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Simple Centering Breathing Exercise - Short Version

This is the short version of the centering breathing exercise, suitable for novice and experienced practitioners, and everyone in between.
This version of the exercise is ideal for when you don't have more than a few seconds, but really need to refocus and center. It can be done with your eyes open or closed, and in any position at all.

• Straighten your spine, tilt your head up slightly, and tuck in your chin so that your neck and spine are aligned as much as possible (will vary depending on position) and rest your hands and arms in a comfortable position, if able.

• Take a deep, cleansing breath in through your nose, and blow it out through your mouth. The inhale should be as deep as you can make it, and the exhale should be somewhat forceful, as though blowing out several candles at once.

• With your eyes open or closed, as appropriate to the situation, begin breathing in and out though your nose, in slow, deep, steady breaths, counting each breath.

• Focus on each breath, feeling the air as it passes through your nostrils, slowly expanding and contracting your abdomen.

• Continue for as long as needed or as long as you can, until you feel calm, centered, and relaxed, or at least more so than you did before.

• Take another cleansing breath, imagining all the stress and annoyances of your day are being blown out of your body and mind on the exhale.

• Enjoy the rest of your day, and, as soon as you have the time to do so, consider doing the full version of the exercise, for a more complete feeling of tranquillity.