When you find yourself dwelling about the past or stressing about the future, life has a way of pressing the pause button that distracts you from living in the now. Your breath is a powerful tool that can anchor you into the here and now and only takes a few minutes to reconnect. Slow down and release your anxiety with this breath work practice.
Find a comfortable position seated in a chair and settle into your body. Allow your gaze to soften or gently close your eyes. Take notice of the sensations you feel within your body. Relax into the comfort of just being here practicing the art of living in the now. When you find your mind drifting during this practice, continue to focus back on the sensation of the breath flowing in and out of your body. Start by appreciating the now you are in at this very moment. Realize you don’t need to be anywhere else, or doing anything else, you are exactly where you need to be. You don’t have to do anything but focus on your breathing.
Begin to notice the feeling in your feet. As your feet are resting on the floor, feel grounded, supported, and held by the earth. Imagine bringing fresh new energy up through the feet and into your legs, moving fresh clean energy into the body, all the way up your spine, in and out of your lungs, whirling up your body, all the way into your head. As you begin to regulate your breathing by focusing on the natural rhythm and without effort, notice if you can tune inwards.
Begin to take a conscious inhale, fully filling up your lungs through your nose, pausing as you completely expand and then slowly and deliberately exhale out of your nose. Trying to match your inhale completely to your exhale.
Begin again, breathing slowly and very deeply through your nose, pausing until you can’t sip in any more air and then exhaling out of your nose to release.
Breathe in again, this time counting for a count of 6, pausing for 1, and then exhaling for a count of 8. Again, if you find your mind wandering this breath work practice is particularly helpful because you need to focus not only on the sensation of breathing but also on the count of breathing.
Take a few more rounds in your own time breathing in for a count of 6, inhaling all the way through your nose, pausing for a count of 1, and then exhaling slowly and deeply out of your nose for a count of 8. I will watch the time and let you know when it is ready to release the counting of breathing.
Allow your mind to return to noticing the natural breath – without force or counting – just allow your body to naturally breathe in its own way.
Take one final inhale as you fill up all the way through your nose and on your exhale sigh it all out of your mouth making an ‘ahhhh’ sound. At any point during your day if you find your mind drifting to what happened in the past or worried about the future – return to this breath work practice. Settle your mind and let your anxiety subside.