5-Minute Breathing Meditation for Sleep

Hi, my name is Chloe Freytag and welcome to "Get Healthy UTV Meditations". Today, we're doing a five minute breathing meditation to help improve sleep. So sleep is such an important way for our body to recover. When we work our muscles, when we work our mind even, if we don't take the time to get into that deep restful state, our body doesn't recover as well as it could. So using this technique we're going to do today, can help you to improve your sleep to get deeper and more restful in the way that you relax and you sleep and it doesn't have to be done right before bed for it to work. This is something that you can do throughout the day to just keep yourself calm and keep your body in like a very relaxed place or it can be something you utilize right before you go to bed. So you decide when, it works either way. We will do this sitting down. So if you wanna sit crossed legged that works, if you wanna sit on a pillow or blanket, maybe you're about to go to bed and you're sitting on the side of your bed that works. Or sitting in a chair, however is comfortable for you to lift up through your spine. And we're working this breath through our nostrils. So believe it or not you always have one nostril that's dominant. There's one that kind of takes in more air naturally than the other. This is just something that happens on its own. We don't have to think about it or create it our bodies do it naturally. However, one nostril improves energy and one improves relaxation and sleep. So when we do want to bring ourselves into a more restful place, it's useful to utilize left nostril breathing because our left nostril is all about getting into that relaxed place, helps you to improve your sleep to rest deeper, to be calmer. So today we're going to work on left nostril breathing. Now you can keep your eyes open as I explain this, and once I do we'll close down and you'll follow along. But for here your left hand will stay resting either on your knee or your lap, wherever it's comfortable. Your right hand will come up. You can use either your thumb or your pointer to block your right nostril off and you'll breathe in and out only through the left nostril. Just breathing through there. We'll do this for about a minute and we'll rest in between with a couple of deep breaths through our nose, both nostrils. So I'll guide you through this and cue you when your hand comes up and when it comes down. All you have to do is breathe. Yeah. So find your way into your comfortable seat, lift up your chest. And now you can either decide to close your eyes down or to softly gaze towards the floor. Starting with a big deep inhale in. Let all the air go. And then bring your right hand up to block off your right nostril, either using your pointer or your thumb. Keeping your eyes closed start to breathe only through that left side. Big deep breaths in, big deep breaths ups. Now you'll notice if this side feels a little clogged or stuck, you can open up the right one a little bit. So it's not totally blocked off. But the idea is the majority of our air is flowing only through that left nostril. Keep breathing long and deep here. Full inhales in through that left side, full exhales out through the left nostril. Take about two more breaths here on this left side. Breathing at your pace take your last inhale in. And slowly exhale the air out. Let your right hand fall down back onto your knee, keep your eyes closed and just breathe through both nostrils for a few breaths, breathing in, breathing out. Already feeling that state of relaxation in the body, in the mind. Take a few more breaths. Take one more deep inhale in through both nostrils. Exhale the air all the way out. Once more bring that right hand up using your pointer or your thumb to block off the right nostril. Only breathe through the left side long and deep. Noticing how this second round of breath may become a little bit more smooth. So it felt kind of blocked or clogged at the beginning. The idea is the longer we breathe through that side the more we open that pathway and therefore open the pathways that produce relaxation in the body, that produce that calm energy that we want to create when we're sleeping. Take a few more breaths on this side. Take one more deep inhale through the left nostril. Exhale the air out. Let the right hand rest back down onto the knee or the lap for a couple breaths just in and out through both nostrils. Noticing of how you breathe through both nostrils feels different. Be very aware in presence of your breath. Just take a few more deep breaths in completely exhaling the air out every time. Taking one more deep full inhale in. Exhale let the air go. We'll take our last round of that left nostril breath. Bring the right hand back up blocking off your right nostril with either your pointer or your thumb. Just breathing through that left side full deep breaths in. Big nice complete exhales out, opening up that relaxation response in the body and the mind. Calming ourselves down with each breath we take. Take one more deep inhale in. Exhale out let the air go. Let the right hand fall back to the knee or the lap once more a couple of breaths through your nose, feeling that peace, that serenity this breath has created preparing you for a restful deep sleep. Softly you can open your eyes back up. And that concludes our meditation for today. Thank you so much for meditating with us here at "Get Healthy UTV". Be sure to check out all of our other meditations as well. We've got a large variety of options for you and know that this is something you can do at any time during the day, only takes a few minutes. See you around. Thank you so much. Have a beautiful sleep.