Jane O’Rourke – Box Breathing Exercise for Sweet Dreams or Relaxation

Hello, my name is Jane O’Rourke. I’m a Child, Adolescent and Family Psychotherapist, and a yoga and mindfulness teacher. This exercise called the Box Exercise is really good for helping you steady and ground, and also to do before you go to sleep.

So I’m inviting you to either lie down if you’re preparing to go to sleep, or you really need to rest, or to find a comfortable seated posture. If you’re lying down, get yourself nice and comfortable, perhaps by putting a cushion underneath your head and allowing the body to settle. And if you’re sitting up, then finding a posture where you can let your spine rise nice and tall.

And then I’m inviting you next to put a hand on your heart and a hand on your belly. And just start to engage with the steady rhythm of your breath. Perhaps notice in your hands rise on the in breath, as your belly rises and your chest rises. And then on the outbreath, the belly releasing and the chest releasing, so tuning into the rhythm of your breath. Feeling the steadiness of the floor, if you’re sitting up, that’s beneath your feet, or if you’re laying down feeling the whole body underneath you, being supported by the earth, feeling the steadiness of the earth, connecting with that, so that you can feel your whole body starting to relax. The breath starting to deepen and soften.

So in your mind’s eye we’re going to imagine the breath going around like a box shape. So, breathing in for a count of four and then we’re going to be holding it for a count of four, breathing out for a count of four and then pausing for a count of four before we begin again. So on your next in breath, breathing in for a count of 4, 3, 2, 1, holding the breath for 4, 3, 2, 1. And then breathing out 4, 3, 2, 1, and holding the breath for 4, 3, 2, 1. Breathing in 4, 3, 2, 1, holding 4, 3, 2, 1, breathing out 4, 3, 2, 1, holding 4, 3, 2, 1.

Breathing in… Holding… Breathing out… Breathing in… Holding… Breathing out… Holding… Breathing in 4, 3, 2, 1. Holding… Breathing out… And holding… Breathing in… Holding… Breathing out… Holding… Breathing in… Holding… Breathing out… Holding…

Last round, breathing in… Holding… Breathing out… Holding… And then just allowing the breath to move in and out at its own pace, not controlling it in any way. Feeling the steady rhythm of your own breath…

And you can stay here longer if you’re now going to sleep. Or in your own time allowing yourself to gently come back into the room in your own time.

Perhaps taking some time to look around, to centre yourself, taking in the room around you and gently coming back. Perhaps stretching, giving yourself perhaps a little shake if you need to re-energise before you can go on with the rest of your day.

Box breathing is a practice that has been taught all around the world to people working in frontline jobs.

Jane O’Rourke takes us through this practice as a way of helping the body and mind to calm at times of stress or to help us sleep. Jane is a yoga and mindfulness teacher and a psychodynamic psychotherapist with children young people and families. She teaches yoga for trauma within the trauma service at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

Wellbeing Quiz Profile: #MoreFrantic #RelivingTrauma

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