Guided Breathing Video (9” Breath Cycle) with Pachelbel Canon
How To Use This Video
Treat yourself to a brief, deeply relaxing breathing break. Gently breathe in as the kaleidoscope expands, and gently exhale fully as it contracts. (Please note: The effect of this video will be more powerful if you watch it in full screen and listen through headphones or earbuds).
Here are a couple of ways you can strengthen the effect of the video:
If you find that your mind is active, you can imagine hearing the word relax as you inhale, and peace as you exhale.
If you’re aware of tension in your body, you might enjoy breathing through the body: as you inhale, imagine you’re gently drawing the breath up through the center of your body. As you exhale, imagine the breath flowing effortlessly back down the body.
You may find it easier to breathe slowly and smoothly if you use what we call, ocean breathing. You can learn it from our video or from these instructions:
With your mouth open, exhale making the sound, “hah” (as if you were trying to fog up a mirror).
With your mouth still open, make that same “hah” sound as you inhale.
This time close your mouth and make the same “hah” sound as you inhale and exhale. It should sound something like Darth Vader, or the sound of the ocean in a seashell.
If you feel unsure about how to do ocean breathing, there’s another very easy way to slow down your breathing. Just purse your lips (like you’re puckering up to kiss someone) and breathe as if you’re gently drawing the air in through a straw. After you’ve tried this a few times, you may want to try ocean breathing again as breathing through the nose is much better for your overall well-being.
For fuller instructions about how to get the most out of our breathing videos, check out our introductory, How to Use Breathing Videos video.
The video was created by Jan in Motion 5. The music is loosely based on excerpts from Johann Pachelbel's Canon and Gigue for 3 Violins and Basso Continuo. It was arranged and performed by Don using Logic Pro X.
How to Expand on The Benefits of The Video:
Slow Breathing and Health Habits
From the perspective of brain science, a habit is born through the creation of enduring neural pathways associated with a particular behavior. The more often we repeat a behavior, the stronger the neural pathway associated with the behavior becomes. The stronger the neural pathway associated with a behavior becomes, the more likely we are to repeat that behavior in the future. When the pathways become strong enough, the behavior becomes a habit that is hard to break.
So once a neural pathway has been strengthened by many repetitions of a behavior, how can it be neutralized?
By observing, mindfully – that is, calmly, without judgment, and without trying to control it – the craving or impulse to repeat the behavior, as well as the emotion associated with the craving or impulse.
And here’s where slow, conscious breathing can be an enormous help.
Most of our habits maintain their grip on us because they’re controlled by older, more primitive regions of the brain which work largely outside of our awareness. The newest part of our brain ,the prefrontal cortex, has the potential to come online and modify the workings of the primitive brain. But in order for it come online, we have to stop the mindless repetition of the habitual behavior.
When a craving arises, whether of its own subconscious momentum, or something in the environment triggers it (e.g., a commercial for your favorite ice cream, seeing some else smoking a cigarette, etc.), instead of mindlessly acting on it, you can pause and take some slow gentle breaths.
Whatever you do, do not try to fight the craving. Simply notice it and allow it to be. Trust the capacity of your brain and nervous system to shift to a freer, more balanced state of being in which the craving or impulse loses its power to control you. The simple insertion of a pause between the impulse to act and acting is a powerful means of weakening the neural pathways that keep us on auto pilot, repeating behaviors that we really don’t want to be doing and may no longer even enjoy. Even if you’re not ready to give up the habit, pausing to breathe before acting can still weaken the compulsive quality of it, which over time, makes it much easier to give up.
About Our Online Course “Train Your Brain, Change Your Life”
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of pausing for your brain and nervous system, and how you can train your brain to be more receptive to experiencing this state of deep peace, contentment, and creativity that we refer to as "open, heartful awareness," you can check out our online course, Train Your Brain, Change Your Life.
The course provides practices that support the natural tendency of our brain and nervous system to move toward a state of greater calm and ease. It also provides a larger understanding that makes the practices meaningful. It explains how our outdated, unbalanced brain programing interferes with the experience of open heartful awareness, and how it can be harmonized so as to be supportive rather than an impediment. It includes audios and videos that teach you over two dozen “practices” that help to clear away the obstacles that make open, heartful awareness difficult to access. And it has dozens of one to three-minute guided audios and videos that are perfect for brief breaks during the day.
You can try out our Free Sampler Course, which includes a few of the practices from the full course. We also invite you to check out our Facebook page and YouTube channel where we’ll be posting a wide variety of brief videos designed to balance and harmonize your brain and nervous system in a way that makes it easier to shift to open, heartful awareness.
