Some folks would probably call this a mindfulness technique because it’s more about interrupting your automatic flow of thoughts than about controlling your breath. In fact, this is not about changing or controlling your breathing at all. What this tiny practice is about is becoming a student of your own automatic patterns–not only habits of breathing but also of thinking, feeling, noticing, and being.
Instructions
- Choose a trigger, which means choose something you already do each day. This will be your signal to insert your new tiny breath practice. Your trigger might be waiting for a traffic light to turn green. Your trigger might be sitting down at your desk first thing in the morning. Your trigger might be closing the refrigerator door. Choose some small action you do every day. Make sure it is an action that affords you at least one minute where you can add your breath break.
- Whatever trigger you chose, follow it immediately with this technique: Stop still. Stop moving. Be still. Focus on your breathing. Feel the expansion and contraction of your chest. Listen for the sound made by your inhale and exhale. Do they sound the same or different? Notice the speed, depth, and rhythm.
- Take a slow and deep inhale. Hold it briefly. Exhale as slowly as possible and release your jaw muscles, allowing the air to fall out between open lips. Repeat at least three times.
- Notice how you feel now. Notice whether your mood, energy, and thoughts have changed.
- Give yourself a little pat on the back or find some other way of celebrating, of congratulating yourself. That wasn’t hard at all, now was it?
Join the Breath-centered Practices online course
Details and registration here.
Join the mailing list
If you haven’t already, grab your free pdf of Centering The Storm!