Relaxation Exercise : ‘Three Part Breathing, The Complete Breath and Square Breathing’
Familiarise yourself with this relaxation exercise over the next week by practising it daily until your next session. See below for written script (downloadable version at the side), and audio recording is also attached.
Exercise in Three Part Breathing, The Complete Breath and Square Breathing
This is a Stress Management Exercise in Deep Breathing and Breath control.
Make yourself comfortable, sitting or lying with your arms and legs uncrossed and your hands at rest and allow your eyes to close as you slowly begin to relax
Let yourself begin to feel as though you were drifting away from the everyday world …..drifting further and further away ……Keep your attention on my voice and let everything else drift away
Let the everyday world become distant and far away as you allow yourself to relax you will find yourself becoming more and more comfortable and more and more relaxed
And put your attention inside your body ………Without changing your breathing …… notice where you can feel the breath moving in your body …… notice any small movement of your muscles which is caused by your breathing
And now we are going to do an exercise in Three Part Breathing And put your hands on the upper part of your chest and breath in slowly so that your chest rises a little and breathe out, making sure that all the air is gone and breathe in slowly notice your chest rising a little and breathe out again making sure that all the air is gone And breathe in slowly your chest rises a little and breathe out making sure all the air is gone
And now move your hands down to your lower ribs, placing them so that when you breathe out, the fingertips will almost touch and breathe feeling your ribs expand outwards, moving your fingertips apart and breathe out completely, allowing the fingertips to come together again and breathe in feeling your ribs expand outwards moving your fingertips apart …… and breathe out completely, allowing your fingertips to come together again …… and breathe in feeling your ribs expand outwards moving your fingertips apart and breathe out completely, allowing your fingertips to come together again
And now move your hands down to your abdomen to the level of your nave and breathe in expanding your abdomen outwards, pushing your hands upwards and breathe out completely and breathe in expanding your abdomen outwards, pushing your hands upwards and breathe out completely …… and breathe in expanding your abdomen outwards, pushing your hands upwards and breathe out completely
And continue to breathe slowly and deeply
And now we are going to do another exercise Before we begin, I am going to describe the exercise. Firstly, breathe in to a count of four ( 1 , 2, 3 4). Then, hold your breath to a count of four (1, 2, 3 4). Next, breathe out to a count of four (l, 2 3, 4). Finally hold your breath to a count of four (l 2, 3, 4). And then we repeat the exercise.
And in a moment, I will count you through the Exercise. Don’t be concerned if your breathing does not match my counting. Once you are familiar with the Exercise, you can practise it to your own counting, which is much easier. In the Exercise, I don’t use the count ‘1’ but give the instructions ‘Breathe in’, ‘Hold’, ‘’Breathe Out’ instead.
And now begin
Breathe in 2 3 4
Hold 2 3 4
Breathe Out 2 3 4
Hold 2 3 4
Breathe in 2 3 4
Hold 2 3 4
Breathe Out 2 3 4
Hold 2 3 4
Breathe in 2 3 4
Hold 2 3 4
Breathe Out 2 3 4
Hold 2 3 4
Take a moment now to do this exercise to your own count
And in your daily life, practise this Exercise often throughout the day. Remind yourself to do so by using ‘triggers’. Every time you see the ‘trigger’ do this Exercise three times and you will find that it makes you feel much more relaxed
And imagine that your breathing can relax your muscles Each time you breathe out your muscles relax more and more.
Let your body sink more and more into the surface which is supporting you
Imagine the air flowing freely throughout your body And if there is any part of your body that is not relaxed, imagine that you can breathe into that part, and as you breathe out, allow the breath to carry away the tension …… allow the breath to carry any tension away from your body Imagine the healing breath flowing into any tense part and taking the tension away as you breathe out
And now let us breathe a Complete Breath.
Begin by breathing out completely and breathe into your abdomen Imagine YOU are filling a glass of water from the bottom and now breathe into your lower ribs, allowing them to expand and finally, breathe into your chest, and as you do so, imagine you are emptying a glass of water from the top, emptying the chest first, then the lower ribs, and finally, the abdomen, allowing the abdomen to flatten, as you breathe out completely
And now at your own pace, take one more Complete Breath
And in your daily life, practise this Complete Breath often throughout the day. Remind yourself to do this by using a ‘trigger’. Every time you see the trigger, breathe this breath, just once, and you will find that it make you feel much more relaxed.
And remember to begin each Complete Breath by Breathing out as far as you can.
And in a moment, I am going to count to five, and when I reach five you will open your eyes feeling calm and refreshed
One, Two, Three, Four, Five. Open your eyes now and be ready to return to your daily life.
