Returning to Practice: Conscious Breathing
A guided meditation for calming the body through the breath
This guided meditation is an invitation to slow down and simply notice.
Included in this guided practice:
guided relaxation
conscious breathing
breath awareness meditation
optional reflective journaling
If you wish to explore this more directly, guided practices, embodied practice, and further reflections are available through subscription and via the website
This is the AUDIO version of this article, read by Caroline Wright, shared in its natural form, honouring the beauty of imperfection.
Most of us have no idea what the breath really is, or how we can use it to our advantage. Of course we are breathing, we know we breathe because we are alive, it’s just something that naturally happens and I have no power over it right? Wrong. Whilst breath IS naturally occurring, we can learn to powerfully utilize it to it’s fullest potential with breath awareness.
Most of us breathe without ever really noticing the breath. It happens quietly in the background of daily life, carrying us through stress, rest, emotion, busyness and stillness alike. Yet when we begin to bring awareness to the breath, something subtle begins to shift.
We slow down.
We notice.
We return to ourselves.
In Yoga, practices that work with the breath are known as Pranayama. There are many techniques to explore, this article is about the most basic of practices and the one I feel is perhaps the most important to start with (and to master), before you move onto more advanced pranayama techniques.
This is my GO TO practice, the simplicity of conscious breathing is the one I return to again and again, not because it is complicated, the opposite, because it is simple.
When life feels overwhelming, when the mind feels busy, or when I notice tension building in the body, this is often the first place I begin, with the conscious breath.
When we practice conscious breathing, through gently following the inhale and exhale, the breath becomes an anchor for awareness, a way of softening the nervous system, settling the body, and reconnecting with the present moment. When we inhale, we are breathing in fresh new energy, in Yoga that is called Prana, when we are exhaling, we are releasing toxins that the body has processed and no longer needs.
Focusing on the breath guides us to feeling more relaxed, allowing us to release any stress or tension we may be holding in the body. Each breath is an opportunity to let go and soften the body.
Conscious Breathing Meditation:
Find a comfortable place to sit in stillness away from distractions and sit with your spine straight.
Now close your eyes.
Place your right hand over the center of your abdomen and the left hand on top.
Relax the shoulders, relax your jaw.
See if you can notice the rise and the fall of the abdomen underneath your hands with each breath.
I will now take you through a gentle relaxation technique and then we'll focus on the breath.
Relax your feet your ankles, your lower legs and your knees.
Relax your upper legs and your hips, and relax the space between your hips.
Relax your waist and your abdomen.
Observe if you're clenching your pelvic floor, can you release and relax your pelvic floor?
Bring your attention to your chest and relax your chest.
Relax your shoulders and all of your arms, hands and fingers.
Bring your attention back to your shoulders.
Relax your neck, your head, your face, your jaw.
Relax the eyes in the eye sockets.
The whole of your body is relaxed.
Let's together now exhale.
Close your mouth and take a deep breath in through the nose.
Open the mouth and gently exhale through the mouth with a sigh.
Again, inhaling through the nose with the mouth closed, then opening the mouth gently sighing out the breath.
Again inhale through the nose with the mouth closed, exhale through the mouth.
Continue this breathing inhaling and exhaling.
If your mind wonders, bring your attention back to the breath, the inhale, and the exhale.
Allow yourself to release any tension with the exhale.
Feel the body relax more and more with every exhale.
Every inhale you are taking in fresh new energy.
Every exhale, you are releasing anything that no longer serves you.
Let's do a few deeper rounds of breath together.
Inhaling through the nose all the way down to the base of your stomach where your hands are inhale, inhale, inhale, and then release with you exhale.
Inhale all the way down to your stomach as far as you have ever breathed before, then exhale.
Inhaling all the way down to the base of the stomach, pausing, and then exhale.
Continuing with this breath for as long as it's comfortable.
Allowing the music to guide you.
Allowing yourself to release any tension with the breath.
How much can you let go in this moment?
If the mind wanders bring your focus back to your hands on your stomach or your breath.
Relax here, for as long as you can.
Readjusting your spine and lengthening if you realize that you've sagged into your posture or your chair.
Follow your inhale, and your exhale.
Continue here until the music and the audio stops then perhaps you may wish remain here in silence for a few minutes to explore your feelings, then perhaps journal your experience when you finish.
Namaste.
With presence
Caroline
©2025 Caroline Wright All Rights Reserved
Related practice:
When Life Becomes the Practice
Music, meditation, and meeting experience differently
Returning to Practice: Tense & Release (subscriber)
A guided practice for releasing held tension
