Gentle Breathwork For Calm & Peace

Good morning,

Everybody.

Good morning.

Good afternoon.

Evening wherever you are tuning in from.

Beautiful practice today.

I'm going to preface this and just share a quick insight here.

This one here is going to be great in the seated position.

Seated upright,

Back supported,

Head free.

It's going to be a slightly gentler practice,

A little softer.

You know,

Sometimes breathwork calls for that intense,

Deep activation.

It can be quite intense on the nervous system,

Especially these longer journeys.

Here today,

I've noticed for myself over the past year,

One of the things I'm continually reminded of is just that gentle is powerful.

I've realized that some of the most profound insights I've had over the past year have been in very gentle moments.

And so this morning,

I woke up last night around two,

Absolutely restless,

Sat up,

Went to the couch,

And was wide awake for like two and a half hours.

Four,

4.

30 rolls around.

I'm like sitting upright on the couch and I slowly feel myself begin to,

To slow down enough to fall back asleep.

When I woke up this morning,

My body did not want,

My body did not want more intensity.

It's like,

Give me something slow,

Give me something gentle.

That'll still wake me up,

That'll still make me feel connected and at peace and trusting.

I don't need a two by four of breathing to the head this morning.

And so what we're going to do here is we're going to start off simple.

We're going to start off slow.

We're going to keep the same structure that we normally have.

So three parts,

Belly,

Chest,

Exhale,

We're going to do is we're going to expand and elongate both of these.

So we've got a little bit more time to fill a little bit more time to empty.

We're going to do a breath hold.

And then we're going to transition into a rectangular breath.

Now rectangular breathing can be a little bit challenging at first.

So I urge you to just watch where it gets challenging.

Maybe it's in the longer holds,

A rectangular breath pattern is inhaling for four seconds,

Holding at the top for eight,

Then exhaling for four and then holding for eight.

Anytime the inhale and exhale are twice the length and the holds becomes a rectangular pattern.

And this what this is doing is it's extending the hold and it's building a reserve of CO2 in the body.

Now this has an incredibly wild amount of positive and healthy impacts in our body.

There's not a ton of studies to be honest,

But 1000s of rabbit holes around CO2 and whether or not it's a waste product or it's actually important and what we're finding is it's it's incredibly important.

And beyond that,

The space in between breaths is seen as a very sacred space.

And so to hold and to sit there for me,

It always connects me to this incredibly deep sense of peace,

A sense of calm,

But it takes a minute to get there.

And so we're probably going to be doing that for seven or eight minutes,

At least to be able to sink into that pattern.

So five minutes in here,

We're going to get things rolling.

Going to invite everyone to close down the eyes,

Get comfortable in a seated position,

Allow the shoulders to relax down the back body,

Find some gentle movement in the neck,

And placing the hands in the lap or on the legs and becoming still.

Bring your awareness into the body and to the breath,

Beginning to witness it without change.

What is the breath doing this morning as I tune into it now?

And now inviting you to check in with yourself.

How are you feeling showing up to today's practice?

Two words.

This is a great way to sprinkle some EQ into your day,

Some emotional literacy,

And some self awareness to just check in.

What am I feeling right now,

In my body?

For myself,

There's a slight bit of tension in the chest.

But the emotion accompanying it is excitement and trust.

So for yourself,

Find those two words.

And together,

We're going to begin to take hold of the breath softly here.

If you'd like,

You can place a hand on the belly,

A hand on the chest,

And begin the circular rhythm of breathing,

Inhaling through the nose,

Down into the belly,

Fill the belly,

Then fill the chest.

And then exhale through the mouth,

Letting it go.

Again,

Into the belly,

Into the chest.

Exhale,

Let it go.

Keep this rhythm,

Find this pattern for yourself where it's a circular motion.

It's continuous.

But it's not the same rapid pace as our activating breath.

Sometimes is that.

That's not what we're after today.

What we're doing is a slower,

Longer inhale.

And that reflexive,

Easy passive exhale.

Get into this rhythm.

We're going to take two full minutes of breath here like this.

Find that pattern.

And I'm going to guide you through the pacing here.

So we make sure we get a nice,

Full,

Expansive inhale.

As we're breathing,

Doing your best to keep your awareness,

Your focus,

Your attention either on the tip of your nose as you inhale,

Or in your body to watch as the flow of breath changes and impacts your physiology.

When your mind drifts to try and grab onto something else or run down the rabbit hole of kids or work or school or finances or my relationship,

This or my parents that that's okay.

Thoughts aren't wrong.

Thoughts are not the enemy.

One of the most profound insights I was gifted from one of my mentors was that when our body relaxes,

And it feels safe to do so it's going to start liberating stress,

Storage stress in the body.

And one of the ways it does that does that is through thoughts,

It's going to release thoughts.

And so your mind might start racing,

But know that that's stress energy leaving the body.

And so we don't have to judge them,

We don't have to control them or like,

No,

I shouldn't be thinking.

