Box Breath
Zoe Warren | Short Read
A simple and popular breathing exercise to try (unless you are pregnant or have any reason why you should not hold your breath.) This type of breathing is great at bringing ourselves back into balance by giving the mind something simple to focus on, in this case counting, as we let the breath do the magic of dropping our nervous systems onto the rest and restore, parasympathetic nervous system where all the goodness happens in the body and mind.
You can use a longer breath count if you want to but 4 is a good one to start with.
Have a go:
- Inhale for the steady count of 4
- Hold the breath gently for 4
- Exhale for the count of 4
- Hold the breath gently for 4
- Repeat for around 5 mins
Different ways to try it:
- You could try this as a walking meditation, each step is a count of 1 so breath in for 4 steps, hold for 4 steps etc.
- If you find your mind whirring at night and you can’t sleep this is a lovely breathing exercise to help you drift off, try relaxing different parts of your body with each exhale working your way from the top of your head all the way down to your toes. You’ll hopefully be snoozing before you get to your toes!
So hope you enjoy this, it is simple but effective and one that I love to use.
Zoe x
