Like to welcome you to this box breathing practice.
The box breathing is a counting breathing exercise.
So what I mean by that is that you're going to be breathing in then holding the breath,
Then breathing out and holding the breath for an equal length of time.
So we're gonna start off with counts of four.
We're gonna do that for a bit and then increase it to counts of five.
So that will mean is we'll start with an exhale,
We'll empty out.
We'll breathe in for a count of four.
Hold at the top of four,
At the top of the breath of four.
Exhale for a count of four.
And at the bottom of the exhale,
Hold again for a count of four.
So it's kind of like a box.
I'm going to do it twice.
I'll count it out for us.
And then we'll do about four on our own.
Then what we're going to do is we're going to increase the count just to five.
So what I'm going to recommend here is if you're finding it a little difficult,
To exhale.
To start the exhale through the nose and do the last you know,
3-4 or 4-5 with that exhale through the mouth and really feel that emptying out.
Now remember for the inhale.
Start that three-step yogic breath,
Right,
Where you start,
The diaphragm engages.
Start the breath where you're feeling the lower abdominal area,
Expand.
And then just feel this gentle rising feeling.
If you feel you're doing that thing that maybe if you're in the habit of this upper chest breathing,
It becomes very hard to breathe in for four or five seconds.
So drop the attention here and we're really working with this deep,
Abdominal breathing where the diaphragm engages.
And just feel it rise and then release,
Okay?
So once again,
Whether you're sitting in a chair or on the floor.
Get comfortable.
Spine rising,
The body relaxed around the spine.
Make sure the jaws relax,
Your shoulders are down and loose.
You need to rock a little side to side.
So we're gonna start,
And remember,
We empty out,
Exhale,
Exhale,
Exhale.
Pour out all the stale air,
All that carbon dioxide.
Now inhale,
One,
Two,
Three.
For hold.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three.
Four,
Hold.
Inhale.
For hold.
4,
Exhale,
1,
2,
3,
4.
Four and hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And four on your own.
And one more.
And we're gonna increase that to the count of five.
So finish up,
Exhale.
And breathing in.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Five,
Hold,
Two,
One.
Four,
Five.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
3,
4,
5,
Hold,
1,
2.
Five,
Inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four.
4,
5,
Hold,
2,
1.
Four,
Five,
Exhale,
One,
Two.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Five,
Hold.
Five,
And now four on your own.
And one last one.
And relax.
One piece of advice here,
As you find your breath becomes slower,
Deeper,
Smoother,
There's no problem with increasing the count.
I would suggest starting off with four and then like we did,
Maybe move into five.
You might find as your breath calms down and becomes slower,
Smoother and deeper,
Maybe move it up to six or even later on into seven.
But remember,
You never want to feel tense,
Especially at the top of the inhale.
So don't rush it.
Don't think,
Oh,
I want to do counts of eight.
And if you're finding that the count of six,
You're kind of done with your inhale and you're making yourself tense,
Bring it back down.
You want to feel very relaxed on the inhalation.
That you never feel tense at the end.
So only increase the count when you feel very comfortable with it.
