So welcome to your practice session and we're talking about the breath and how we can just use our breathing and slow our breathing down in a very very stressful situation and that can just start to heal our entire body because our body is listening to what we think and it's listening to the way we breathe and it's getting all these cues.
So I like to think of deep breaths like little love notes to your nervous system and that's how we communicate with our body and our nervous system.
So we're just going to get into some simple breathing exercises,
Something that you can do any time.
You don't have to be feeling down or overwhelmed or stressed,
You can be feeling happy and joyful and you can still be breathing in a great way.
So sitting comfortably in a chair or on the floor,
On a mat,
Whatever works for you,
You can possibly lie down and just your hands either on your knees or in your lap is fine.
So we're going to get into first what is called the 3-4-5 technique.
So that's just three breaths in through the nose,
Hold it for four and then open your mouth and then exhale it for five.
It's real easy.
So we're going to start with that,
Then we're going to move into 4-7-8 and that goes a little bit deeper.
Now,
Only go 4-7-8 if you feel comfortable to do so.
If you're starting to feel a little bit dizzy or lightheaded,
Don't do it,
Just stick with the 3-4-5.
But you'll know when we move,
You can experiment with it and go,
Ah,
This is okay,
No,
This is too much for me,
I'm going to stay with the 3-4-5.
Good,
Let's start the process,
Some lovely,
Beautiful breaths.
Let's breathe in for a count of three,
1-2-3,
Holding for four,
1-2-3-4,
And out for five,
Out the mouth,
1-2-3-4-5.
Good,
Breathing in for three,
1-2-3,
Hold for four,
And out the mouth for five.
Release and just let go,
There we go,
Brilliant.
Again,
Breathing in through the nose for three,
Holding for four,
And out the mouth for five.
Excellent,
Breathing in through the nose for three,
Holding for four,
And exhaling for five.
Okay,
Brilliant,
Now you've got the hang of it,
In for three,
Through the nose,
Holding for four,
And exhaling out the mouth for five.
In for three,
Holding for four,
Exhaling for five.
In for three,
You're doing great,
Holding for four,
Opening the mouth,
And exhaling for five.
Fantastic,
In for three,
Holding for four,
And exhaling out the mouth for five.
Now we're moving to 4-7-8,
Only if you feel comfortable to do so,
Breathing in for four through the nose,
Holding for seven,
And exhaling out the mouth for eight.
Great,
In the nose for four,
Putting those legs,
Holding it for seven,
Exhaling out the mouth for eight.
Great,
Nose for four,
Hold,
Out the mouth for eight.
Inhaling,
Holding,
Exhaling for eight,
Inhale,
Exhaling out the mouth.
How are you feeling?
That's good,
We're talking to our nervous system.
Inhaling,
Hold,
Just feel that life permeate your whole body and feel a sense of calm and relaxation,
Breathing out the mouth for eight.
Nice and smooth,
Inhaling,
Hold,
Opening the mouth and exhaling it with control.
Now if you want to carry on,
You can push pause right now and just keep on going,
But we're going to end on this for now,
One big breath in,
Breathing in for four through the nose,
Hold,
And exhale it out.
Good,
Coming now to normal breath.
Wow,
That feels amazing.
Richard Sutton,
Who wrote the Stress Code,
Tells us that it doesn't really matter which breathing technique that you choose,
Which is debatable I guess,
But he says if you can try and slow your breathing down to 5.
5 breaths a minute,
Well if you can do that for ten minutes,
Then you move from the sympathetic nervous state,
Which is your fight,
Flight or freeze,
Into the parasympathetic nervous state,
Which is your rest,
Digest and thrive.
So we can just do that for ten minutes and we should feel a lot better.
And you can do that,
As I said,
In a meeting,
Or watching the TV,
Or chopping vegetables,
Anytime,
We can just slow that breathing down.
Thank you for practicing with me.
