Today on The Daily Meditation we delve into 5 of the best breathwork exercises for stress relief, and we’ve created a tutorial and guided meditation for you. Enjoy!
Stress Breathwork Guided Meditation Video
Welcome to this guided breathwork meditation. Today we’re going to do things a little differently. We’re going to do a tutorial inside our meditation. To do this, you can choose whether to close your eyes and follow along with the guided meditation, or to watch the video (or read the article) to learn the techniques first. If you’re doing the meditation, get comfortable and gently close your eyes. We’re going to begin with Box Breathing. Take a deep breath in through your nose to a count of four. Pause for four. Exhale for four. Pause for four. And repeat. And while we are doing this we are simply observing the breath moving through the body. Here we are Box Breathing, breathing in equal parts in counts of four.
When we do Box Breathing we calm the mind and activate the parasympathetic nervous system to feel relaxed. This helps with stress and anxiety. There are similar, counting-based medications such as 4-7-8, but Box Breathing has by far the most research backing it, plus it’s also used by the Navy Seals.
As we continue Box Breathing we observe the breath moving deep into the abdomen, and this is Abdominal Breathing.
Notice the rise of your abdomen on the in-breath and the contraction of the abdomen on the out-breath. And so we are breathing in cycles of four and simply observing the breath, in other words doing mindful breathing or Breath Awareness or Anapanasati.
In traditional meditation we would now let go of the breath and allow our inhalations and exhalations to come naturally, but for today let’s continue counting the breath in those cycles of four.
Breathing in equal parts like this is wonderful for the nervous system and also helps to balance our emotions, and this “equal parts breathing” is also called Sama Vritti.
Now let us begin to direct the breath. Place your hand on your nose and use a finger to close your right nostril. Breathe in through your left nostril. Now change nostrils. Breathe out through your right nostril. Keep your right nostril open, left nostril closed, and breathe in again, so you are breathing through your right nostril. Change over again and breathe out through your left nostril. And repeat the process. Breathe in left. Pause. Breathe out right nostril. Pause. Breathe in right. Pause. Breathe out left. This is Alternate Nostril Breathing, one of the best breathwork exercises for stress relief.
Now let’s leave our nose alone, both nostrils open. We are going to move to the tongue. Roll your tongue and stick it out. Breathe in through your rolled tongue. Notice how your breath feels cool and soothing. Now breathe out through your nose. And repeat. This is Sitali Breath, a fabulous breathwork technique for calming our emotions.
More Breathwork For Stress Relief
These are the best breathwork techniques for beginners. But there are many more. Some other breathwork techniques include:
Lion’s BreathBreath of FireTibetan PranayamaKapalabhati Coherent BreathingResonant BreathingUjjayi BreathKumbhaka (Breath Holding)
Which is your favorite type of breathwork? Leave a comment and let me know.
