This is an exercise in simply noticing your breath, helping you to become more aware and mindful of your own breath as it moves in and out of your body.
To begin, sit in any comfortable position, on the floor or on a chair, with your spine long and straight but not stiff.
Find a comfortable position for your hands, either folded gently in your lap or resting on your thighs or knees—palms up or down, whichever feels right to you.
You may close your eyes if that feels comfortable. If not, find a spot on the floor a few feet in front of you and allow your gaze to soften. As you sit, begin to notice the temperature of the air on your skin, notice any sounds you may hear within or outside the room. Begin to notice your body’s weight as it is supported by the chair or the floor. Notice the feel of the floor or the chair under your sitting bones, under your legs. Notice the feel of the floor beneath your feet. Expand your awareness to noticing the sensations of your entire body without feeling the need to change anything, simply notice.
Now, begin to notice and follow the movement of your breath as it moves in and out of your body, as you inhale and exhale. As you inhale, notice the temperature and the vibration of the air as it flows through your nasal passages, down your throat and trachea, on its way into your lungs. Notice the different sensations of your belly, your ribs, and your chest as they gently expand. As you exhale, notice the temperature of the air, the movement of the tiny hairs of your nose, the feeling of your lungs empty of air as it leaves your body. Simply notice these things and any other sensations that occur as you continue to breathe, easily and naturally, in and out.
Simply notice your breath as it moves in and out of your body without the need to change anything at all. Just Breathe.
Breathing Exercise 2: Simple Deep Breathing
For this breathing practice, sit in a comfortable position with your hands relaxed, either in your lap or resting on your thighs or knees. Then begin.
Relax your shoulders. Pull them up toward your ears, and then roll them back and down, creating space between your shoulders and your ears. Allow your shoulders to relax.
Breathe normally in and out for a few breaths. Notice how your belly rises and falls easily as you breathe naturally. Your chest should not expand a great deal as you breathe in and out. If you like, you can place a hand on your abdomen to help notice the movement as you breathe in and out.
When you are ready, breathe in—and on the next exhalation, breathe out slowly from your nose, counting to five. During this exhalation, tighten your abdominal muscles, and pull your diaphragm inward, toward your spine, squeezing all the excess air out of your body. When all the air is squeezed out, pause for two counts, and inhale slowly again, to the count of five, allowing your belly to expand as you breathe in. A very useful tip in learning to breathe deep into your belly is to imagine you are about to take a deep inhalation of your most favourite smell. When we smell something delicious, we almost always instinctively belly breathe.
If you are comfortable doing so, close your eyes and continue to repeat this easy deep belly breath for 5 to 10 times.
If you find that your mind wanders during this exercise, don’t worry. Simply bring your focus back to your breathing and begin your counts to 5 again.
You may find it helpful to think of a happy colour (such as yellow or pink) or a calming colour (like blue or green) as you breathe in and a dreary colour (like grey or tan) as you breathe out. Or, you might choose to imagine breathing in a calming pleasant emotion such as peace or love as you inhale and breathing out stress or anxiety as you exhale.
As your awareness of your breath increases, it will become easier to practice your deep breathing without focusing so much of your attention on it.
Breathing Exercise 3: The Three-Part Breath
The three-part breath is a specific breathing technique used in many yoga practices and can be very useful in times of stress or whenever you need to relax. This type of breathing triggers your parasympathetic nervous system or the “relaxation response” (the opposite of the fight/flight stress response) and allows your body and mind to more easily release stress and tension. It is physiologically impossible for your body to be in a stress mode when you practice the deep three-part breath. Obviously, you can’t breathe this way all the time, but when you do, it can help you think more clearly and decide on another coping skill or something else you can do to move away from the anxiety you may currently be feeling. Calmness in the midst of pain can help us know that we can survive the next moment, and then the next.
Again, find your comfortable sitting position, allowing your hands to be relaxed. The three-part breath may also be done lying down. Practicing this breath while lying in bed before sleep is a good choice if you have difficulty clearing your mind and falling to sleep.
To begin, inhale normally. Then, with your mouth closed, exhale slowly through your nose as you did with the simple deep breathing exercises, using your abdominal muscles to pull your diaphragm inward. Squeeze all the stale, excess air completely out of your lungs.
As you prepare for your next inhalation, imagine your upper body as a large pitcher. As you inhale, you are filling the pitcher from bottom to top.
First, fill the diaphragm and lower belly, allowing them to expand and completely fill with air. You can use the “smelling something delicious” tip here as you begin to fill your lower lungs with air, allowing your belly to expand.
Next, continue to allow your “pitcher” to fill as you notice the lower, and then the upper, parts of the ribcage expanding outward and up.
Next, fill the upper lungs, noticing the chest expanding, the collar bones and shoulders rising, as your pitcher is filled completely to the top.
Pause for 2 beats.
Exhale the opposite way, allowing the “pitcher” to empty from top to bottom.
Slowly exhale, allowing the shoulders and collar bones to slowly drop, the chest to deflate, the ribs to move inward. Again, pull your diaphragm in, using it to completely empty the air from the bottom of the lungs.
Repeat the process, refilling the pitcher slowly from bottom to top. Continue with the complete and full exhalations and inhalations, emptying and filling your pitcher.
The three parts are bottom, middle, top—expanding and contracting as you slowly and completely fill your body with fresh, cell-nourishing, life-giving oxygen and then slowly and completely empty it of carbon dioxide, toxins, and tension held in the body and mind.
As you increase your practice and the muscle movements become familiar, you may wish to add the counting of your breaths or your color visualizations. Ideally, the exhalations should be about twice as long as the inhalations. Initially, if you count to five as you inhale and exhale, gradually try to make your exhalations to the count of six, then seven, then eight, and so on until you feel more comfortable lengthening your exhalations.
Important: If you feel dizzy or lightheaded while practicing the three-part breath, or any other breathing exercise, stop the practice immediately and allow your breathing to go back to normal. Sometimes if we are not used to a great deal of oxygen, the change can cause lightheadedness or dizziness. Know your own body and be mindful of the changes you notice.