Thank you for joining me for another guided practice. My hope is that each of these sessions will shine a little light on ways we can live in greater steadiness and peace. Life can sometimes be filled with bumpy roads, and we all need strategies and skills that help us smooth out those paths as best we can.

This session offers one more survival strategy to help steady frazzled nerves and calm the nervous system: using the breath to ground and soothe us, to bring us right back down to earth.

This 16-minute practice - first recorded for my long-ago CD Mindful Breathing - explores the power of lengthening the exhalation. This breathing pattern typically calms and quiets the nervous system. Just a few moments of long, smooth exhalations can, quite literally, change our minds.

This session is guided from a belly-down position, which can help foster a long and steady exhalation. If lying prone isn’t your cup of tea, feel free to rest belly up, or to sit in a chair, or even to climb into bed. As always, if any suggestions cause unrest or feel inappropriate, then skip them altogether or modify the practice in any way that brings a smile to your face.

My website includes lots of information about the power of the breath to keep us steady and bright. It includes this magazine article I wrote years ago that introduces this calming breath as part of a general introduction to yoga breathing practices.

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