath coming in through the head,
Going past the heart,
Into your diaphragm and from there just inflate your belly and feel the motion in your hips,
Imagining that the breath and the energy from your breath is reaching your hips.
And as you reach this place,
See if you can just straighten your spine ever so slightly,
Even if it is just a visualization of your spine straightening,
You'll find it tricky to move it.
So you're just very strongly connecting with the hips but there's a real gentleness as you do this with your straight spine and you connect via the breath.
Gently belly breathing.
As your mind wanders,
Keep bringing the focus back to your breath.
We're not trying to control the mind,
The mind is going to wander.
You can allow it to do that and for the body to feel however it's feeling as you keep coming back to your breath.
So anything that needs to be processed can be and that you can really get that place of space and clarity within you.
Feeling the expansion as you breathe in,
Opening up to that sense of intuition,
Inner wisdom which you always have even if other things feel like they're sometimes on top of it.
So just keep connecting with your breath and feeling that expansion as you breathe in and out.
We're going to bring some more structured breathing in now and we're going to do some coherence breathing where we breathe in and out for equal counts.
We're going to breathe in for six and out for six but if that is too much for you or if it's not enough then please just go at your own pace.
So we'll fully exhale together now and breathe in two three four five six out two three four five six in two three four five six out two three six in out in out.
Just carrying on now at your own pace in and out for equal counts not needing to concentrate too hard and just bringing yourself back and resetting at any point if you need to.
We're now going to add some holds at the top of that breath so you can add a hold of either two or four.
So we're breathing in for six holding at the top for up to four and breathing out for six continuing with this triangular breath making sure that the breath is comfortable steady not forced in any way.
Feeling the expansion and rise on the inhale feeling the safety and stillness in that hold and unwinding and letting go on the exhale and just do one more round now if you're breathing in holding returning to a really comfortable and effortless breath.
We're just going to stay with this light breath for a couple of moments so as your mind wanders off just keep bringing it back even though we're not breathing in a particular way staying in this place of calm gentle stillness with your breath which is what is happening in the present moment.
Safe to rest in this light breath as your body restores itself ready for the day ahead.
Focus back to your breath as your mind wanders just for one more moment focus to your feet now the soles of your feet gravity coming to your hips here just straightening out your spine feeling that confidence and strength from the base of your torso and then coming back to your chest and if it isn't there already you can put a hand on your heart just taking a deep breath into the body letting go when you're ready gently opening your eyes taking a look around the room that you're in as you come back into your day.
