Starfish Breathing -

After a few nights with minimal sleep, I thought I would share with you what works best for me when I cannot calm my brain, my body aches, and I cannot get back to sleep. This little practice is called Starfish Breathing. It looks like this:

  

Using your hand as that Starfish, breathe in as you go up your finger, hold at the top of your finger, and breathe out as you slide down your finger. You can do this physically, tracing the outline of your finger, or just in your mind, repeating this pattern 3 times.

Sometimes if my mind continues to race, I will add a prayer to this tracing – “Please Bless (inhale), hold, My mind to slow down (exhale).” Or, “I am grateful for, A nice warm bed.”

Or even, breathe into the pain, exhale the pain.

Works - most of the time!