RitzyRambles

Nervous System Practices

Small practices, a few minutes each

Short practices for the middle of an ordinary day, when you're wired but tired and nothing will switch off. Ninety seconds to five minutes each. No equipment, no app, nothing to perform, only your attention.

The Physiological Sigh
Breath5 minutes a day

The Physiological Sigh

Two inhales through the nose, one long exhale through the mouth. Five minutes a day, the dose the study used.

In a Stanford study, people who practiced a few minutes of this kind of slow breathing each day reported a bigger lift in mood than people who spent the same time meditating, over a month. Five minutes a day is the dose the study used, so it is the dose here. No app, no cushion required.

Tap for five sighs · about 50 seconds · a taste of the five-minute practice

Extended Exhale Breathing
Breath3 minutes

Extended Exhale Breathing

Inhale for a count of four, exhale for a count of six. Longer out than in is the whole instruction.

A longer exhale is linked with your body's rest-and-digest state. Researchers describe the effect as vagally mediated. Three minutes, whenever the day gets loud.

Tap to begin · in for four, out for six · tap the circle to finish

Orienting to the Room
Somatic90 seconds

Orienting to the Room

Slowly turn your head and name what you see. Your eyes are always scanning. Give them something safe to land on.

Turn your head slowly, left, then right, slower than feels natural. Let your eyes land on colour, texture, distance. There is nothing to achieve, only to notice.