7x7 Mindfulness Challenge - Day Three (3-Part Breathing)

Welcome to Day Three of our 7x7 Mindfulness Challenge! Today we’ll develop a deeper connection between the body and the mind by using 3-Part Breathing. This technique brings awareness to the quality and location of your breath, which can be an indicator of your current state of mind.

Transcript

Hey everyone and welcome back to the 7x7 Mindfulness Challenge. Each lesson will introduce you to a one minute long practice for you to use just about anywhere and just about anytime to help bring more mindfulness into your work and your life. We'll start out by teaching you a little bit about each mindfulness technique and then we'll go through a one minute practice together. And you can always come back to this lesson anytime you want a refresher. On day two you learned the technique of equal breathing. Today we'll start to develop a deeper connection between the body and the mind using three part breathing. When we're under stress it's totally natural for us to unconsciously focus our breath in just one area of the body. But by deliberately paying attention to how the breath is filling us up we can help to guide it so that it supports our bodies in a more balanced way. We'll start by settling in to get the most benefit out of our short practice together. Take a second to get your body into a position where you feel safe and comfortable and there are no major distractions. You can do anything else that might make you a little more comfortable like taking off your glasses or grabbing a sweater. Closing your eyes is always optional and if it's comfortable for you you can let them drift closed or if keeping your eyes open feels better for you today you can still give them a bit of a break by letting your gaze just rest gently somewhere in front of you. And finally remind yourself that you're here to take the next minute to be mindful and give yourself permission to put any other items on your schedule aside. Now we'll get into our three part breathing practice. We'll start by walking you through the technique. The intention here is to fill your entire abdomen with as much deep nourishing breath as you're able to. Try to imagine your inhale in three parts. Start by breathing as far down into your belly as you can. Then let your breath move up and expand your ribcage. And finally finish the inhale by letting your breath rise all the way up to your collarbones. And then exhale in three parts. First let the breath sink away from the collarbones. Then let it gently release from your ribs. And finally press out any of the air that's left deep in your belly. It can help to imagine your body like a water bottle. As you pour something into the bottle it fills from the bottom first. And then as you empty the bottle it pours out starting from the top. Keep this picture in your mind while you try this for one minute on your own. Inhaling from belly up to ribs up to collarbones. And then exhaling from collarbones down to ribs and back to the belly. If you find your mind starting to wander remind yourself that it's all a part of the practice. And just bring your attention back to the breath with kindness and with understanding. So go ahead and try three part breathing on your own pace for the next minute. And now slowly start to relax your attention away from your breathing and back to the space around you. You can let your eyes gently blink open if they were closed. Or if they were already open just bring your gaze gently back into focus. Take a second to thank yourself for committing this minute to being mindful. And take another second to notice how you feel now that this session is complete. Congratulations for completing day three. Then tomorrow we'll start to release our physical and mental grip on thoughts and emotions using guided imagery. We'll see you then.