Welcome to your daily practice.
In today's recording,
We're going to review box breathing.
Box breathing is a very simple exercise that you can integrate into your daily routine.
It's wonderful for not only cultivating a greater awareness for attention to breath,
But it can also support calming the mind and calming the nervous system.
So to do this breath,
What we're going to do is actually count the breaths and count the holds in between.
Let's get comfortable to begin.
Sitting tall,
Spine is nice and lengthened,
As if there's a thread pulling the crown of your head towards the ceiling.
Hands can rest either on the abdomen or on the tops of the thighs,
Or perhaps you'd like to lay down.
And if you're laying down,
You'll try putting a pillow underneath the knees,
Even a rolled up blanket underneath the ankles.
And as you rest here again,
Placing the hands onto the abdomen to bring attention and connection to the breath.
Close the eyes so you can tune in.
Turning off all of the activities external to you and this experience.
Take a nice deep breath in through the nose,
Allowing breath to enter through the nostrils,
Abdomen expands.
And then exhale,
Abdomen falls and the breath slowly escapes through either of the nostrils or the mouth.
Take another deep breath in,
Just calming the body.
Exhale,
Softening any tension that you may be holding.
Now we'll begin to count the breaths.
So inhaling for a count of one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale one.
Hold.
Exhale.
Hold.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Hold.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Hold.
And then finding your natural breath and rhythm.
Knowing that you can go back to that very exercise at any point in your day to find a little bit more ease,
Maybe increase your focus and concentration as well.
Knowing that you can also increase the time between those inhales,
Exhales and the holds.
So instead of four counts,
Maybe going up to five,
Six.
And if you find that your anxiety level is really high,
You're feeling overwhelmed,
See if you can even extend the exhales a little bit longer than the inhales and see what that does for your body.
Wishing you a wonderful day full of peace,
Love and joy.
