BOX BREATH: A Practice for Releasing Anxiety + Stress
Somatic Study Guide: Come get out of your head + drop into deeper connection with your body through this body centered breath practice that can help you lower anxiety and stress.
Breath is one of the quickest and most accessible ways I’ve discovered that I can consistently turn to to get out of my head and drop into deeper connection with my body in any moment, anywhere, for any length of time. With just a few focused breaths, I’ve found that I can shift my energy and find a new way of feeling that brings me into the present moment so I can realign with my more authentic way of thinking, communicating, expressing, and feeling both emotions and sensations.
THE BOX BREATH
The box breath is known by a few names. Four-square breathing, 4-4-4-4 or square breath. I like this breath for when I’m feeling very heightened energy that feels airy, fast, ungrounded, anxious, or stressful. It’s a style of breathing that holds both structure and fluidity. The structure for me is helpful to help me quickly shift into focus if I’m feeling scattered or redirect my attention if I’m hyper-fixated on something that is taking me out of connection with myself in a balanced way.
Box Breath can help with:
Bringing a state of calm, pease, ease, and relief
Downregulating our nervous system
Providing structure and discipline to mindfulness practices
Increasing our capacity to take on more
Slowly guide the body into taking up more space, expanding, and managing discomfort
Gently increase joy in a sustainable way
Remind us what it feels like to be embodied
Release anxiety, stress, fear, grief, panic, or anger
Support the body with detoxifying and clearing out stagnant energy
And more
BREATH WITH ME
You can watch the recording and move through the guided practice with us in our Arketa Studio. Video is accessible for free or you can make a self-selected donation.
DROP IN + LET’S BREATH
We will be holding SOMATIC STUDY frequently live on Sundays from 10AM - 10:30AM PT to explore guided practices together and collectively lead shifting how we feel and exist in our bodies and connect with the world outside of us so that we can all live more present, connective, and pleasure centered lives.
A Place to Become:
We’re charging ahead with the vision to open our physical space this coming summer! We’ve begun the process to make this possible and your help and support will be an intricate part of making this a reality. This studio will be unlike any other place you’ve experienced and will be a place for this work, our collective groups, and greater visions to evolve, become, and belong. Each month we’ll share more about the progress, plans, and sticking points so that you can be involved every step of the way. Profits, donations, and contributions collected through Self Study will go towards the bringing this space from a dream into reality.
Love this work? Help us open our physical space summer 2025!
Join the Sensory Playspace community on Substack and subscribe to receive posts directly to your inbox.
Subscribe here:
Contribute to the Go Fund Me: https://gofund.me/fd148755
Book a session: http://selfstudylab.com/sessions
Attend an event, workshop or lab: http://selfstudylab.com/events