Browse
Top articles
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
00:00
00:00
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to share a breathing technique that will help you soothe stress and anxiety and calm your nervous system. So why would we need to calm our nervous system at all? Well, for many of us, daily life is very demanding, busy ,stressful. And so what tends to happen is we get stuck with our nervous system kind of caught in fight or flight mode. And fight or flight mode is the same system that turns on in an animal if it's running from a predator in the wild.
It's a stress response. So the heart is beating faster, breathing speeds up and become shallow, blood pumps out to our extremities so that we can get ready to run or fight. Vision narrows and stress hormones get released into the body like adrenaline and cortisol. In this mode, we're also very reactive and the mind tends to really race, but we can't think all that clearly and objectively. So when we get stuck in this mode of being, it really takes its toll.
So we might get to the end of the day feeling pretty edgy and bleary-eyed we've probably all been there, right? And we may have ways of taking the edge off at the end of the day, maybe a glass of wine, or we zone out in front of the TV. But although these strategies might be relieving in the moment, they don't actually help us reset our nervous system so that we can effectively let go of stress and recover. But the impact of this ongoing stress over time can be quite detrimental to our long-term health. When we don't reset our nervous system remaining in fight or flight, it disturbs our sleep and our ability to think clearly and relax. And it's actually just really unpleasant to live in that kind of wired, but tired state all the time.
So to effectively ease our stress response, we need to activate the body's natural relaxation response. And breathing deeply with a slow, steady, even inhale to exhale ratio, stimulates our nervous system to switch gears into the relaxation response. It calms the body down and that in turn tends to calm the mind down too, and then the stress response switches off. So in this way, deep, slow, even breathing helps us ease, anxiety, fear, and stress, and helps us relax. As our heartbeat decreases, our breathing slows, our racing mind starts to settle and a lot of that inner turmoil just relaxes.
So in today's meditation, I'm going to guide you through a really simple breathing practice called the 'force that breath.' And then once you learn it after today's meditation, you can use it any time you want to soothe your body's stress response. So this is wonderful to use at the end of the day when you want to unwind or any time you're feeling stressed or anxious, or you just want to settle yourself in before a good night's sleep. So I invite you to begin to settle in now for today's practice. And as always thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.
Soothe Yourself With 4-Step Breathing
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Duration
Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.
Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to share a breathing technique that will help you soothe stress and anxiety and calm your nervous system. So why would we need to calm our nervous system at all? Well, for many of us, daily life is very demanding, busy ,stressful. And so what tends to happen is we get stuck with our nervous system kind of caught in fight or flight mode. And fight or flight mode is the same system that turns on in an animal if it's running from a predator in the wild.
It's a stress response. So the heart is beating faster, breathing speeds up and become shallow, blood pumps out to our extremities so that we can get ready to run or fight. Vision narrows and stress hormones get released into the body like adrenaline and cortisol. In this mode, we're also very reactive and the mind tends to really race, but we can't think all that clearly and objectively. So when we get stuck in this mode of being, it really takes its toll.
So we might get to the end of the day feeling pretty edgy and bleary-eyed we've probably all been there, right? And we may have ways of taking the edge off at the end of the day, maybe a glass of wine, or we zone out in front of the TV. But although these strategies might be relieving in the moment, they don't actually help us reset our nervous system so that we can effectively let go of stress and recover. But the impact of this ongoing stress over time can be quite detrimental to our long-term health. When we don't reset our nervous system remaining in fight or flight, it disturbs our sleep and our ability to think clearly and relax. And it's actually just really unpleasant to live in that kind of wired, but tired state all the time.
So to effectively ease our stress response, we need to activate the body's natural relaxation response. And breathing deeply with a slow, steady, even inhale to exhale ratio, stimulates our nervous system to switch gears into the relaxation response. It calms the body down and that in turn tends to calm the mind down too, and then the stress response switches off. So in this way, deep, slow, even breathing helps us ease, anxiety, fear, and stress, and helps us relax. As our heartbeat decreases, our breathing slows, our racing mind starts to settle and a lot of that inner turmoil just relaxes.
So in today's meditation, I'm going to guide you through a really simple breathing practice called the 'force that breath.' And then once you learn it after today's meditation, you can use it any time you want to soothe your body's stress response. So this is wonderful to use at the end of the day when you want to unwind or any time you're feeling stressed or anxious, or you just want to settle yourself in before a good night's sleep. So I invite you to begin to settle in now for today's practice. And as always thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.
Duration
Play in-app
Scan the following QR code with your camera app to open it on our mobile app
Get Unlimited Access
A Mindfulness Plus+ subscription gives you unlimited access to a world of premium mindfulness content.
Email Missing
We couldn’t detect your email with the SSO provider you have selected.We are here to make a positive impact on the world. We never want to sell you something that hasn’t helped you live a better life. That’s why if you’re unhappy with any purchase from us, you have 30 days to get a full refund and your money back.
If you subscribed to Mindfulness Plus+ and are unhappy with your purchase, please get in contact with us within the 30-day period and we’ll refund your purchase.
Learn more about our Mindfulness Guarantee.
Mindfulness
We believe in a world where everybody has access to the life-changing skills of mindfulness.
Private Browsing
Congratulations on taking the first step towards a more mindful life! As a token of our appreciation, we want to offer you an exclusive opportunity to upgrade to Mindfulness Plus+ for a price you won't find anywhere else.
Mindfulness Plus+ is our premium membership that includes everything you need to learn mindfulness and keep practicing throughout all stages of life.
Take this exclusive offer to further your mindfulness skills and experience deeper levels of well-being.
Annual membership
$0
Just a small sample of the life-changing 5-star reviews we get on a daily basis.
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
Vidyamala’s tips on catching anger as it’s happening or about to happen are great - clear, practical, and doable.
- Vicoir
The little talks before the meditations are priceless. It's like I've found my peeps. The topics, the quotes, the goals—it all makes so much sense to me, things I want to be thinking and learning about. Most importantly, the meditations are kindness-centered, which I love. It feels like a new way to approach meditation.
- Lauren
Incredible, easy to navigate app. I would highly recommend this app to anyone who wishes to reduce stress and anxiety or simply as an aid to improve overall mental health.
- Kirtus
I love how the app gives me pointers to new things to explore.
- Lydia
So calm and soothing. I love the new bundle with Kelly Boys, she’s brilliant!
- EJ
Better than Headspace. I've had the paid version of both apps, and I must say I enjoy this one better.
- Gina, Plus+ Member
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
I am very new to meditation, and am so happy that my first introduction to it has been through this app
The first session was fantastic. I feel safe. And supported. Almost like having someone helping me through my difficult time. I’m very grateful for this app.
- Babi
You get a lot of useful tips for handling stress and anxiety in 'real life'.
- Joy
Highly recommend.
- Humanfrst
Kelly Boys is hands down the best. Everytime I click on one of her guided meditations I get excited for the calmness that lies ahead.
-
Thank you for joining us
Dive into the full library and enjoy all it has to offer!
Claim your free access
Create a mindfulness account and we’ll unlock this premium session in your account forever.
7-Days free trial, cancel anytime.
Complete a few quick questions to make your own personalized mindfulness plan.
Sign up or login to your mindfulness account to proceed.
Sign up or login to your mindfulness account to proceed.
Mindfulness
One membership to gain access to a world of premium mindfulness content created to help you live happier and stress less.