Find a seat where you have space to breathe,
Space in your chest,
A long spine,
And then go ahead and close your eyes if that's a good fit.
This practice helps us come back to our bodies,
Connect to our physical vessel,
And come back to the present moment,
To the here and now.
Now,
Without trying to change anything,
Just start to pay attention to how you're breathing.
Is it more in the chest?
Is it more in the belly?
Does it feel superficial and shallow?
Does it feel deep?
Don't change anything yet.
Just notice what is present.
And ever so slightly start to bring your breath a little bit more into your belly,
A little bit more,
A little bit less into your chest,
And if that's helpful,
You could place your hand onto your belly so that your chest becomes really still,
Really quiet,
And your belly gets bigger as you breathe in,
And there's a gentle retraction as you breathe out.
As we start the count,
I'm going to encourage you to not force,
So if you need to lose the count,
That's okay,
And I'm going to encourage you to take the whole count to get to either the top or the bottom of your breath.
If you could keep that hand on your belly,
You could release it.
Go ahead and take a normal breath in and a normal breath out.
Then inhale,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Inhale,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
4,
3,
2,
1.
Inhale,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Inhale,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
4,
3,
2,
1,
And then let that go.
Take a normal breath in and a normal breath out.
Let yourself be here for a moment.
As we build the breath,
There's an invitation for surrender.
The more we try to control,
The harder it is to expand the breath.
It might take a few rounds to adjust to that new count,
That's okay.
Take a normal breath in and a normal breath out.
Inhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Inhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Inhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Inhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Last one,
Inhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Let that go.
Take a normal breath in and a normal breath out.
Notice how your body is responding to this breath,
This evenness in the inhale and the exhale.
We'll do one more cycle of breath going to 6.
It might feel like too much and maybe you want to only go to 5,
That's totally fine.
Again,
It might take a few rounds to adjust and find your rhythm.
Take a normal breath in and a normal breath out.
Inhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Inhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Inhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Inhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Last one,
Inhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Exhale,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1,
Let that go,
Take a normal breath in and a normal breath out.
And see if you can get really,
Really quiet here.
Soften your face,
Relax your shoulders,
Get heavy in your seat.
Let yourself rest for just a moment.
You don't need to do anything.
Try to stay present right here,
Right now.
If you'd like,
You could stay here a lot longer or for as long as you'd like.
Or you can open your eyes and come back to the room.
