We're going to take a few moments a day to become acquainted with our breath.
To begin,
Sit quietly and bring your attention to your breath.
As you breathe in,
Feel your breath enter your body.
What does it feel like as the air moves into your nostrils?
As it moves down to fill your lungs?
As it moves back out and leaves your nose?
As the air enters your body and fills your lungs?
Begin to pull the air down deeper and feel your stomach expand gently.
As the air leaves the body,
Feel the stomach fall back into place.
Nice slow breaths.
There's no need to rush.
Nowhere to go.
Nothing to do.
No one needs anything.
All we are doing is sitting and breathing.
Very good.
Now let's count out 10 nice slow breaths and then we'll start over again at the number one.
One breath in and out.
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Seven,
Breath in,
Breath out,
Eight,
Nice slow breaths,
Nine,
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
And 10.
And then starting over at number one.
One,
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
Two,
In and out.
Three,
Nice slow breaths.
Four,
Steady and even.
Five,
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Six,
In and out.
Seven,
Nice and slow.
Eight,
Nice slow breaths.
Nine,
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
And 10,
Breathing in and exhaling.
It's very nice.
Spend a moment thinking about how that felt.
How did it feel to just breathe,
To focus completely on yourself,
On your body and your breath?
Now we are going to count the lengths of our breaths instead of the numbers of breaths.
This is only to give us a nice even pace.
So do not worry if you do not keep up with the counting.
You may choose your own count if that works better for you.
The next time that you inhale,
Count slowly to four and as you exhale also count to four.
So we breathe in one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Breathe out one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Good.
Again,
Breathe in one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Breathe out one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
One more time.
Breathe in one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And breathe out one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Excellent.
Now the next time that we breathe in,
We're also going to count to four,
But then we're going to hold for four,
Breathe out again to four and hold again to four.
This is called square breathing.
So breathe in one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe out one,
Two,
Three,
Four and hold one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe in one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breath out one,
Out 1 2 3 4 hold 1 2 3 4 last time breathe in 1 2 3 4 hold 1 2 3 4 breathe out 1 2 3 4 and hold 1 2 3 4 wonderful spend another moment checking in with yourself and thinking how that feels how does your body feel right now the next breathing exercise we're going to try is called parasympathetic breathing where we will exhale twice as long as we inhale so we will inhale to the count of four and exhale to the count of eight so breathing in 1 2 3 4 and now 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and then 1 2 3 4 and now 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 last time in 1 2 3 4 and out 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 very good it's a wonderful job working on your breath today you may continue to sit and breathe as long as you like and when you are ready simply open your eyes
