The Exhale Practice, Written Out
The Short: watch it on YouTube.
Yesterday I put up a Short. A circle grows, shrinks, then sits still for a moment. That still moment is the whole point, and a video under a minute can only hint at it. So here it is in words, slower.
Why the breath out
Nearly all the breathing advice I come across is about getting air in. Bigger, slower, counted. I think the more useful half is the other one. The breath out is the part we cut off. We let some of it go, then grab the next breath before the first one is done. Do that all day and the body never gets to settle.
This practice asks for one thing. Finish the breath out, then wait.
How to do it
Sit however you are already sitting. A kitchen chair is fine. Close your eyes or just lower them.
- Breathe in the way you normally would. No size, no count. A regular breath.
- Breathe out, and keep going a bit further than feels usual. Not hard. You are not squeezing anything out. You are only declining to quit early. Near the end your stomach may move in a little. That is fine.
- When the air is out, don’t reach for more. Wait. Two or three seconds is plenty.
- Notice what that wait is like. It is quiet. Nothing is asked of you in it.
- Then let the in-breath come by itself. It will. You don’t have to start it.
- That is one round. Do five.
Five rounds take about a minute. That is all it needs.
What you might notice
The wait can feel odd at first. A lot of us get a small jolt of alarm when the lungs are empty and nothing is happening yet. That jolt is habit, not danger. It fades. If it doesn’t, make the wait shorter. One second counts.
Some rounds the gap will feel long and some short. They don’t need to match. You also don’t need to feel calm by the end. The only job is to stop cutting the breath off, five times in a row.
After a few days you may catch that little gap on your own, in a queue or at a red light. That is the practice working away from the chair.
A safety note
If you feel dizzy or lightheaded, stop and breathe normally. Don’t force the air out and don’t hold your breath. If you have a breathing or heart condition, ask your doctor first. This is a practice, not medical advice.
The full sequence is in the book
This is one practice. Bare Breath is the full sequence: six practices, from two to twenty minutes each, for different moments of the day, and a seven-day starter that adds one at a time.
The opening of chapter one of Bare Breath is free. Enter your email on the free-chapter page and it opens there.
Read the free chapter Bare Breath on Amazon
Related: long exhale breathing · a breathing exercise for anxiety