Calming Exhale Breathe

July 06, 2021

Information

With Michele Grand, LMT

ID6774

To CiteDCA Citation Guide

00:04Good afternoon everybody and
00:05thank you so much for joining.
00:08My name is Michelle Grant.
00:09I'm a licensed massage massage
00:11therapist and I work with the oncology
00:14patients at Smilow Cancer Hospital.
00:16Today I'm going to lead you in
00:19a guided meditation that will
00:22include a bit of work on what's
00:25called a calming exhale breath.
00:28As we begin, sit comfortably
00:30in a quiet place where you can
00:33be free from distractions.
00:37Choose a posture that promotes
00:40a long neutral spine.
00:43And even if you're lying down.
00:46Allow your spine to be in a neutral position.
00:51If you're seated, set your chin
00:53in a neutral position so the
00:56back of your next day is long.
00:59And drop your shoulders from your ears.
01:02And soft in your belly.
01:07Close your eyes or gaze low
01:10at the ground ahead of you.
01:14Turn your attention and awareness
01:17inwards towards your breath.
01:22Without trying to change anything,
01:24simply notice how you
01:27are breathing right now.
01:30Is the breath moving through
01:33the nose or through the mouth?
01:37Describe the rhythm and
01:39depth of the breath.
01:42Notice if there is a
01:45difference between breath in.
01:47And breath out.
01:50How does the breath feel as
01:52it moves through your body?
01:57And where in the body do
02:00you notice the breath?
02:05And as you focus inward Tord your breath
02:10your body. Do this also your mind.
02:14How might the breath as it is right now,
02:18relate to the mind as it is right now?
02:24Notice without judgment. Just notice.
02:32And now, if you haven't
02:34already, close your lips.
02:38And begin to breathe in
02:41and out through your nose.
02:44Without making any drastic changes,
02:47just staying comfortable.
02:50Without forcing. Or pushing.
02:53Or straining with as much ease as possible.
03:00Use a short count to even out the breath.
03:05Inhale through the nose for 1/2.
03:11Three and exhale for one. 2. 3.
03:21Match the exhale breath to the length
03:23of the inhale breath and just do a
03:26couple of rounds of equal breathing
03:29in and out through your nose.
03:42Breathe as naturally as possible,
03:44but equally no need to push
03:46the length of breath in.
03:48Just match your easy breath out
03:51with the length of the breath in.
03:56Let the quality of your breath
03:59reflect all the qualities
04:02you'd like to see in your mind.
04:05Patient, easy, spacious and calm.
04:09Inhale for one. 2.
04:133. NXL one. 2. 3.
04:22Find balance between breath in and out.
04:26And balanced also in your mind.
04:39Focused on equal breathing
04:41and also aware of the mind.
04:43How does the breath as it is right now
04:47relate to the mind as it is right now?
04:55And now without making any big changes,
04:59staying comfortable without
05:00forcing or pushing or straining
05:03with as much ease as possible,
05:06extend the exhale breath to four.
05:09So inhale for one. 2. 3.
05:17And exhale for 412. 3. For.
05:27Spend a little more time on the breath
05:30out now than you do on the breath.
05:33In breath in is still long
05:35breath in is still easy.
05:37Breath in is still patient
05:40and calm but breath out.
05:42A little longer.
05:46With each longer breath out,
05:48release any unnecessary energy
05:51in the mind. Inhale for three.
05:58And exhale for four.
06:05In help for three.
06:10And exhale for four.
06:20Aware of the breath and aware two
06:23of the mind, how does the quality of
06:25breath reflect the mind right now?
06:33And now still breathing comfortably
06:35without forcing or pushing or straining
06:38with as much ease as possible.
06:41Extend the exhale breath to five.
06:45We're going to inhale in for three.
06:50Then exhale to five.
07:00Same easy breath in.
07:03But a longer breath out.
07:06With each longer breath out,
07:08letting go of excess energy
07:11in the mind. Inhaled to three.
07:18And exhale to account of five.
07:27Inhale 2/3.
07:32And exhale to account of five.
07:41And as you watch their
07:43breath notice the mind.
07:44Notice how the quality of the
07:47mind is reflected in the breath.
07:49Notice how the breath reflects the
07:52quality of the mind. Breath and mind.
07:57Neither one comes first.
