When you hear the word breathwork,
You might imagine some powerful,
Intense practices deep breathing or emotional releases or maybe even dramatic experiences that you may have seen online.
But at its foundation,
Breathwork is simply the practice of consciously working with the breath.
Many modern breathwork practices are rooted in the ancient yogic tradition of pranayama.
A Sanskrit word often translated as the regulation or expansion of life force through breath.
For thousands of years,
Yogic traditions have understood that the breath is not just something that keeps us alive.
It is the bridge between the body,
The mind,
And the spirit.
Think about how your breath naturally changes depending on how you feel.
When you're stressed,
Your breathing may become shallow and fast.
When you're relaxed,
Your breath naturally slows and deepens.
Breathwork really invites us to become conscious of this relationship.
Using intentional breathing patterns to support our nervous system,
Shift our internal state.
And cultivate deeper self-awareness.
Now some forms of breath work can be gentle and very calming,
Regulating for the nervous system.
Others can be a lot more activating,
Using stronger and faster breathing patterns to help release stored emotions,
Move energy through the body or create altered states of awareness.
But understanding all of these practices is the same foundations.
We are learning to listen.
We are learning to connect.
And we are remembering that we carry a powerful tool for transformation with us every moment in our own breath.
Before beginning any breathwork practice,
Always listen to your body and choose practices that feel supportive and appropriate for you.
Take a moment now to notice your breath.
No need to change it.
Simply observing your current state.
Your breath is already communicating with you.
Just seeing if you could slow things down a little bit and bring greater balance to that breathing.
I like to use balanced breathing techniques during my day.
To help just even things out.
Not to calm things down necessarily and make me feel sleepy and certainly not to activate me.
But maybe if you are sitting in a waiting room somewhere or you've just parked your car and you've arrived at work and you're feeling a little bit of tension,
A little bit of anxiety,
Start to creep up.
Breathing in for four and out for four can be a really effective pattern to help balance out the nervous system.
Balanced breathing.
In for four.
Doesn't always mean four seconds,
It means four counts.
Everyone has different capacities.
Everyone has different sized lungs and different health things going on in their bodies.
So we always say four counts so that actually you can adjust that pace.
To what is necessary for you.
So let's do 10 rounds of balanced breaths.
Thinking about how you feel right now.
And then after the 10 rounds.
How you feel again.
In 1,
2,
3 Three.
4.
Out 4,
3,
2,
1 In 1,
2,
3,
4 Out 4,
3,
2,
1 In 1,
2,
3,
4.
4 3 2 1 In 1,
2,
3,
4 Out 4,
3,
2,
1 In 1,
2,
3,
4 Out 4,
3,
2,
1 In 1,
2,
3,
4.
Four,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
In one.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Out 4 3 2 1 in 1 2 3 4 Out 4,
3,
2,
1.
In 1 2 3 4 four,
Three,
Two,
One.
In 1 2 3 4 out 4 3 2 1 breath normal.
Body relax.
Noticing where you are right now.
Seeing if that balance is restored.
And if not.
.
.
Having another go yourself.
A really good technique for counting breaths instead of using our fingers.
Is to count the pads.
In a circle or in a loop.
Starting here,
1,
2,
3,
4.
5.
.
.
6.
.
.
7.
.
.
8.
.
.
9,
10.
Now use your thumb as the counter.
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10.
It's a bit more gentle,
You can just rest your hand on your knee.
Or in your lab.
Counting those breaths can be really helpful.
Because then you know there's a beginning and an end.
It can actually be hard sometimes to focus our attention on our breath because our mind wants to focus on more interesting things.
Much more interesting to focus on what is making us stress.
Than something simple as our breath moving in and out.
I hope this was helpful today and it gave you a bit of an introduction as to the basics of breath work.
And hopefully it no longer feels so intimidating as something for you to try and add into your routine.
