Welcome to the three-step breathing space to help you reset and come back to the present.
Step one,
Gather your thoughts and become aware of your current experience.
Ask yourself,
What are the thoughts that I've been having recently?
What's been going through my mind the last few hours,
Today?
What's been coming up most for me?
Ask yourself,
What are the emotions associated with those thoughts?
Where can you feel those emotions in your body?
Just notice your thoughts,
The emotions associated with them,
Where you can feel those emotions in your body.
Don't let yourself jump back into those thoughts.
Just notice them as an observer.
Once you feel like you've become more aware of your present experience with the thoughts,
Emotions,
Physical sensations throughout the body,
Imagine placing all of that into a basket.
Visualize a basket in your mind,
Placing these thoughts,
Feelings,
Emotions into that basket,
And just sort of setting it aside.
Then move into step two,
Which is to focus on the breath.
Specifically,
Focus on awareness of your breath at the abdomen,
The diaphragm.
Notice the abdomen expand as you breathe in,
And relax as you breathe out.
Notice the subtle pause of sensation in between each breath.
And while you're focusing on the breath at the abdomen,
Know that new thoughts will come.
That's normal.
It's just the brain doing what the brain does.
When you notice this happening,
Gently acknowledge it.
Say oh,
That's the brain thinking again.
And then escort your attention back to the breath.
Use the breath as an anchor,
Anchoring your awareness here in the present moment.
When you notice the mind doing that mental time travel,
Thinking of something you're supposed to do later today,
Something you forgot to do last week,
Maybe asking yourself what's the point of all this,
Am I doing this right?
Whatever it is,
Whatever the mind is thinking,
Just gently notice it.
Don't jump into the thought.
Just notice it as an observer,
And bring your attention back to the breath.
Using the breath as an anchor,
Awareness of the breath and the body,
Anchoring your awareness here in the present moment.
Coming each time as another opportunity to exercise the awareness muscle,
Knowing that mindfulness is quite literally exercise for the nervous system.
Every time you notice a new thought,
Gently acknowledge it,
And return your awareness back to your breath.
You're doing another repetition in exercising the awareness muscle.
Once you feel like you've had enough repetitions,
Maybe it's feeling easier to focus on the breath,
Then move into step three,
Which is to expand the breath.
Here we will begin breathing into different parts of the body.
Feel or imagine your breath spreading throughout the body,
Doing this like a body scan.
Take turns breathing into each leg,
Starting with your left leg.
Every time you breathe in,
Imagine the breath spreading down the left leg,
Down into the left foot,
Into the left toes.
At your next in-breath,
Breathe down the right leg,
A few breaths down the right leg,
Into the right foot,
Into the right toes.
And imagine breathing down both legs simultaneously.
Then take some breaths throughout the torso.
We start at the pelvic area,
The buttocks,
The lower back,
Lower abdomen,
The middle back,
Upper abdomen,
The upper back,
The chest.
Notice the ribs expand with the in-breath,
Relax with the out-breath.
Then at your next in-breath,
Imagine breathing down the left arm,
A few breaths down the left arm,
The left hand,
Left fingers,
Moving across to the right arm,
Right hand,
Left hand,
The right fingers.
And imagine breathing down both arms simultaneously,
Take a few breaths down both arms,
And then let the breath go up the back of the neck,
Back of the head,
The top of the head,
The temples.
Take a few breaths throughout the face,
The forehead,
The eyebrows,
The cheeks,
The chin,
The jaw,
The tongue.
Finally returning down to the chest,
The diaphragm.
Finish by feeling or imagining breathing into and throughout the entire body,
Both legs,
Both arms,
The whole head,
Face,
Torso,
The whole body.
The whole body breathing together is one.
Once you've finished expanding the breath,
Make the intention to take that level of awareness you found on your body and your breath into the next moments of your day,
Helping to keep you here in the present.
That concludes the three-step breathing space.
