Mindful May: Day Six - Ocean Wave Breathing

Day Six: Ocean Wave Breathing for Stress & Anxiety

To reduce anxiety, start by taking a moment to relax your body, soften any unnecessary tension in your belly and shoulder, and find a posture that feels comfy and relaxed.

With your eyes open, take a few moments to scan your awareness through the sensations of your body, and wherever possible, soften and release any obvious areas of tension. Let your eyes stay open and focus on the middle of the room wherever you are.

And then see if you can let your awareness travel across the room from where you’re sitting. If you’re lying down, you can let your attention go upwards to the ceiling.

And then notice how you can let your attention come back to the center of the room. And see if you can bring your attention closer, to about book-reading distance as if you’re reading a book in your hands.

Clearly, you can determine where your attention goes.

And now you can let your eyes close and just let your attention go inward. And gently focus on the sensations of your breath moving in and out of your body.

Then, let your attention go wherever your breath comes most naturally to you.

Maybe it’s the sensations of the air in your nostrils, with that gentle feeling coming in and out as the air passes in and out. Or maybe you feel the breath in your chest, with the rising and falling of your chest with each half breath in and out.

You might feel the breath most naturally in your belly, feeling the diaphragm underneath your lungs pulling air into your lungs and expanding your belly as you breathe in.

And then when the air is released from your lungs as you breathe out, your belly actually moves inward, making it easy to sense your abdominal movements in and out.

So see if you can let your awareness ride the wave of your breath wherever you feel it, in your nostrils, your chest, your abdominal movement, or maybe you feel your whole body breathing.

And let’s just let your attention ride the wave of your breathing. As you’re sensing your breath in and out, think about how your mind is as vast as the ocean where deep in the ocean beneath the surface, it’s calm and clear.

And from that deep place in the ocean, you can look upward toward the surface, no matter what is going on in your life no matter what those conditions are, deep in the ocean, it’s calm and clear.

And maybe just sensing your breath allows you to access the depth and stillness of your mind, as vast as the ocean, where from this deep, peaceful place, you can look upward at the waves at the surface, the brain waves that are the thoughts and emotions and conditions of your mind.

Can you can notice all those fleeting thoughts and emotions that are just there at the surface that come and go pretty quickly in and out of your awareness each day like waves at the top of the ocean? 

When a thought comes, or a feeling, memory, or sensation, then warmly and calmly take note of your thinking and redirect your attention to the breath.

​See if you can let yourself enjoy the deep tranquility that comes from just sensing the breath, knowing that just focusing your mind on your breathing brings you to a place of calm and clarity. And now when you’re ready, you can let your eyes open.

May you bring this same quality of kind awareness to the rest of your day feeling relaxed in your body and mind.