Begin Your Mindfulness Journey

You’ve heard it before. I’ve heard it a million times and I still need the reminder!

• Breathe your way to calm
• Your breath is your anchor
• Inhale calm, exhale stress
• With each breath, you reset
• Slow your breath, still your mind

Your breath is the doorway into a new adventure of peace, joy, tranquility, acceptance & freedom. We can do incredible things just through the breath. We can change the state our nervous system is in just through simple breath techniques that have been used for thousands of years. This has a knock on effect to our relationships, our careers, our mindset, our opportunities and our state of general happiness and fulfilment.

Seem too simple? Try it out for yourself.

Simple Breathwork Techniques To Begin Your Mindfulness Journey

• Box Breathing: This technique is great for calming the mind and grounding yourself in the present moment. To practice box breathing:
  1. Inhale deeply for a count of four.
  2. Hold your breath for a count of four.
  3. Exhale slowly for a count of four.
  4. Hold your breath for a count of four. Repeat this cycle for 2-5 minutes, and notice how your body and mind feel more balanced.
     
• 4-7-8 Breathing: This breathwork technique is particularly useful for relieving anxiety and promoting a sense of calm.
  1. Inhale quietly through your nose for a count of four.
  2. Hold your breath for a count of seven.
  3. Exhale completely through your mouth for a count of eight. Repeat this cycle three to four times. This slow, intentional breathing pattern soothes the nervous system and can help you feel more centered.
     
• Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana): This practice helps to balance the two hemispheres of the brain and is particularly energizing.
  1. Close your right nostril with your thumb and inhale deeply through your left nostril.
  2. Close your left nostril with your ring finger, then release your right nostril and exhale through the right.
  3. Inhale through the right nostril, close it, and exhale through the left nostril. Continue this pattern for a few minutes. It’s a great practice to do in the morning if you need a clear and focused mind.

• The Physiological Sigh: This is a simple and powerful breathing technique that helps to quickly calm the nervous system and reduce stress.
  1. Start by exhaling fully.
  2. Inhale deeply through your nose.
  3. Take a second, smaller inhale.
  4. Exhale slowly and completely and repeat.

Breathing Consciously Is The First Step to Transformation

Truly.
There are no expensive products for you to buy. No courses for you to trial. No guru for you to idolise. Your breath is your key to all of the mindset, mental health, life transformation that you could ever want.

It’s so simple that it’s almost difficult to remember. We take it for granted. We search and search and search for the answers to all of our problems when it is literally right under our noses. Our minds have a bias toward thinking that if our problems are hard then the solution must be complex and heavy resource wise (e.g. money, energy, time) – but the solution really is simple.

No matter what we eat, how much we exercise, how resilient our genes are, how skinny or young or wise we are – none of it will matter unless we’re breathing correctly.
~James Nestor

How Noticing The Breath Has Altered My Life

The breath is profoundly insightful. The more I tune into it, the more aware I become of the state of my nervous system which gives me insight into the subconscious thought patterns currently active – and this is where we become the true masters of our destinies.

• When I’m driving I quite often notice that I tend to shallow breathe – I catch this now & implement some deeper belly breaths.
• I also tend to shallow breathe when I am scrolling on social media or looking at a computer screen – I take note & remind myself to breathe.
• Instead of my to-do list, the breath has become the first thing I automatically think about each morning – This sets up my entire day in such a positive upward guided manner.
• 10-20 minutes of a guided breath work session has decreased the time it takes for me to fall asleep at night – I’m in the land of nod within about 10 minutes of closing my eyes.
• A deep, full breath feels so good to me now and I savour the experience often in a day.
• I’m so much more connected with my body as my breath expands through my diaphragm, chest & belly – I can feel into any tight spots and relieve them just through conscious breathing.
• If I am in moments of overwhelm – even overwhelmingly joyful – the breath grounds me and helps me to feel the experience fully without losing control.

The cumulative effects of tuning into the breath have had such a profound impact on my life, it’s difficult to quantify.

When the breath is unsteady, all is unsteady; when the breath is still; all is still. Control the breath carefully. Inhalation gives strength and a controlled body; retention gives steadiness of mind and longevity; exhalation purifies body and spirit.
– Goraksasathakam