Calm Your Mind With Breath

If you are,

However you've landed,

I invite you to soften and settle.

If you're feeling called to lie down,

By all means.

If you're choosing to sit for this meditation,

You might choose to sit up on something,

Whether it be on a chair or onto a pillow,

Finding a place where maybe the pelvis is gently tipped forward so you have this sense of alignment through the body,

So the head stacks nicely on the shoulders,

And then the shoulders stack nicely over the hips.

So there's not a lot of effort being put out in just being present in your seat.

The arms can fall wherever is comfortable,

Palms down,

Palms up.

And if it works for you,

Let your eyes come down to the earth,

Or you might let them close completely.

Again,

One isn't right,

One isn't wrong,

It's just more what helps you to land into yourself,

What helps to make you comfortable in this shape.

And as you do that,

As you start to settle in and become a little more present here,

Take a moment to notice any parts of your body that are resting onto the earth.

So if you're lying down,

That'll probably be the whole back body.

If you're seated like me,

I can connect to the sensation of my bum resting on the bolster that I'm on top of.

I can also feel my legs resting down towards the earth.

And because they're sitting on top of something,

There might be a sense of warmth there.

So there's just this connection to accepting the support from below and allowing yourself to become present here and drop into awareness within your body.

And as you become familiar with the parts of your body that are anchored onto the earth,

Notice the crown of your head,

This almost like opposing lift,

Right?

So as much as the lower half of our body is supported from beneath,

The crown of the head extends upwards.

So we create this beautiful connection between the earth and the sky.

And you become this conduit,

This movement of energy from below,

Right?

If we're talking about the chakra system,

You're this beautiful conduit of energy from your tailbone,

Your root chakra,

Right up until the crown of your head,

Your crown chakra.

And by aligning and by lifting,

We allow the energy to flow just a little more clearly,

A little more easily.

And then amongst all of this space in between the earth and the top of our head,

Somewhere within your body,

Just become aware of your breath.

Don't feel any need to change it,

Right?

This isn't about doing things a certain way,

This is just about being and allowing yourself to be truly present with who you are as you are in this moment.

As you pay attention to the breath,

Notice where it shows up for you.

For some,

You might experience it in the chest,

Others might feel the breath in the belly,

Or you might notice your shoulders.

And if you allow the awareness to expand,

You might feel the movement of the breath within your head.

And if you're breathing through your nose,

It's almost like there's a wash of breath over your brain,

You feel that cooler energy on the inhale.

And the exhale just creates a bit more warmth.

Alright,

The inhale is this beautiful sense of release.

And the exhale,

A sense of letting go.

And perhaps at this point,

This early in the practice,

There's really no full understanding of what you're receiving or what you're letting go.

But there's just this give and take,

This willingness to receive what's meant for you.

And this willingness to be open to let go of what no longer serves you.

And by taking these starting moments to just become familiar with our body and to become familiar with our breath,

Already you may feel the nervous system start to calm.

Already you may feel the mind start to soften.

Maybe the thoughts come just a little less frequently.

And if that's not the case for you,

That's okay too,

Right?

There's no judgment here,

There's no expectation.

There's no need for you to be anything other than present.

So as we start to get a little more involved with the breath practice,

Take a couple breaths where you have a little more control so that your inhale lasts a little longer.

You can think of expanding the belly,

Almost creating a balloon within your belly.

And then on the exhale,

Think of doing the opposite,

Like you're emptying that balloon out of the belly so your belly button pulls back towards your spine.

And let that happen again.

Inhale,

Create space.

And then exhale like a compression in.

A few more just like that.

Inhale,

Opening up and receiving.

And then exhale,

Letting go.

I'm trying to let go a little bit deeper than we're used to in our breath,

Right down to the core of your belly.

Breath in.

And breath out.

So I'm going to fall into silence for a couple of moments here.

I just want you to explore that.

And it doesn't have to be to such a depth or a breadth that it becomes uncomfortable.

But it's just more of an understanding of where you're at.

Where are the boundaries of your space at the moment?

The boundaries of your breath.

All right,

And then finish the breath cycle that you're on.

And you can allow the breath to come back to normal.

Let it ebb and flow as it needs to.

And then the next breath we're going to work on is a longer exhale.

And the beauty behind a longer exhale is this intentional settling of the nervous system.

Right,

If we're talking about ways of coming back to center,

If we're talking about ways of coming back to balance,

An extended exhale is a beautiful tool that you can use at any time,

Right?

These breath works are just so simple.

Any moment that you're struggling,

This is what you can come to.

So to get started,

We'll do an inhale for a length of four.

And we'll do an exhale for just a count of six.

And I'll guide you through so you can just follow me.

Again,

Eyes might be soft to the earth or closed completely.

You can finish your breath,

Let your belly exhale.

Then take a breath in for four,

Three,

Two,

One.

And exhale six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Exhale six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Breath in four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Exhale six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Exhale.

And then let the breath resolve normally again.

Let go of the control.

Allow it to be exactly as it is.

You might take a moment here to just check in.

Notice how you're doing,

How things have shifted.

