Hi,
I'm Sophie van Aanholt and welcome to Distress Lab.
So today I'm here to share with you a very simple practice that will help you feel into your breath and then deepen it.
So whenever you feel ready,
Find a comfortable seated position or if you want to lay down,
Feel free to do so.
The most important is that you're comfortable.
And if you're ready,
Gently close your eyes.
So let's start by taking a few deep breaths,
Long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose and then an audible exhale out.
And then repeat this a couple of times at your own pace,
Feeling your lungs on the inhale but without any struggle and then letting go with your exhale,
Really feeling the breath as it moves in and as it moves out.
And now just breathe at your own pace in a natural way.
You don't need to do anything,
Just simply notice the body breathing.
Just feel,
Sense the inhale as it moves in and then sensing the exhale as it moves out.
Now let's bring our hands onto the belly and as you continue to breathe,
Just notice the movement underneath your hands,
The expansion as you're breathing in and retraction as you're breathing out,
Just feeling,
Tuning into the sensations of the movement of your breath into the belly,
Just staying there for a couple of breaths,
Feeling,
Sensing.
Now move your hands to the lower part of your ribs and continue to breathe and then tune into the sensations of the movement of the breath right there underneath your hands.
Feel the ribs expanding on the inhale and then falling on the exhale,
Just sensing this movement,
Sensing the physical sensations of the movement of your breath right there.
Now move your hands onto your chest and then feel again the movement,
The sensations,
Feel the chest expanding on the inhale,
Just relaxing on the exhale,
Sensing,
Tuning in,
Feeling the breath flowing in and flowing out.
Allow your hands to rest wherever it feels comfortable and just breathe.
Stay with your breath and then sense,
Feel the inhale.
Stay with the flow of your breath the whole way,
Sensing in at the nostrils,
Feel the breath flowing down behind the throat,
So maybe you sense it as the lungs fill,
The shoulders rising up,
The chest expanding,
The ribs expanding,
The belly opening up as the breath lands there,
Down deep into the belly,
And then stay with your inhales for a couple of cycles,
Sensing the inhale from the moment it enters the body all the way down until it lands deep down into your belly,
Sensing the movement,
Feeling into it.
Now let's tune in with the exhale,
So just feel with your next exhale the belly falling in,
The ribs softening,
The chest relaxing,
Sense as your shoulders softly drop and just feel the warm breeze leaving the body at the nostrils,
Now repeat this for a couple of cycles,
Following your exhale,
All the way up and out of the body,
Sensing,
Watching each exhale,
And now let's stay with the breath and then follow the full movement,
Full movement of your breath as you're inhaling,
Feel that wave-like movement of the breath,
The breath moves in,
The belly,
The ribs,
The chest,
And the breath moves out,
Shoulders drop,
Ribs soften,
Belly falls in,
And just stay with that wave-like movement of the breath,
Feel the tide roll up with your inhale,
And then feel the tide roll back down with your exhale,
A wave-like movement,
Stay with it,
Keep sensing,
And on your next exhale just allow yourself to empty out your lungs,
And then take a deep inhale,
And then a long complete exhale again,
Whenever you feel ready you can reopen your eyes,
Thank you for practicing with me,
And have a beautiful day
