Jane O’Rourke – 4 Minute Triangle Breathing Exercise To Feel Refreshed And Rested

Hello, my name is Jane O’Rourke, I’m a Child, Adolescent and Family Psychotherapist and a yoga and mindfulness teacher. Today we are going to be practicing triangular breathing. It’s a way of helping us to slowdown in our day, just finding a few minutes for ourselves to slow the breath so that we can slow our minds, a feel a little bit of steadiness and calm.

So finding a comfortable posture so you can be standing if you like, or maybe if you would like to sit in a chair, find a cushion and sitting on the floor, making yourself comfortable. Softening the jaw, relaxing the shoulders, softening the space between your eyebrows so there is no tension being held in your face. And then just noticing how you are feeling in this moment, I like to call it an internal weather check. So noticing how you are feeling physically, any tension being held in the body and noticing how you are feeling too. It can be really helpful to name what those feelings are.

And then, begin to imagine a triangle in your mind. So let’s start at the bottom corner of the triangle and breathing in for 1, 2, 3, hold the breath as you imagine in your mind’s eye coming up to the top of the triangle for 1, 2, 3 and then breathing out for 1, 2, 3 as you come back down to the bottom of the triangle. Breathing in, 1, 2, 3, holding the breath for 1, 2, 3 as you come up to the top of the triangle, then breathing out for 1, 2, 3 as you go back down to the bottom of the triangle. Breathing in 1, 2, 3, hold the breath for 1, 2, 3, as you come up to the top of the triangle and then breathing out 1, 2, 3. Breathing in 1, 2, 3 holding the breath for 1, 2, 3, and then breathing out 1, 2, 3. Breathing in 1, 2, 3 holding the breath 1, 2, 3, then breathing out for 1, 2, 3. Last time, breathing in for 1, 2, 3, hold the breath for 1, 2, 3 and then breathing out for 1, 2, 3.

And then just allow the breath to go at its own pace, so not forcing anything, giving yourself a few moments now just to ground a little more, feel the steadiness of the earth beneath you… and lets finish by doing this internal check-in once more, just noticing how you are feeling in this moment physically, what emotions are arising for you, everything included, nothing excluded. Just noticing how the breath is now, just taking the last few final breaths here doing this exercise and you can stay a little longer if you need or whenever you are ready coming back into the room in your own time.