The biggest stress relieving tool we have is one we carry around with us and that is our breath. If you watch a baby breath, you will see they breath really deeply using their diaphragms, so deep into their belly. As we get older and we rush around with our busy lives, we tend to breath into our chest, sometime even skipping a breathe, we often don’t really breathe deeply enough to get sufficient oxygen into our system. We carry stress and trauma on a cellular level, so within our cells and muscles and deep breathing is a great way to bring oxygen to the entire system.
Put one hand on your chest and one on your belly and just breathe– don’t change your breath in any way, just follow the sensation of the breath moving in and out of your body.
Observe the rising and falling sensation that is created as the breath passes on and out of the body.
Notice where in the body you feel the sensation most strongly, it could be the belly, the diaphragm, the chest or even the shoulders.
Wherever it is, just take a moment to notice the physical sensation of it.
Can you feel any warmth? coolness?.
You might notice that while you try and pay attention to your breathe, your mind wanders or gets distracted. This is completely normal. Every time you realise that your mind has wandered, gently bring your attention back to your breathing
Simply following the breath is one of the simplest and most effective techniques to learn and can be so effective. It helps to sharpen our focus and concentration, ground and anchor ourselves to the moment, centre the mind and relax the body.
