Please prepare for the calming breath practice.
This is a short guided breathing practice that induces relaxation and rejuvenates the whole body.
It can be done at any time of the day,
Particularly if you're feeling tired,
Overwhelmed or stressed.
Begin by finding a quiet location to do this practice,
Preferably a room where you can close the door and not be disturbed for the next 10 minutes.
Lying down on the floor on your back.
Loosen any tight clothing.
Let the body relax down onto the floor,
Ensure there is sufficient support beneath you.
Looking to have the legs slightly separated so the feet are hip width apart.
Allow the arms to be resting down onto the floor beside your body.
A little bit of space between the body and the arms.
Allow the eyes to close over gently.
Soften into the area of the jaw and the face.
On your next breath in,
Taking a slightly deeper breath in through your nose.
As you exhale,
Let go of your day,
The business,
The activity of the day.
Let your body relax down onto the floor.
Do that breath two more times.
Then let your natural breath return.
Breathe easy.
Then feel into the abdominal area.
Just noticing the breath in the abdominal area now.
Feel the movement that may happen as you breathe.
If you can feel for the slight expansion that happens in the inhalation,
The exhalation,
The slight contraction in the abdominal area.
Let the breath be easy.
Begin now to move into abdominal breathing.
What that means is you breathe in,
Let the belly expand a little bit more and the navel rise.
As you breathe out,
Let the belly relax and contract in its own way.
The next time you breathe in,
Drawing the air in through the nose,
Allowing the belly to expand a little bit more.
As you exhale,
Allow the abdomen to relax and contract.
Continue in your own time with the practice of abdominal breathing.
Feel into your abdomen and feel the rise and the fall that happens for each breath.
If you feel there's not much movement or you're not sure if you're getting the practice,
Then you can rest one hand on the abdomen and the other hand resting on the lower ribs.
Getting into the movement in the abdomen with the aim to keep the rib cage and the chest still to allow for the expansion and contraction in the abdomen.
The key in this practice is to not force the breath.
Let your breath and the movement in the abdomen be steady and comfortable.
If you find you become sleepy or the mind wanders off,
Just gently draw it back to the practice of abdominal breathing.
When this practice can be done for a few minutes,
Then you're able to start to reverse the effects of stress and overactivity in the body and the mind.
You're allowing the body to relax.
Continue a little bit longer with the practice of abdominal breathing.
After the next breath that you take,
Do three more rounds of the practice of abdominal breathing.
There's no hurry or rush,
Take your time.
When you've finished that last round,
Let go of the effort with the breathing.
Let your breath come back to its own natural way.
Breathe easy.
Breathing practice is coming to an end.
When you're ready to,
You can slowly begin to introduce movement into your body.
I'd like to stretch the body in whatever way feels nice.
I'd like to roll onto one side.
Take a moment there.
When you're ready to,
You can open your eyes and slowly come into upright position.
The breathing practice is complete.