08:00Change either one.
08:01And you change the other.
08:07Inhale to three.
08:13And exhale to five.
08:20Let go of excess energy in the
08:23mind with each long breath out.
08:31And now think back to the earliest months
08:33of your life when you were only a baby.
08:36Just go back as far as you'd like,
08:39and recall how different your body was
08:42then how tiny and fragile you were.
08:45We called you how little you
08:47understood of the world.
08:48There was a time when you could
08:51just barely recognize colors and
08:53shapes a time when you could not
08:55feed yourself a time when you could
08:58not stand or walk a time when you
09:01didn't know how to read or write.
09:04And then as you grew,
09:06and you began to make sense of the world,
09:10we call the things you once
09:12believed that are no longer true.
09:14Perhaps you believed in fictional
09:16cartoon characters, or.
09:18You'll have that particularly
09:20childlike view of the world.
09:23But then it changed.
09:28There's very little of
09:29your body in your mind.
09:31That's the same today as it was then,
09:33and yet you were still you.
09:38We flipped back on the course of
09:40your life through later childhood
09:43in your early teenage years.
09:45Recall the physical changes
09:47you've gone through.
09:49Call how much you have learned and
09:52recall the changes to your worldview.
09:57So much has changed in your body.
10:01So much has changed in your mind.
10:04And yet you're still you.
10:12And so now we turn to breath awareness.
10:15Notice the continual movement of
10:18the brath this constant flow.
10:21This constant exchange between
10:23breathing and breathing out.
10:30Notice what's changing
10:31right here and right now.
10:34And the press is a good place to start.
10:37There's never one single moment in
10:39which their breath remains the same.
10:45And in fact, if the breath were not inflow,
10:49we'd all be in trouble.
10:50The inhale breath doesn't arrive towards
10:53the end and lament the oncoming exhale.
10:55The exhaled breath doesn't begin to empty
10:59and worry over the incoming breath in.
11:02We let the inhale go.
11:06We let the exhale finish.
11:10And we trust that this cycle of
11:13change will continue giving us life.
11:19Contemplate the possibility that has
11:22changed occurs in your breath change
11:25is occurring right now in your body.
11:27Change is occurring right now in your mind.
11:33And possible that these incoming
11:35changes will give you life.
11:38Give you peace, give you ease.
11:44Contemplate the possibility
11:46that your worldview could shift.
11:49And it could shift slowly overtime.
11:53And it could shift in an instant.
11:58Just be open to this change aware that
12:01this change is full of potential.
12:08Just take another moment and remain
12:11watching the breath and rest in
12:14the awareness that neither your
12:17body nor your mind or static,
12:19unchanging or still and let
12:22that be a very good thing.
12:39And with the final deep inhalation
12:43through your nose. Had a longer
12:46exhalation through your nose.
12:55And when you're ready,
12:56you open your eyes and just
12:58look around, come back to the
13:01room that you're in right now.
13:04Stretch your arms out long to each side,
13:06pulling to the left and to the
13:09right for a good stretch.
13:12And inhalation arms overhead.
13:14Exhale break through your mouth
13:17and down into prayer pose.
13:22When you're ready, you can open your eyes.
13:27I want to thank you all so much for being
13:30with me for being with me for about 15
13:34months while we did our guided meditation
13:37or imagery or grounding in our centering.
13:40I myself I'm back to working at the Smilow
13:44Cancer hospital with the cancer patients
13:46doing massage, inpatient and outpatient.
13:49We haven't away integrative medicine
13:51has an array of online programming
13:54for you that will continue.
13:56Everything from meditation, zoom,
13:58meditation, phone, meditation, Tai Chi,
14:00chair exercises, yoga and more.
14:02So just check out the calendar.
14:05Yale Cancer Center integrative medicine.
14:07You could find the timeline as well
14:10as always made a long time sun shine
14:13upon you and all love surround you
14:16and your pure light within you.
14:19Always guide your way on OK.
14:22Take care. Be well everybody.