Welcome to today's session which is called 4-7-8 breathing.
As the name
suggests it's fairly self-explanatory.
I'll be inviting you to inhale for a
count of four,
Holding for a count of seven and then exhaling for a count of
eight.
Breathing in this way helps you move away from the fight-or-flight
nervous system and into the parasympathetic nervous system.
And this
is a mode where you feel a bit more relaxed,
The heart rate slows down and
you're much more likely to feel a sense of peace.
Don't worry too much about if
you can't exactly hit the correct counts on each breath cycle,
If you're finding
yourself short of breath or feeling like you're struggling in any way,
You can
just adjust the counts as you see fit.
The main thing is as long as you're
exhaling for longer than you're inhaling this will activate the
parasympathetic nervous system and so this should be enough.
Okay so just sitting with a straight back and with a relaxed and alert
posture if you can.
Closing the eyes and taking a few nice and big in-breaths
through the nose and then releasing through the mouth.
Breathing in,
Letting
go.
Breathing in,
Releasing.
Nice and full,
Letting go.
And allowing the breath now
to return to normal.
Closing the mouth and breathing through the nostrils for
the remainder of the session.
Checking in with the state of the mind.
How does
your mind feel right now in this moment?
Could be a sense of busyness,
Anxiety,
Lethargy,
A sense of distractedness.
There's no need to judge the mind in any way,
Just acknowledging that this is how
my mind feels right now and that's completely fine for the purposes of
today.
Getting a sense of being grounded,
Noticing the points of connection between
your feet and the ground or your legs and the chair that you're sitting in.
Taking a few moments to listen out to any sounds that might be present in the
room right now.
It doesn't really matter what sounds you can hear,
Could be an
absence of sound,
Could be distracting noises too.
All are welcome.
All you need
to do is allow hearing to unfold exactly as it wants to.
Now you can move away
from hearing and start to connect with your breathing wherever you feel it most
clearly in the body right now.
This could be at the chest or at the belly,
Shoulders
or at the nostrils.
Just go with the one that feels most natural for you right
now.
I'll now invite you to start to work towards these 4,
7,
8 breaths.
So
inhaling for a count of 4,
Holding the breath for a count of 7 and then
exhaling for a count of 8.
Again making sure that you're not straining yourself
in any way and adjusting the counts as you see fit if you're finding that you're
a bit breathless in any way.
Inhale 2,
3,
4.
Hold 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7.
Exhale 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
Something that can often help is to breathe in fairly strongly when you're
inhaling for a count of 4.
And then as you exhale,
Just exhale very,
Very gently.
Just letting a small amount of air out with each second that passes.
And this
will help you to adapt to the 4,
7,
8 breathing more quickly.
As always it's
important not to get upset or frustrated in any way if the mind wanders.
Mind
wandering will always be a part of meditation.
It could even be said that the
point of meditation is to catch the mind wandering and then to pull the
attention back to the breath.
Each time we do this we're strengthening our
capacity to be more aware in our day-to-day lives.
So it's a good thing.
And with this in mind,
Just reverting your attention back to the breath and
continuing with the 4,
7,
8 breath ratio.
Remove any pressure for you to do the
practice perfectly.
The simple fact that you're here,
The simple fact that you've
taken the time today to do this is enough.
And now just letting go of all
effort,
Dropping the focus on the 4,
7,
8 breaths.
And just doing nothing,
Seeing
how that feels.
Becoming aware of any smells or sounds that might be present
in the room.
And finally checking in with the mind once again.
Is there any
subtle change from earlier?
Or does the mind feel largely the same?
Both are
completely fine.
When you feel ready,
Gently opening the eyes,
Coming back to
the room,
Having a stretch and waking up the body in any way that feels right for
you.
Well done,
Great effort.
Hopefully in that session you touched into maybe a
sense of peace that you can get when you breathe in this way.
And my hope is that
it'll make you feel a bit calmer and a bit more present as you transition into
the rest of your day.
Have a great day.