No,

We can just go up.

Okay,

Stress is leaving my body,

Let me come back to center,

Focus back on my breath.

The inhale feels great coming in,

It's slightly cool.

And then as I exhale,

Feeling my body soften,

My shoulders relax.

So here we go.

Talking portion completes.

Breathing portion commencing in 321 inhale in.

Exhale.

Inhale,

Belly,

Chest.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale,

Belly,

Chest.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

In into the belly,

Into the chest becoming full.

Exhale,

Mouth passive,

Let it fall.

Inhale in.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Chest.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Emphasis on the big deep long inhale in we go.

Exhale letting go.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Right here with you.

You're doing great.

Keep this going.

Inhaling all the way in becoming full.

Exhale drop.

Inhale in.

Exhale.

Keep this rhythm going.

Keeping the pace of the long slow expansive inhale feeling your body fill.

This is still doing the same thing.

We're still oxygenating just at a gentler pace.

When we exhale using a sigh using some sound some verbality to move this energy.

Here we go.

30 more seconds.

Big deep inhale in.

In.

Out.

Inhale.

Exhale.

In.

Out.

One more breath.

Final breath.

Inhaling in.

Exhaling out.

And lastly,

Inhaling in all the way to the top for a breath hold here.

Holding at the top along the shoulders to drop down,

Becoming still and bringing your awareness into the body as you become present with all of the sensations,

Feelings that arise.

Be still here.

Become the witness.

And just notice the energy surging through your body.

Holding here for just a moment longer.

And when you feel the urge to release the breath,

Letting go with a hum or a sigh.

Now all together letting go in 321 with a hum.

Beautiful.

The hum stimulating the vagus nerve bringing us into a calm and relaxed state.

Letting go of that breath altogether.

Taking three recovery breaths at your own time,

Your own pace,

However your body pleases.

One more,

And we're going to transition into rectangular breathing.

It's going to take a moment or two to find your rhythm here,

But stick with it.

Because this is the most profound and powerful breath I use each day.

So what we're going to do is inhale for four,

Hold at the top for eight,

Exhale for four and hold at the bottom for eight.

Breathing through the nose,

We can exhale with nose or mouth.

Here we go on the next exhale becoming completely empty drawing the navel in towards the spine.

And together inhaling in for four,

In two,

Three,

Four,

Holding for eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

Exhale for three,

Two,

One,

Hold at the bottom for eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

One,

Inhale for hold eight,

One,

Exhale for hold eight,

Inhale for hold eight,

Exhale for hold eight,

Inhale,

Hold,

Exhale,

Hold,

Inhale,

Become full,

Hold at the top,

Sitting in this stillness,

Bringing your awareness back into the body into the chest.

Exhale for release,

Letting the shoulders drop down the cheeks soften,

Hold at the bottom in this emptiness ready to be filled by life itself by breath.

Holding here,

Keeping that awareness internal and inhale for hold eight,

Exhale for hold eight,

Inhale for hold for eight,

Exhale for sinking into relaxation,

Hold for eight,

Being still here,

Witnessing this pattern,

The ease or challenge that surfaces inhale for finding finding pleasure that inhale holding at the top for eight,

Exhale for hold eight,

Inhale,

Exhale,

Hold,

Inhale,

Hold,

Exhale,

Hold,

Inhale,

Hold.

The stillness in this fullness,

Reminder to bring your awareness and attention back to the breath back to the body.

Exhale for shoulders sink down further,

The body gets heavy in the chair.

Hold at the bottom for eight.

Inhale for hold eight.

Exhale for finding deep relaxation.

Hold eight.

On each of the holds beginning to feel this CO2 build feel your connection to source spirit God getting closer and closer.

Inhale for filling with life force with love with gratitude holding at the top feeling as close as you can to that which you believe is greater than you.

The space in between breaths is sacred for a reason.

Exhale for three to one and we're going to do three more rounds hold at the bottom for eight.

Inhale for hold eight.

Exhale for hold eight.

Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale.

Hold.

Final round.

Here we go.

Inhale for 321 holding 8-7-6-5 and exhale 4-3-2-1 and letting go.

Let go of the breath.

Allow it to return to its natural breathing pace to whatever rhythm your body desires now.

Allow your mind just to soften and wander for a moment.

Be still here and just witness what happens in the body when we transition from this heightened CO2 state into a regulated state of pace and breathing.

Keep your awareness and your focus in your body.

Asking you now to tune in and to check in once more.

We checked in at the beginning with two words we check in at the end with two words that we can see and notice what impact this is truly having in our lives in our days in our bodies and our minds.

And so check in with the body find two words to describe how you're feeling right now.

This breathing pattern can give space and safety to any emotion that wants to surface could be something that's beautifully light soft and gentle and it also could be something that's stored that's been repressed for a while and so whatever comes up is okay.

Feeling those emotions surface finding those two words and beginning to find some soft and gentle movement in the body as we come to a close here with this practice today.