Welcome to your practice today.
My name is Shana Moyer-Semenye and if you have landed here in this space,
You very likely need a moment of rest.
You need a few seconds just to settle down,
Tune into your body and into your breath.
And that's exactly what we're going to do today.
We're going to be focusing on a hypnotic style of breathing that uses an exhalation that is twice as long as the inhalation.
This 4-7 breath allows you to enter into a natural state of hypnosis,
Creating moments of pause,
Moments of reflection between the inhalation and the exhalation.
It tranquilizes our central nervous system and gives our adrenaline a cue that that internal alarm system doesn't have to be on all the time.
It also focuses on counting,
So it forces us,
Human beings who are meaning making machines,
To distract ourselves,
To hone in on that individual count,
Which can be exceptionally helpful in times of high stress.
When our adrenaline kicks in and we go into the fight or flight,
Fawn or freeze type of response,
We can come back to this breath practice,
Ground ourselves down,
Slow our heart rate and those internal systems that get turned on when that alarm system goes into overdrive.
As you arrive here today,
I welcome you to get really comfortable with your body.
Lying down is perfectly appropriate for today.
And as you start to close the windows of your eyes,
Giving yourself a moment to just breathe in your own natural rhythm.
In and out ever so gently.
And then let's practice together a couple rounds of this 4-7 breath.
You'll be breathing in deeply for a slow count of four.
And then on your exhalation,
You will be breathing out for a slow count of seven.
If your lung capacity doesn't quite allow you to get to seven,
Try for six.
And if that's not possible,
Shorten your inhalation to a count of three and your exhalation to a count of five.
We always want that exhalation to be approximately twice as long as your inhalation.
So let's try it together.
Placing your hands on your chest at your heart space or down on your belly,
Whatever feels the most comfortable for you today.
Breathing in for the count of four.
Breathing in two,
Three,
Four.
Slight pause here.
And then breathing out two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
And a pause.
You might feel uncomfortable at first,
But you'll get the hang of it as we go through this practice today.
Another inhalation in two,
Three,
Four,
And a pause.
And out two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Pause.
One more time and then we'll introduce visualization and breathing in two,
Three,
Four,
Pause.
And out two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Keep breathing in this rhythm,
Counting silently to yourself,
Tapping your fingers on your belly or your chest,
Whatever you need to do to really get that focus centered on the count of in for four and out for seven.
On your next inhalation,
I invite you to start to draw your awareness to how heavy your body feels.
As you sink down into your space and you start melting away,
Suspended ever so gently between earth and sky today,
Notice how your body is responding to this breath.
Your adrenaline responses have started to grow quiet.
We are very mindfully diffusing anxiety and stress.
You're breathing in and you're breathing out.
Anchor down into that breath and start to allow your mind to drift away.
Somewhere safe,
Somewhere warm where you can sit on a sandy beach and watch as the waves pull in as you breathe in that long four count.
The waves start to go out back to the ocean as you exhale for seven,
Drifting further and further away.
Rocking you with this beautiful rhythm,
Waves coming in on your inhalation,
Making new marks in the sand and waves going out back into the ocean as you exhale.
This gentle,
Beautiful rocking motion in for four and out for seven.
Pausing between the inhalation and the exhalation,
Taking a moment to reflect.
How do you feel?
Check in with yourself here.
As you breathe in and out,
You enter into this beautiful state of natural hypnosis.
All of those things that were demanding your attention,
Those points of stress and anxiety,
All of a sudden don't have so much weight anymore.
They don't take up so much space.
Your heart rate has slowed down.
That internal alarm system has been shut off simply because you gave into your breath.
You watched as the waves were pulled in by your inhalation and as they were pushed out when you exhaled.
A few more rounds of breath here,
Getting really nice and multi into this beautiful process of the in and the out.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Now on your next inhalation,
Starting to draw your awareness back into your physical body.
Where do you carry your stress?
Did you feel all of that tension melt away?
That to-do list that you carry there in your mind?
Do those tasks seem so big anymore?
That nervous system,
The alarm that was on when we began,
That resistance,
The natural resistance to push away something new.
How does that feel now?
Breathing in and as you breathe out,
Drawing your awareness into your physical space,
Taking a big body stretch if that's what your body needs today.
You've done a lot of work.
You've diffused these internal senses of stress and anxiety by breathing for a count of four and a count of seven.
So effective when you're searching for a moment of rest.
Practice this regularly.
Know that you have the power there just harnessed with your breath to diffuse anxiety and stress.
To create a sense of safety within yourself.
Keep breathing.
Keep reflecting on how your body feels when you breathe and come back here any time that you need to.
In for four and out for seven.
I'll see you next time.