Without a sense of judgment,

Right?

There's no ego involved in that.

There might not even be an answer to the question or an awareness of exactly how things have shifted.

But there's just more of a presence within the willingness to be aware of what you're feeling,

Right?

This curiosity,

This beautiful openness,

This willingness to receive the messages that your body is sharing with you.

And then we'll come back to a very similar breath work.

But for this one,

We're going to extend the exhale even longer.

So our inhale will remain at four,

But we're going to take our exhale all the way up to eight.

Now,

If this feels too long for you,

By all means,

Cut it short.

Again,

There shouldn't be a ton of effort behind it.

It should feel relatively effortless.

If you're incredibly challenged,

Adjust,

Meet yourself where you're at.

With this breath,

I also encourage you to try with an exhale out of the mouth.

And you might go with a bit of a sighing,

Like a ha sound.

And you might refer to this as like an ujjayi breath.

So there's a bit of a constriction at the back of the throat,

Giving the breath a beautiful audible sound on the exhale.

And what's nice about that is,

Again,

The sound brings us into our own presence,

Right?

Whenever we can hear our own breath,

When we can hear our own voice,

That's very nourishing.

That's very calming for our bodies.

So we'll start the same way we did before.

Let your belly exhale empty.

And then take a breath in for four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Exhale for eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Exhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Breath in,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Out,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Inhale,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Exhale,

Eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Breath in.

And out.

Again,

Inhale.

And exhale.

One more round in.

And out.

Then take one final big breath in.

Feel your belly fill.

And just part your lips.

An easy sigh out to release.

And let your eyes stay softened or closed.

And again,

Just notice.

Notice the resonance of the breath in the body.

Notice any shift you might experience.

No judgment,

No ego.

Noticing where your center is at now.

Noticing if perhaps it's a little more clear.

And you might even consider your center to just be this moment.

Are you here in presence?

And the mind might keep doing what it's meant to do,

Right?

It's a thinking machine.

But what are the quality of your thoughts?

Is there a bit more of a sense of balance?

Rather than this ping-ponging back and forth between the past and the future.

For these few moments after that beautiful breathwork,

You can invite yourself to just be here.

All of these breathwork exercises are like the most beautiful gift you can honor yourself with.

As you know,

As long as we're here,

We breathe.

It's already within you.

It's kind of like balance.

It's not something that we have to strive for.

It's there.

You just have to open to it.

We have to be willing to receive it,

Just like our inhale.

And in order to receive,

We also have to be willing to let go.

Just like our exhale.

And that's really the practice,

Whether it be breathwork,

Meditation,

Awareness,

Mindfulness.

It's this constant receiving.

And this constant letting go.

Releasing.

Through that gentle dance,

We find space to open.

We find space to be present.

And in this presence is awareness.

The first step to you being here might have been noticing that the nervous system is out of balance.

That the mind is doing that ping-ponging back and forth to the future,

To the past.

What happened?

What's going to happen?

And there's a beautiful mindfulness within that already.

So by just giving yourself the tools to be here.

What a beautiful gift.

So for just our last few moments together,

Let's just sit.

You might choose to place your hands over your belly.

Or you might choose to place one hand belly,

One hand to heart.

And imagine your hands like eyes.

Watching this breath.

Witnessing this life force move within you.

This beautiful being that is your anchor in time.

There's a quote that reads,

The breath may not make the storm go away,

But it will hold you steady until it passes.

We often hear in yoga or meditation this idea of taking your practice off of your mat.

And breath awareness is just the easiest one to do that with.

Because here it is.

You can feel it.

You can see it.

You can hear it.

You can almost taste it and smell it as it moves along your tongue or through your nose.

So this is a beautiful thing to take with you.

All right,

This awareness where someone has maybe tipped you over the edge or an experience has taken you to that place where you are out of balance.

You've lost your center.

Give yourself permission to stop,

Even if it's for a moment.

Feel your feet on the earth.

Feel the breath in your body.

And you might just choose to witness it exactly as it is,

Right?

There isn't always a need to get involved.

You don't have to do anything.

You can just be,

Be in awareness.

Or you can practice your breath work.

And inhale for the count of four.

And an extended exhale for whatever feels right to you.

And different times may call for different numbers.

And perhaps as you get really comfortable with this practice and it starts to feel a bit more like home within your body,

You can choose to explore even further length.

Take it to ten.

And just before we close out,

I invite you to one last time,

Just drop into awareness.

Reconnect to the support of the earth.

Reconnect through your crown to what is above you.

The spaciousness.

The sun,

The sky.

And then in all of that area in between,

Notice your breath exactly as it is.

And if perhaps after this session you've noticed no change,

That is okay.

That's why we call this a practice.

We've got to do it over and over again.

And it is with time,

It is with time that you see the greatest shifts.

Let's take one more collective breath in.

Feel your belly fill.

You might choose to reach to the sky in a big stretch.

And then exhale.

A beautiful release.

You can gently blink your eyes open or lift them.

I'm so grateful that you took the time to join me here today.

If you haven't done so already,

Please do follow me.