My favorite part of summer, aside from warm weather that this Australian girl absolutely relishes, is fireflies. I LOVE fireflies, and feel instantly happy and uplifted when I spot those bright little pulsing lights during evening walks with my beloved pup. It’s like a personal visual morse-code message from Mother Nature assuring me that summer is finally here. In celebration of firefly sightings, I’m sharing a breathing technique I developed for kids based on my big summer love.
Happy (almost officially) summer!
Lisa Roberts xoxo
Firefly Belly
What is Firefly Belly and how does it help? Firefly Belly is a mindful breathing that encourages slow, deep and mindful belly breaths. While people can’t actually breathe into the belly, when we take nice full breaths the belly does expand to accommodate the expansion of the lungs, ribs and diaphragm. This is referred to as belly breathing, it is helps you to slow your breath down and feel calm and relaxed.
Firefly Belly takes belly breathing to whole new level by adding creative visualization to achieve deeper levels of relaxation.
Simple steps:
Begin sitting comfortably, either in a chair with both feet flat on the floor, or in easy pose (crisscross applesauce) on the floor/yoga mat.
Sit tall, but relaxed; spine naturally erect and your shoulders and arms relaxed.
If you prefer, you may lie comfortably on your back on a yoga mat. Allow your feet to gently flop open and relax your legs.
Gently close your eyes and rest your hands on your belly.
Imagine you are a firefly, with an amazing glowing ball of light in your belly.
Imagine what color your light is. It can be any color you like, it does not have to be a typical firefly color, but any color that makes you feel happy.
There are many different species of fireflies and they glow in many different colors. You can choose any color YOU like for your firefly.
Let’s begin fireflies!
Notice your belly gently rise and fall beneath your hands.
With each breath in, your belly expands and with each breath out, it softens.
As your belly expands, imagine it filling with a colorful light.
As your belly softens, imagine the colorful light gently fading away.
With each breath in, imagine your belly filling with a bright light.
And with each breath out, light softly fades.
Imagine a colorful light, pulsing between its brightest and mildest expression with each breath.
Breathing in, your belly expands as this colorful light reaches its brightest and boldest expression.
Breathing out, belly softens as the light softly fades away.
Allow the pulsing and fading light to take you deeper and deeper into relaxation with each and every breath.
Continue breathing and imagining your beautiful, unique light glowing with each inhale. Relax into the magic and beauty of your breath with each exhale.
P.S. If you enjoy this technique, you may enjoy an mp3-download from my kid-friendly guided breathing/relaxation album, Breathe.
Comentarios