Virginia

Axminster, United Kingdom

Sarena (she/her)

Maine, USA

Cathy

Utah, USA

Julie

Marcoola, Australia

Andrea Probst

Rayo Ogunyinka

Jo🌻 Curran

Oxford, United Kingdom

Damon

Eugene, OR, United States

California, USA

Claire

Charles Town, WV

Kimberley A

Toronto, ON, Canada

Drew T

West Palm Beach, FL, USA

Salena Billings

Mission Viejo, CA, USA

Hanna

Finland

Grass Valley, CA, USA

Rachel Rose

West Midlands, UK

Nicholas Taylor

London, UK

John

Walton-on-Thames, England

Soraya

London

Betsy Hosegood

North Devon, England

You will practice a simple breathing exercise, focusing on the coolness of the air, the natural rhythm of your breath, and the gentle movement of your body.

MBSR

Secular Mindfulness

English

This short 5 minute exercise is intended to help you gain immediate relief from moments of high stress and anxiety. Focusing on the breath and using the word 'calm' with each letter representing a different anchor, this technique can help you come back to the present moment at times when you're overwhelmed or struggling to concentrate.

Instant Stress & Anxiety Relief - Calm Breath Exercise

 Hello and welcome to this calm breath meditation, intended to assist you to calm your mind at times of anxiety and stress. Calming the breath can be one of the quickest ways to stop you from overthinking and worrying about past events or future tasks. This short and easy to remember technique can be used at any time when you need to regain some clarity and calm your mind. There's no specific posture requirements and you don't need to find a quiet place or even close your eyes. The idea is that this can and should be used at any time, even when there's a lot of distractions and you may be finding it difficult to be in the present moment. Let's begin by taking a long, slow, deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. One more in through the nose, long deep breath right down to your stomach and let it out through the mouth. Now allow your breath just to settle back into its natural rhythm. Now we'll work through the word calm letter by letter. Each letter will be something that you can remember and use later when you need to return to this exercise. C is for cool. As you breathe in through your nose, pay close attention to the sensation of the cool air as it enters your nostrils. As you breathe out, you'll feel warm air on the exhale and cool again on the inhale. Just let your focus rest on the cool air. E is for adequate, meaning you don't have to make any effort to change your breath. Your natural rhythm is all you need. Whatever your breathing pattern currently looks like is adequate. It may change as we go through the exercise and that's okay too. But you don't have to worry about changing it. Pay attention to the pattern. Is it longer on the inhale or the exhale? Whatever's happening right now is absolutely fine. Your breath is adequate. L is for light. This is referring to the weight of your breath. Feel how light it is as it enters your nostrils and fills your lungs. There's no weight to it and there's no weight on you. Your breath is no burden. It's the lightest and most gentle sensation you can experience right now. The more your breath settles, the more natural the rhythm, the lighter it will feel and the lighter you will feel. Breathing is not adding any weight or any pressure to you. Your breath is giving you life and helping you to find calm. M is for movement. Notice how gentle the movement is in your body as you inhale and exhale. Your chest or your stomach may be rising ever so slightly with each calming breath. Your shoulders may also be relaxing more as you breathe. Allow your attention to rest for a moment on this movement. To calm the mind, we can calm the breath. The cool, adequate, light breath which moves our body as we breathe. That's all we need. With some practice, you can use this technique whenever you need it at times of stress or anxiety. I hope you enjoy a more peaceful day. Thank you.