Breathing To Balance

We take our breathing for granted. This hurts us. We rely on the breath not only to live and create energy at the cellular level but also to be well and to feel good physically and emotionally. Most of us breathe in ways that turn on our fight, flight, freeze response more often than necessary. In this breath-centered meditation, I'll guide you to practice better quality breathing that turns on your rest and digest nervous system and guide you through a scan to relax your body.

Transcript

I just want to share a little bit before we go into it because I've got some really cool tools that I'm always practicing like an old doctor. The old doctors, It was ethical for them to try all the drugs before they gave them to their patients and now it's not. But for me, These aren't drugs. These are just practices and tools and things. The thing that I've been really going deep into is the breath and it's trending, Right? But there's also just a really great proper breath, Something that we often don't do as soon as we open our emails and see a long queue of all these things we've got to respond to and some studies have shown that people just hold their breath in that moment and then they gasp for air. So breath awareness, When we're doing this, We're helping to really optimize but particularly having a soft belly and letting that move, Who knows what the vagus nerve is? It's a nerve that goes from your brain all the way down through your body and when you breathe and move your belly when you breathe, You stimulate that vagus nerve which helps relax your nervous system, Brings you to a rest and digest and also your exhalation further brings you into that state, So a prolonged exhalation. So I want to give you some of the whys for why we're doing some of the things we're doing because there's real good science behind it and it feels great. That's the part that like who cares about the science if it doesn't feel good. Alright so let's get into it. Thanks for listening. Feel free to get yourself very comfortable and as always please check your device to make sure that it won't disturb you during this. And just let yourself feel the chair beneath you, Whatever you're sitting on. And also sense the gravity that's holding you securely where you're sitting. And now sense your breath. Just feeling that movement and see if you can gently start to deepen, Lengthen your inhalation and your exhalation, Breathing only through the nose if possible. And so just slowing down the breath and softening in all the places that the moving breath touches. Feeling from the nostrils into the sinuses, Feeling a sense of opening. Relaxing through the windpipe, Letting the throat fill the neck. And through the chest, Feeling that moving breath, Allowing it to expand the chest, Letting the shoulders where the shoulders meet the chest soften and maybe open toward the back. And feeling the muscles down the ribcage all becoming more flexible, Allowing your breath to more easily come into your body. Slowly exhaling on each exhale and letting your attention fall into your belly. Using a conscious effort to first feel and then to soften and surrender any holding in your belly, Any tightness, Letting your belly become undefended, Relaxed. And in this moment, Letting your belly be exaggerated on your inhalation, Letting it expand more and more. And on your exhalation, Slow your exhalation down even more. See if you can breathe in to a count of three and breathe out to a count of six. Feeling the breath moving the belly and just letting everything relax anywhere that might be tight around that moving breath. We can do that for just a couple minutes quietly, Just three seconds in, Six seconds out. One more. If you lose count, You can always start back at one. - So letting your breath resume a natural pace. Staying with the nose, Nasal breaths. And staying soft, Everywhere the breath touches. Staying aware of the movements in your body related to your moving breath in and out. And just taking a moment to scan the body for any obvious points of tension or tightness. Holding that you might be able to just gently start to let go. And just scanning in the obvious places, The neck where it meets the head and where it meets the shoulders. Through the shoulders. Tracing down the chest and belly. And also down the back, Upper, Lower. Soft. And anywhere else that might be able to just kind of let go. Soft. And anywhere else that might just be calling out. Just feeling it and letting it go. And so now just noticing the difference in how you feel after doing just a few minutes of breathing, A few minutes of. . . Feeling that sense of the rest and digest nervous system being turned on and the fight, Flight, Freeze being turned off. In this moment, Giving yourself total permission to do nothing. No need to plan or think about what's coming after this moment. And there is no way you're doing even this meditation wrong, No matter how much your brain is thinking. You're here. That's enough. So just becoming more and more calm and letting things slow down just a little bit more, Bit by bit. Feeling a sense of just really surrendering, Surrendering even more to the seat beneath you. And surrendering the mind, No matter how busy it might be, Allowing any thoughts that might be to move. And bringing your attention back to the moving breath, Back to the felt sense of the moving breath. And in this moment, Taking your attention to the top of your head, Softening and surrendering across the scalp. Letting that softness move across the forehead, Soft through the eyebrows and between. And relaxing all those little micro muscles around the eyes. Letting the eyes sink deep into your head. Soft at the cheeks. And again through the sinuses, Opening and opening some more to let all that beautiful air in. Remembering that each breath in is an opportunity to feel the sensations in your body. And as you breathe out, An opportunity to relax and to let go and to surrender. Tension in the body and tension in the mind. So soft across the lips now. Through the jaw. Letting the jaw unhinge and release. Relaxing the tongue, Letting it fall into the lower jaw. And relaxing the neck. Feeling first at the back of the neck, Just below the hairline, Moving slowly down, Becoming softer and softer until you get to the upper back. And at the front of the neck, Behind the chin. Breathing into that space, Maybe picking your head up a little bit taller. Soft. And around the ears. Feeling around the backs of the ears and below. Down the sides of the neck. Surrendering any holding here. Letting the shoulders and weight of the arms assist you in letting the shoulders pull further away from the neck, Stretching the sides of the neck. Warm and soft through the shoulders. And the upper arms. Down through the forearms, Soft. Moving through the wrists. Outsides of the hands and fingers, Feeling first, Softening second. And then through the palms and insides of the fingers. Saying thank you for all that they do and giving them a 20 minute break. Taking your attention to the top of your chest and feeling a warm wave of relaxation moving down your chest. Slowly, Maybe even hearing the crash like you would at the beach and the waves crash, Crashing, Moving slowly down your torso. The chest, Upper abdomen, Over the belly and lower belly. Feeling that gentle movement of the belly up and down. Softening your body, Relaxing your mind. And then following that wave again at the top of the back below the neck. Feeling that warmth and letting that wave wash down over the upper back. Relaxing as it touches all the different muscles, Tissues and fibers and just making everything so much softer. Through the middle back, Over and into the lower back. And into the waist. Down the buttocks. The upper legs, Thighs, Letting them become heavy and soft. Warm, Relaxed. And then letting that relaxation move into the knees, Lower legs, Through the calves, Into the feet. Grounding into the feet by feeling the sensations in the space of your feet. Are you wearing shoes or socks, Slippers? Feeling those points of contact. Are you barefoot? What pressure do you feel and wear at the bottom of your feet? And maybe thank your feet for carrying you around whenever you want them to. Beautiful gifts. And once again, Taking your attention back to your breath. Feeling its movement. Becoming even more intimate with the sensations of the moving breath. Remember breathing in, Contacting sensation. Breathing out, Relaxing and letting go. Breathing in, Contacting sensation. Breathing out, Relaxing and letting go. And for the last 30 seconds, Please stay with your breath in silence. And simply feel. Feel the movements and sink even deeper into a calm relaxation. Thank you. Thank you guys. Have a beautiful, Beautiful day. Get outside. It's gorgeous.