Calm The Nervous System | Breath And Movement

This guided practice combines three simple breath and movement exercises to calm the nervous system and bring greater clarity to the mind. By coordinating gentle movement with the breath and awareness, the body begins to relax while the mind becomes steadier and more focused.

A grounding reset you can return to anytime you need to release stress, reconnect, and restore balance.

Transcript

Welcome. This is a really nice three-movement practice set that you can do at any time. You need to bring a little bit of calm and relaxation, Whether it be for the body, Whether it be for your mind. And we're just going to link the body, Breath, And mind here with these movements, Bringing you to a nice sense of calm, All within a couple minutes. Okay, So first you're going to get your stance, Feet about hip-width apart, Slight bend of the knees, Just a gentle drop of the tailbone, Shoulders relaxed. Connect to the feeling of the spine rises like a string of pearls, And the body relaxes around that rising spine. You're going to take your hands, Coil at the wrist so the palms face out, Mostly forward and out. Sink a little into the heels, And now push off the balls of the feet, Power through the legs, Let the arms float up. The elbows and hands get to the shoulders, Just bend the elbows. Hands will come to the top of the head, And then you just bring the hands down the front of the body. Okay, So that's the physical motion. Now how do we link this with the breath and the mind? Push off the balls of feet as we float the arms up, We inhale, Bend the elbows, We finish the inhale, Exhale, Keeping the mind with the hands so the mind stays, It's at the eyes, Cheeks, Throat and neck, Shoulders, Upper back and chest, Lower back, And then you're sinking any last bit of tension through the legs. Okay, So inhale, We float up, Exhale, Keep the mind with the hands, And just relax layer by layer as if you're underneath a warm shower or slow motion waterfall. Just sink and relax, Softening the body. Do three more, And just put the mind in the body. Maybe it feels a little softer, A little bit more relaxed. The next movement we're going to do is a movement that coordinates with the physiological sigh, Which is a double inhale and a very long relaxing exhale. We're going to breathe in pretty sharp, About 70 percent through the nose, And then a finishing 25 to 30 percent through the mouth, And then a long sigh as we exhale. So it'll be like this. The way we're going to use the hands, Palms will come up, We go, So there'll be a slight bit of tension at the top of that second inhale. So the first inhale through the nose, Second inhale through the mouth, And release, Just like water, A wave breaking. So the wave comes up, Crest. I'm going to do this four more times. All right, And then to finish up this practice set, You're going to bring your feet together, You're going to bring one hand underneath your navel, Palm up, As if you're holding a cup in your hand. You're going to bring the other hand up out the side, Comes up above the head, And then coming down your center line, You come down and stop your hand, Put in the knuckle of your index finger in between your eyebrows. Qi Gong is what they call the upper dantian. You just want to connect with a sense of clarity and wisdom, And then you bring it down to the center of the chest, They call the middle dantian, Heart center. Here you want to connect with a feeling of kindness, Relating well to people through your life, And then you bring it down just below your navel to what we call the lower dantian. This is our source of being grounded, Our source of energy. We'll go one time up with the other hand, We inhale, And then just bring it down, Connect with clarity and wisdom, Making good decisions, Bring it down to the heart center, Feeling of kindness and compassion, Relating well with others. Finally, Down to the lower dantian, Put one hand on top of the other, Don't worry, Left over right, Right over left, Whatever feels right. Taking three breaths here in the lower belly, Just a general sense of being grounded, Calm, Sense of ease. You take that feeling with you through the rest of your day or your evening. Thank you.