Hi everyone,
My name is Elle and today this is your quick and easy breathing meditation.
Find a comfortable seat on the floor or on a chair,
Feeling your sitz bones sink into the earth beneath you.
Start by breathing in through your nose and exhale all the way out through your mouth.
Inhale in and exhale out.
One more deep inhale like that,
Filling the chest,
The side of the ribcage and the back and exhale everything out.
Today we're going to do what's called long deep breathing.
This is great for regulating the parasympathetic nervous system and telling your body to go into rest and digest mode.
This is also really helpful to get you out of a high anxiety moment.
The whole idea is that the exhale is longer than the inhale.
So first we'll breathe in for 4,
Hold at the top for 7 and exhale all the way out for 8.
Let's start together.
Breathing in for 4,
Holding at the top for 7 and exhaling out through the mouth making the sound of the ocean for 8.
Inhaling in,
Holding at the top and exhaling out through the mouth for 8.
Inhaling in for 4,
Holding at the top for 7 and exhaling out through the mouth for 8.
Thinking about keeping the ribs large and really opening through the chest,
Shoulders are away from the ears,
Expanding through the ribcage as you inhale and hold that breath.
And as everything goes with your exhale,
Think about everything letting go.
Any worry,
Any fear sloughing off of your physical body,
Your mental body and your emotional body.
And on your next inhale,
Inhale everything in,
Hold it at the top,
Squeeze all the muscles in your body,
Squeeze your toes,
Squeeze your fingers,
Squeeze your shoulder blades together.
And exhale,
Let everything go.
Now return to your normal breathing,
In through your nose and out through your nose.
And just notice what has shifted.
Try not to judge it.
Where do you feel there is more space?
Where do things still feel stuck?
Where do you feel more grounded?
And wherever that is,
Just take notice and on the places that you still feel stuck,
Put your hand over them.
And breathe in and out.
Breathe in and out.
And breathe in and out.
Slowly bring your hands back down to your knees,
Knowing that you can always repeat this meditation or find a longer one or come back to this or just come back to your breath anytime you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed.
I hope you found a little bit of grounding in this practice today.
Namaste.
