To listen to the guided version of this meditation, please click here.
If you’re like me, you wake up in a flurry of anxiety. Worried about all the things you need to get done that day. Maybe other things weighing heavy on your mind.
You may have this sense that you need to jump right into the day + start immediately + go go go all day.
But you deserve rest.
You are worthy of a sense of ease.
You are abundant in time, effort, energy, resources, everything.
Let’s take a few deep breaths together. Big inhale through the nose, deep into the belly. Pause at the top - then open mouth, sigh it out. Two more like that.
If you’re sitting, really take a moment + ground down through the sit bones. Grow nice + tall through the spine.
If you’re lying down, growing nice + heavy into the Earth beneath you.
Whether you’re listening to this first thing in the morning + you have a little anxiety or maybe it’s mid-day or even last thing before bed + you have been carrying around the do do do/ hustle feeling - we’re going to do a simple reset with the breath.
Inhale for a count of 4… 3… 2… 1. Pause at the top (for 4). Exhale out the nose 4…3…2…1. Pause (for 4).
Repeat - Inhale 1…2…3…4. Pause 1…2…3….4…. Exhale 1…2…3…4…. Pause 1….2….3….4….
Repeat this several times on your own.
This is called box breathing, so you can imagine four equal sides of a box. So we’ll inhale for 4 counts, pause for 4, exhale for 4, + pause for another 4 counts.
You may count to yourself as you breathe through a few more rounds.
If it feels better to exhale out of the mouth - you’re welcome to do that. Remember, this is your body, your practice so do what feels right or good in your body. But keep your attention + focus on the breath.
Inhale 1…2…3…4. Pause 1…2…3….4…. Exhale 1…2…3…4…. Pause 1….2….3….4….
Take a big breath in through the nose… open mouth, big sigh out. Let that go.
You can return to this box breathing at any point in your day when you need a reset from your anxiety.
Over time, your length of counts may increase.