Welcome!
Thanks for joining me to practice today.
The practice we're going to work with today is designed to help calm the body's stress response.
So it's a great practice to use during a moment of stress or anxiety or maybe before something that you know is stressful like an important meeting or an interview or some type of public speaking or after you've noticed that you're very activated like if you've had an argument or you've been upset it'll help you return to calm.
It's also a great midday reset just to calm and balance the nervous system,
Shift away from any mental chatter that is so easy to get wrapped up in.
You can start fresh after.
This is even a great practice to use to prepare for sleep,
To calm the body,
To focus the mind,
Just help you drift off.
And this practice works by extending the exhale which signals safety to our nervous system.
And deep slow breathing can even help lower our blood pressure a little bit.
We'll do a short breath hold in each round which increases carbon dioxide which tends to have a calming effect on the body.
And just focusing the attention on the breath can really help bring us out of overthinking,
Gives us something else to think about.
So in this practice we'll inhale for a count of four,
We'll hold for a count of seven,
And we'll exhale for a count of eight.
And I will guide you through several rounds counting and then you'll have a little bit of time to practice with your own count,
Your own cadence,
Your own pace,
So that it feels really comfortable and doable.
So just find a comfortable position for this practice.
It can be sitting,
It can be standing,
It can be lying down.
Choose what feels right for your body today,
What feels totally comfortable and allows the body to be at ease.
And just taking a moment to let the physical body be very heavy,
Let gravity weigh you down.
Soften the gaze,
Allow the eyes to relax.
You may be allowing the eyes to close if that feels natural.
Letting this be a moment of transition into our practice.
And just noticing first what the natural breath is doing.
Is it fast or is it slow?
Is it deep?
Breathing into the belly or shallow,
Maybe just in the top of the lungs?
Is it hard to notice what the breath is doing without also controlling the breath?
Can we see what the breath just is without our intervention?
Just noticing.
And letting the next inhale be deep and slow through the nose.
And letting it go either through the nose or the mouth,
Whatever feels right.
We'll inhale together again,
Long and deep.
And exhaling,
Letting it all go.
We'll do one more like that.
Inhale deep and full.
And after the exhale,
Count our first round.
Inhaling through the nose,
2,
3,
4.
Hold,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7.
Exhaling through the nose,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
Inhale,
2,
3,
4.
Hold,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7.
Exhale,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
Inhale,
2,
3,
4.
Hold,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7.
Exhale,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
Inhale,
2,
3,
4,
Hold,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7.
Exhale,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8.
Inhaling,
Taking about three more rounds on your own.
Letting your pace be comfortable for you.
Something that doesn't feel like you're forcing.
Shouldn't feel stressful to the system.
Might be faster or slower than I counted.
After your next exhale,
Just releasing the control of the breath.
Watching it as it returns to its own natural cadence.
Letting the breath settle usually takes a few rounds.
As we move from control to release.
Just noticing how you're feeling right now.
Allowing the attention to rest on anything that feels pleasant or if nothing is pleasant,
Something neutral.
Maybe the weight of the body on the surface it's on.
Feeling of the hands or another body part touching another surface.
Slowly allowing the eyes to reopen if they've been closed or refocusing the gaze.
Letting your space come into view around you.
Letting those visual cues signal our transition out of practice.
Thank yourself for taking these few moments to calm and soothe or reset or wind down.
I hope you'll join me again soon for practice.
Thanks for being here today.
