115 Softening Into Stillness: A Short Breath Meditation for Ease and Support

Take a quiet moment for yourself with this gentle, 10-minute breath meditation designed to help you soften into stillness, whether today feels joyful, overwhelming, lonely, or simply full.

With two gentle Breathwork styles, this guided practice helps calm your nervous system, ease tension, and bring you back home to yourself.

Perfect for Christmas Day, the festive season, or any moment when life feels loud and your body needs support.
 If you’re ready for personal guidance or one-to-one Breathwork sessions, you can reach me at carlykillen.com

 May this practice offer you steadiness, comfort, and a soft place to land; wherever and however today finds you.

Thanks for listening to Rooted In Presence

If you’d like to get in touch with a question about today’s episode or find out how I can support you with coaching, here’s how to reach me:
📧 Email: carlykillenpt@gmail.com
📱 Instagram: @thestrongbonescoach

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Thank you for being here, and I look forward to supporting you on your journey to strength, health, and confidence! 💪🦴✨

Transcript

Carly: 0:46

Welcome to Rooted in Presents, and a warm hello to you. If you are joining me on this Christmas Day Edition. Wherever you are today, whatever this date means or doesn't mean in your world, you are welcome. For some, perhaps today is a joyful day, and for some maybe it's tender, and perhaps for others, it's simply another day. So, however you are, however you are showing up today. I just want to offer you a moment of calm, a pocket of presence you can return to, even if everything around you feels full fast, or perhaps emotionally charged. Today's practice will be simple and soothing. I'll be guiding you through a breathwork meditation with extended exhales and gentle breath awareness to help your body settle, soften, and feel supported from the inside out. So if you're ready, find a comfortable place to sit or lie down, or just listen as you move around your day. But if you are driving or doing something that requires your full attention. I advise you to return when you are able to be fully present. This is a time for you. Let's begin to find in your space when you are safe and comfortable, and gently allow your eyes to close or lower your gaze if that feels better. And take a moment to notice. The weight of your body, the support beneath you. The places where your breath is already moving without effort and you don't need to change anything yet, just notice. And if you're arriving here with stress and noise or emotion, you are welcome exactly as you are. So we'll start with a very gentle breath pattern to help you settle your nervous system, the extended exhale. So just allowing your next breath to complete, allowing your next exhale to land. And then just take an inhale slowly and softly through your nose, and as you reach the top of that breath, simply exhale slowly through the mouth. Just allowing yourself to take a little longer than the inhale, and that's all. No forcing, no counting required. Just the invitation of the exhale to naturally lengthen. So let's continue the next inhale. Allowing your breath to rise gently and the exhale slower, longer, so allowing something inside you to soften. And if it helps, imagine you are letting the breath fall out of your body like a slow sigh each exhale telling your system it's safe to be here. So staying with that breath. Gentle inhale. Longer, slower, exhale, and if you find your mind wandering, that's okay. Just come back to the breath. Just focus on the length of your exhale. This feeling that inhale, exhaling long and soft, and feeling the weight of your shoulders. Allowing your jaw to unclench. Perhaps you notice a loosening in the belly, even just a tiny amount, you are doing beautifully. Let's take that through a few more rounds together. Gentle inhale. Exhaling, just allow that noise to melt away. Breathing in, calm, exhale, just releasing the pressure of the day. Notice, allow your breath to return with natural rhythm. No shaping, no controlling, just witnessing your breath. Notice where the breath moves in your body. How does it move through your ribs, your chest, your belly. Just notice that inhale. Does that feel cool, warm, deep, or perhaps shallow? Just notice that space inside you starting to open. Now bring your attention to your exhale. Has that changed through its cycle, through the body? Perhaps it feels warmer than the inhale. Perhaps you notice a further softening. Perhaps you're starting to feel calmer than when you started, so just keep noticing your breath. If you notice emotion arising, allow that. If that feels safe for you, if you become aware of stillness, just see if you can be with that, and if nothing seems to be changing. Allow that to allow what wants to arrive to be here and allow it to leave just as easily. Your only job is to stay with yourself kindly, gently, without any expectation. So now as we bring this practice to a close, take a final slow breath in and allow the slow, soft, and hurried release of the exhale. And perhaps you would like to close this practice with a moment of gratitude. No pressure, no need to search to simply acknowledge that you paused, that you breathed, that you showed up for yourself today. And thank you for taking this time for choosing presence, even for just a few moments and however you feel today. I hope this practice has given you a little more space within your mind and your body, a little more steadiness to meet whatever comes next. And if you feel like you would like more support either through one-to-one breath work or guidance crafted to your midlife season, you're always welcome to reach out. You can contact me through my website or message me directly, however this day finds you. I'm wishing you ease, grounding, and a gentle few days ahead. So until next time, may you meet yourself with Compassion, walk with Presence, and remember, you already carry everything you need.