Breathing Exercise Script: All Steps! (Mindfulness & Relaxation)

What is the ideal breathing exercise? What are the steps? Here you will find a clear script with all the steps to do the (mindfulness) breathing exercise. All exercises are brought together here into one complete text. Read along…

Why the breathing exercise is so good to do

• Breathing (Prana) is life energy. Indeed, all life energy is just here and now, with a simple breath! Even one conscious breath allows us to bring our attention to the present moment , for breathing can only take place in ‘the now’. You can only be aware of one breath. The rest is past or future. So, by doing a breathing exercise, you are practicing moment-to-moment awareness.
• Moreover, mindful breathing is incredibly efficient. It’s just a small act. It is therefore the act by which you can evoke the greatest amount of consciousness with the least amount of effort.
• Awareness of your breath is great for calming your mind – with all its brooding. It takes attention away from thinking and creates space. One conscious breath is enough to interrupt your flow of thoughts.
• Another quality of breathing is: you don’t breathe, you experience it. The intelligence in your body is doing it. Breathing almost always happens unconsciously. It just happens. And that while breathing can actually generate an increased awareness if you start to give it attention. That is why your breath is also  the main ‘object’ for meditation. Breathing is not actually an object and does not contain an object, and is therefore suitable for creating space for change. Moreover, we are breathed by something greater than us through our hearts.

Let’s see how to do the powerful breathing exercise!

In this article you will find all breathing exercises summarized in an ultimate step-by-step plan. All instructions, steps and forces of breathing exercises are included in this. Read on…

Breathing Exercise Script: All the Steps to Mindful Breathing

1. Bring all of your attention, all of your awareness, all of your mindfulness to the breathing . Just notice your breathing.
2. Just observe your breathing. ‘ Watch ‘ it without manipulating it, and you will see that it spontaneously calms you down.
3. Notice your breathing as you inhale, and notice your breathing as you exhale. Let the breaths be as they are. There is no right or wrong when it comes to breathing. The way your body is breathing right now, it is happening now.
4. Inhale. Feel the air pass through your nose or mouth. Also be aware of the sound your breathing makes in your nose. Observe if the air you breathe is cool, warm or something in between. Follow your breath with your attention and feel the air travel to your  stomach , and feel it right there, so that your attention goes out of your mind, into your body.  Really breathe through the front of your body to your stomach. Receive life force in your body.
5. Exhale. You could observe how the air makes the return journey through your lungs and how it leaves your body. Feel and hear the air pass through your nose or mouth. Observe if the air you breathe is cool, warm, or something in between.
6. Notice the feeling in your body as the body takes in air with each inhalation. Feel that you are allowing clean air to flow throughout your body and the top of your head.
7. As you exhale, let all the air blow through you. Again, notice what your body is doing while releasing the air with each exhalation. Notice while it’s happening. There is no need to apply force to suck in air or push it out of your body. It just happens.
8. When we blow out we let go and surrender. We leave the body. Let all tension leave your body.  Let go of what wants to be released.
9. Follow your breathing. Feel the air flow in and out of your body.
10. Be aware of the rhythm of your breathing.
11. You could also observe how the muscles in your abdomen contract with each breath and how they relax with each exhalation. Notice how your chest and abdomen move with each breath. Here too, you do not have to actively manage this. It just happens naturally.
12. Constantly monitor where your breath is in your body. In and out your nose: cool air in, warm air out … Towards your chest: notice it moving and getting bigger and smaller … Then towards your belly: notice how your belly is moving through it and how it is sized is about to change … Around your belly button … Just notice.
13. With curiosity and a smile  , you can now begin to notice where your attention can focus with the greatest comfort. Is it the observations in your nose, your lungs, your chest, your stomach or anywhere else?
14. Immediately take a total of three deep breaths through your stomach, and feel it well in your stomach . Feel that you are moving clean air throughout your body and the top of your head. As you exhale, let all the air blow through you. Feel the air flow in and out of your body. Follow your breathing. Be aware of the rhythm of your breathing. Become aware of your breathing in general. For example, be aware that you can feel and hear your breathing in your nose.
15. If your attention is diverted , if you get other thoughts, or if those thoughts take you away from the exercise, that’s absolutely fine . That is quite normal. That’s what the mind does. It creates thoughts, and it wanders. If you notice that is happening, you can just observe what exactly those thoughts are. What exactly is that derivation? Don’t judge it to be right or wrong. Just observe it and very lovingly park it somewhere. Then bring your awareness and your concentration back to your breathing with a smile . When you come back, notice whether you roll back into it through an inhalation or an exhalation.
16. Note that when an inhalation has finished, it is immediately taken over by an exhalation. And notice how that is taken over by a new breath.
17. Count your breaths: in one breath you in, with two exhale and 3 breathe again. Continue like this until you get to 10. Then you start again at 1.
18. And that is really all it takes to perceive the present moment. You perceive a present moment that, when it is over, is taken over by another present moment, and then another moment, and so on. And this is how “the here and now” unfolds… You can be grateful for yourself for taking a moment to do this breathing exercise. Awareness of your breath takes attention away from the mind and creates space. One conscious breath is enough to interrupt your flow of thoughts. And you can only be aware of one breath. The rest is past or future.

The breathing exercise is good to use in any situation

You are now prepared for the next (meditative) exercise that you have chosen, but you can also see this as a separate exercise. With this exercise, you take conscious breaths before any activity, task or exercise. So always return to this exercise before doing any other exercises.

If you were to do this preparation exercise extensively prior to each exercise, it would take a very long time. So you can always do a shorter, stripped-down version of this breathing exercise that you fill in yourself. Ultimately, however, you are supposed to improvise during mindfulness exercises, without having to rely on instructions.

On your luck!