Gratitude Breathing and Meditation Exercise
While listening to a podcast entitled a Heartfelt Talk About Gratitude, Life, and Business, the guest on the show discussed what I felt is a fantastic breathing and meditation exercise that takes about a minute to perform.
The concept behind the meditation is to prepare yourself for a task ahead, while perpetuating love and gratitude. The exercise goes through 4 breaths, with a purpose behind each inhale and each exhale.
The Practice
First Inhale: Think that you are breathing in love. Imagine all of the particles of the world around you filled with love, and as you inhale, you bring that love into your lungs, which then goes into your blood stream and becomes a part of who you are.
First Exhale: Breath our with total security. Feel the positivity of the world surround you and hold you safe.
Second Inhale: Breathe in guidance. Listen to the world around you, and where it wants you to go, knowing that if you listen you will see the path ahead light up.
Second Exhale: Exhale gratitude for this guidance in your life and express your appreciation for it.
Third Inhale: Breathe in energy. Feel the energy of the world around you provide you with strength, focus, and ambition.
Third Exhale: Breathe out gratefulness for this energy that helps you be successful in your life.
Fourth Inhale: Breathe in purpose. Know that you have been put into your body for a reason. Inhale this purpose and let it direct you to where you need to be.
Fourth Exhale: Exhale gratitude for the ability to pursue your purpose, and gratefulness for whatever form your purpose takes.
How And When To Incorporate This Practice Into Your Life
One of the greatest points of this breathing meditation is its simplicity and that it does not take long to complete, which means if you have a minute you can take the time to calm your mind and body, getting ready for whatever lies ahead.
Be sure that when you are taking your breaths, you work on proper diaphragmatic breathing, allowing your inhale to fill your abdomen first, then travel up the lungs, filling your entire rib cage. As you exhale, allow your belly to relax completely, emptying your lungs from the abdomen up.
You can do this breathing exercise anytime that works best for you. I like to start my morning with this quick meditation to help prepare myself for the day, and then I will do it again at various other parts of my day: if I'm stuck in traffic, if I need to recenter while working, if I'm getting ready for a workout.
Another option that you have available if you are wanting to make this a regular practice is to set multiple alarms throughout the day when you know you will need to take a minute to breathe. If you are setting alarms for this, I recommend picking an alarm sound that you find calming so that as time progresses you start to associate that sound with relaxation and gratitude. Depending upon how your schedule works, you can set daily reoccurring alarms to go off when you know you have breaks throughout the day, or you can set a reminder alarm for first thing in the morning and at that point set the alarms for that specific day.
I hope you are able to play around with where this exercise fits best within your day and that it helps to bring you internal peace.
Corinne D. Bracko-Douglas, CMT, LMT, CKTP is the owner of Dochas Clinical Massage Therapy based out of Columbia, MO. She received her diploma in Clinical Massage Therapy from The Soma Institute in Chicago, IL in 2004. She enjoys teaching others about how to live a healthy lifestyle and still works one on one with clients out of her private clinic. When not working as a therapist she can be found enjoying trail hikes with her wonderful husband, Lee, and their adorable doggos, Shadow and Koda, or trying out fun new workouts to expand her knowledge of the human body and how it functions.
The advice given in these articles is not meant to diagnose. Please always consult with a health care provider before performing any of the techniques described upon yourself.
The concept behind the meditation is to prepare yourself for a task ahead, while perpetuating love and gratitude. The exercise goes through 4 breaths, with a purpose behind each inhale and each exhale.
The Practice
First Inhale: Think that you are breathing in love. Imagine all of the particles of the world around you filled with love, and as you inhale, you bring that love into your lungs, which then goes into your blood stream and becomes a part of who you are.
First Exhale: Breath our with total security. Feel the positivity of the world surround you and hold you safe.
Second Inhale: Breathe in guidance. Listen to the world around you, and where it wants you to go, knowing that if you listen you will see the path ahead light up.
Second Exhale: Exhale gratitude for this guidance in your life and express your appreciation for it.
Third Inhale: Breathe in energy. Feel the energy of the world around you provide you with strength, focus, and ambition.
Third Exhale: Breathe out gratefulness for this energy that helps you be successful in your life.
Fourth Inhale: Breathe in purpose. Know that you have been put into your body for a reason. Inhale this purpose and let it direct you to where you need to be.
Fourth Exhale: Exhale gratitude for the ability to pursue your purpose, and gratefulness for whatever form your purpose takes.
How And When To Incorporate This Practice Into Your Life
One of the greatest points of this breathing meditation is its simplicity and that it does not take long to complete, which means if you have a minute you can take the time to calm your mind and body, getting ready for whatever lies ahead.
Be sure that when you are taking your breaths, you work on proper diaphragmatic breathing, allowing your inhale to fill your abdomen first, then travel up the lungs, filling your entire rib cage. As you exhale, allow your belly to relax completely, emptying your lungs from the abdomen up.
You can do this breathing exercise anytime that works best for you. I like to start my morning with this quick meditation to help prepare myself for the day, and then I will do it again at various other parts of my day: if I'm stuck in traffic, if I need to recenter while working, if I'm getting ready for a workout.
Another option that you have available if you are wanting to make this a regular practice is to set multiple alarms throughout the day when you know you will need to take a minute to breathe. If you are setting alarms for this, I recommend picking an alarm sound that you find calming so that as time progresses you start to associate that sound with relaxation and gratitude. Depending upon how your schedule works, you can set daily reoccurring alarms to go off when you know you have breaks throughout the day, or you can set a reminder alarm for first thing in the morning and at that point set the alarms for that specific day.
I hope you are able to play around with where this exercise fits best within your day and that it helps to bring you internal peace.
Corinne D. Bracko-Douglas, CMT, LMT, CKTP is the owner of Dochas Clinical Massage Therapy based out of Columbia, MO. She received her diploma in Clinical Massage Therapy from The Soma Institute in Chicago, IL in 2004. She enjoys teaching others about how to live a healthy lifestyle and still works one on one with clients out of her private clinic. When not working as a therapist she can be found enjoying trail hikes with her wonderful husband, Lee, and their adorable doggos, Shadow and Koda, or trying out fun new workouts to expand her knowledge of the human body and how it functions.
The advice given in these articles is not meant to diagnose. Please always consult with a health care provider before performing any of the techniques described upon yourself.
WOW this is a GREAT idea! I'm going to steal it Thankyou! YES besrbthe stress before we get the stress! ❤
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