STOP! Have you taken a break today?

[allison_s]

When was the last time you offered yourself a deep conscious breath?

Women are everything to so many people, that sometimes we forget to pause and take a moment for ourselves. It’s common to reach the end of the day and notice that you’ve gone the entire day moving, being productive and taking care of your loved ones, forgetting that you’re actually breathing and you deserve a break.

Deep breaths can help to slow your heart rate, lower your blood pressure and reduce stress levels. Since you’re already here, let’s take a moment to offer the body and mind three deep breaths.

Before we begin, find a comfortable posture

• Let your body be relaxed. Seated or laying down?
• You may keep your eyes open or closed for this

Then, check in with how you are feeling.

• Are you feeling relaxed, stressed or tired from your day?
• Without judging the feel, just noticed what you are feeling

Place one hand over your heart and one hand over your belly.

• We'll take three deep breaths
  • Each inhale you count to 5 and each exhale count to 7.

Let’s begin!

• Breath #1: 
  • Inhale 1-2-3-4-5
  • Exhale for 7-6-5-4-3-2-1
• Breath #2
  • Inhale 1-2-3-4-5
  • Exhale for 7-6-5-4-3-2-1
• Breath #3
  • Inhale 1-2-3-4-5
  • On the final exhale, imagining you're letting everything go
  • Exhale for 7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Remove your hands from your belly and heart.

Before transitioning to the next thing on your 'to-do list' take a moment to come out of this.

Check in with yourself again:

How do you feel now that you’ve offered yourself a moment to breathe deeply?

Hope you take this practice with you and remember to come back to it whenever you need a break in your day!

[oaktownish]

Thank you for this! Today has been crazy and I just chose to stop and do this as soon as I saw the post. Feeing much better now

[allison_s]

Awesome! That's exactly what I was hoping for!

[Marisa]

Allison thanks so much for coming into the conversation feed with this invitation for a deep breath. The part that really helped me was one hand heart, one hand belly. It helped me to drop down out of my head and into my body. Thanks to your practice, I'm now feeling more grounded and present 😊 @allison_s 

[allison_s]

So wonderful to hear,  @Marisa !! I always love that part of the practice as well. There is something about placing a hand over my heart that helps me to really drop down into the moment and connect with myself. 

Thank you for sharing how this practice resonated with you!

[Margeaux_H]

Yes to Breath!  Whenever I teach a yoga class I ask everyone to find audible breath without feeling ashamed.  Our breathe can not only make moving through the asanas on the mat easier but tapping into our breath can also make the asanas in life easier.  

[allison_s]

Yes!! Breathe it in and let it out! 💗🙏🏽

[MischelleL3]

The key with breathing is to do belly breathing. If you do upper chest breathing that causes more stress in your body. Belly  breathing, uses your diaphragm and make sure you exhale longer because that is where you get a decrease in heart rate, and more of that parasympathetic Effect.