3-Part, Expansive Breathing Practice

This breathing practice invites you to slow down and breathe a bit deeper and longer. You will be guided to breathe into three parts of the body: chest, ribs and belly and get into a rhythm of breathing like this. It is great for calming the nervous sytem, body and mind, and brings you back into the present moment. This is also known as diaphragmatic breathing.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to today's practice, My name is Victoria and I'll be guiding us through three-part expansive breathing a Great way to calm the nervous system Calm the body and calm the mind We'll start by practicing breathing into the three parts of the torso and then we'll link it all together So to start just make yourself comfortable seated either in a chair or on the floor Sit up nice and tall Invite your shoulders to soften Take a deep breath in And a full breath out Place your palm on your chest And see if you can breathe into your chest Noticing how the breath does not need to be very deep to feel the chest rise and fall Now bring your palm down onto your belly Breathe into your belly a little bit deeper than breathing into your chest And then move your palm to your side body your ribcage area See if you can breathe into your ribs Feeling the torso the side body expand outwards And then soften inward If this is new to you, It's okay if it doesn't feel easy And now let's link these three parts of our breath together The flow of the breath goes like this. You'll inhale to the belly ribs chest Then exhale chest ribs belly You can choose to soften your gaze or close your eyes Keeping your hand somewhere on the body or just relax it down into your lap Enjoy a deep breath in fill your belly your ribs your chest Slow breath out of the chest ribs belly Inhale deeply belly ribs chest expand Exhale slowly chest ribs belly contracts Inhale belly ribs chest Exhale chest ribs belly Inhale deeply And exhale slowly Enjoying five more deep breaths like this on your own Breathing a little bit deeper and longer each time Breathing a little bit deeper and longer each time You After your five deep three-part breaths let go of any control of the breath Notice how you feel Notice how your body feels How your mind feels You might like to stay here a little bit longer you might like to continue to take three part deep breaths In your own time when you're ready wiggle your fingers and toes Bringing your awareness back to the room to your space opening the eyes gently if they're closed Enjoy carrying this calmness this lightness you've cultivated with your breath with you Into the rest of your day. Thank you for practicing

Reviews

Victoria’s voice has a pleasantly deep tone, and her calm way of speaking has a soothing effect. The pace is perfectly attuned to the rhythm of the three-point breathing technique she guides us through. Thank you for this short yet effective meditation — I enjoy returning to it from time to time.

Nice and short! I was sceptical how 6 min should make a difference but they do.

Tried it when I almost had a panic attack and it helped me a lot. I am really relaxed now.

Wonderful simple exercise that calmed me instantly. Thanks so much 🫶🏼

A great practice! I'd love it to be a bit louder, though. Thank you 🙏