Benefits
Practicing this breath can help rapidly decrease tension in the body. This breath works well to ease anxiety and is an excellent breath to practice before sleep.
This breath can be practiced seated, standing or laying down.
Practice
To begin, if you’d like, complete a brief body scan (click here).
Now draw your attention to your breath.
As you inhale squeeze your fingers into your palms to make a fist. Exhale, release your fingers wide.
On your next inhale, squeeze your hands into a fist, squeeze your eyes closed, purse your lips together. Hold. Exhale to release the tension.
With the next inhale squeeze your hands into a fist, squeeze your eyes closed, purse your lips together, tense the belly and the back. Hold, and exhale.
Build upon the first part of the exercise by tensing the upper body and the fists as done before, then squeeze the legs and the feet. Hold. Exhale.
Finally, inhale, tense every muscle in the body. Hold.
Exhale, release all tension in the body.