Mindful breathing
Here’s a really simple mindful breathing meditation that you can do whenever you’re feeling tense and stressed.
- Stop whatever you are doing and take a deep breath in to your belly. Breathe out with an ‘ahhhh’ sound, as you relax your body and mind. Do this 3 times.
- Now allow your breathing to settle into a natural rhythm.
- Bring all of your focus to your breathing. Allow your mind to rest, watching, listening to and feeling the physical sensations of your breath.
- As you breathe in, you might like to mentally say something like, “I breathe in.”
- As you breathe out, you might like to mentally say something like, “I breathe out.”
- If you are feeling particularly stressed, you might choose phrases such as “I breathe in relaxation; I breathe out stress and worry.”
- If your mind wanders, that’s ok. Gently bring it back to following your breath.
- Repeat this for at least 10 breaths. Do it in a relaxed way, with a gentle smile on your face.
This technique is a wonderful, fast de-stressing tool, as well as being useful mindfulness practice.
Even if you’re not feeling stressed, you can still benefit hugely from regular practise of mindful breathing throughout your day. It can help you move into the present moment much more easily. And the more you practise, the easier it gets. It has a subtle, yet profound, impact on all aspects of your experience of life. 🙂
If you’d like to find out more about meditation and mindfulness, you might enjoy taking part in the 28 Day Meditation Challenge and my book – 52 Mindful Moments – contains simple mindfulness exercises you can do in under a minute, to go from stressed to smiling.
Do you have your own favourite mindfulness-based or other types of de-stressing techniques? We’d love to hear from you, via the comments box!
x Clare