Tweak Your Week: Box Breathing
Tips, tricks and tweaks to help founders each week. Commit to trying one tweak each day for a week. Be your own guinea pig. You’ll be surprised what a difference these tiny experiments can make.
Never mind the past and forget about the future. Instead, get yourself into the present as often as you can because that’s the only place you can actually “be”.
Good morning Upsiders!
It’s so easy to waste time and energy dwelling on things that have already happened or worrying about things that might. This week’s tweak is all about bringing us into the present, which is the only place we can operate.
Box breathing is a simple technique that draws your attention to your breath, relaxes you, and helps you focus on what is, rather than what was or what might be.
Use it whenever you feel the need to refocus on the here and now.
Here’s how to do it:
Sit or lie comfortably with your eyes closed and your body relaxed.
Take a moment to notice the natural rhythm of your breathing.
Now, imagine a square in your mind’s eye.
This is the box.
You are going to trace the lines of the square with your breathing.
Each side represents a count of four.
Breathe in through your nose for four.
Hold for four.
Breathe out through your mouth for four.
Hold for four.
Repeat 4 times or for as long as you feel you need!
Give it a red-hot go with at least one box breathing practice each day this week.
Make it easy for yourself by setting aside a specific time to practise each day. It can take as little as one minute, which gives you 480 possible time-slots to choose from in an eight-hour workday.
Tell us how you go. Share your experiences - ‘mazing or meh - with the Upside community.
We’re all a work in progress.
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