Episode 5: Finding Balance

Episode 6: Energize & Activate

This week we are going to change things up a little bit. Over these past 5 episodes, we have focused on down-regulating breathing techniques and meditations. These practices can help calm you down and relax your nervous system by deepening and slowing down the breath while lengthening our exhales. This down-regulation has been show to lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, as well as decrease release of stress hormones in the body due to activating the part of our nervous system in charge of “resting and digesting”. Today I want to introduce an activating breathing technique to up-regulate your nervous system. This can be a tool to used to when you are feeling tired, low energy or want to wake your system up and get things moving. This breathing technique is meant to temporarily activate your stress response, triggering a release of adrenaline to help bring alertness, increased energy, and sharper mental focus to the body. As always, make sure you feel safe and secure in any practice before doing so. Please use caution here if you know you have any cardiovascular, respiratory or circulatory health concerns or a history of severe trauma that causes panic attacks. As always, take what works, use what feels good, and leave the rest. I appreciate you being here!! Follow this and my storytelling on Substack: https://substack.com/@katiescoggins [https://substack.com/@katiescoggins] Intro Music: Music: Apollo 11 by Wanheda https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508 [https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508] License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11 [https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11] Music promoted by Audio Library: https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273 [https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273] Meditation/Breathwork music: Music: Eclipse by Onycs https://soundcloud.com/onycsmusic [https://soundcloud.com/onycsmusic] License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://www.audiolibrary.com.co/onycs/eclipse [https://www.audiolibrary.com.co/onycs/eclipse] Music promoted by Audio Library: https://youtu.be/aG5X40oWhag [https://youtu.be/aG5X40oWhag] Get full access to A Daily Pause at katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe [https://katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 5: Finding Balance

Today we’ll work with another practice that also down-regulates, but this time with the lens of finding balance. Balance in the body with breath control and balance in the mind with our shift in focus. This practice of mindfulness can help interrupt any anxious or distracting cycles in your mind, help clear mental clutter, and help to better concentration & decision making. Together we’ll do a short visualization getting deeper awareness into the body, followed by a breathing technique known as box-breathing. This consists of equal counts of inhales and exhales with equal counts of breath holds in between each inhale and exhale. The counted breath in this practice not only gives your mind something specific to focus on, the counted rhythm of your breath, but this pace of deeper, slower breathing also allows your system to gradually calm down. So when you’re ready, find a comfortable position for your body & let’s get started… As always, take what works, use what feels good, and leave the rest. I appreciate you being here!! Follow this and my storytelling on Substack: https://substack.com/@katiescoggins [https://substack.com/@katiescoggins] Intro Music: Music: Apollo 11 by Wanheda https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508 [https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508] License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11 [https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11] Music promoted by Audio Library: https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273 [https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273] Meditation/Breathwork music: Music: space by Rexlambo https://soundcloud.com/rexlambo [https://soundcloud.com/rexlambo] License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/rexlambo/space [https://audiolibrary.com.co/rexlambo/space] Music promoted by Audio Library: https://youtu.be/0ZF1bQszHFk [https://youtu.be/0ZF1bQszHFk] Get full access to A Daily Pause at katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe [https://katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 4: Release & Let Go

This week I’ll share a few tools to help release stress and anxiety from the body. I want this to be something that you can use any time throughout your day when you find that you’d like to relax a little bit more. The first tool I’ll share is called the physiologic sigh: a science backed breathing method that can help quickly reduce stress or anxiety as it arises. This breathing practice helps the body move from a fight-or-flight sympathetic nervous system response into a rest & digest parasympathetic nervous system response. It consists of taking a deep breath in through the nose, followed by a shorter, sharp breath in through the nose (forcing the lungs to more fully expand). Then, with an open mouth, sighing and exhaling until the lungs are fully empty. We’ll do this practice together. Find a comfortable position wherever you are. Seated, lying down, standing up & join me in the audio above As always, take what works, use what feels good and leave the rest. I appreciate you being here!! Follow this and my storytelling on Substack: https://substack.com/@katiescoggins [https://substack.com/@katiescoggins] Intro Music: Music: Apollo 11 by Wanheda https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508 [https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508] License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11 [https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11] Music promoted by Audio Library: https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273 [https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273] Meditation/Breathwork music: Beyond by Onycs https://soundcloud.com/onycsmusic [https://soundcloud.com/onycsmusic] Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/onycs/beyond [https://audiolibrary.com.co/onycs/beyond] Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/mBQ2tunOn-U [https://youtu.be/mBQ2tunOn-U] Get full access to A Daily Pause at katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe [https://katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 3: Heart Activation

his week I want us to take this all one step deeper with a practice of activating, or feeling into, our hearts. To become more aware of the regenerative or rejuvenating feelings that arise in our chest when we’re feeling love or joy or gratitude. You might be familiar with the expressions “my heart is bursting with love”, or “that made our heart sing with joy”, “I’m feeling FULL of gratitude”. These are expressions noting the feelings we feel in our body when we feel love, happiness, and gratitude. As always, take what works, use what feels good and leave the rest. I appreciate you being here!! Follow this and my storytelling on Substack: https://substack.com/@katiescoggins [https://substack.com/@katiescoggins] Intro Music: Music: Apollo 11 by Wanheda https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508 [https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508] License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11 [https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11] Music promoted by Audio Library: https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273 [https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273] Meditation/Breathwork music: Mountains by Scandinavianz https://soundcloud.com/scandinavianz [https://soundcloud.com/scandinavianz] Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/scandinavianz/mountains [https://audiolibrary.com.co/scandinavianz/mountains] Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/QEdhlAJp9hU [https://youtu.be/QEdhlAJp9hU] Get full access to A Daily Pause at katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe [https://katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Episode 2: Grounding Down

This week I want to take us to through a practice of grounding. This practice can be used for moments when you feel stuck in anxiety, or stress or are feeling generally distracted. It can be for any time you want to get out of your head and back into the present moment. Back to where you are right here, right now on the Earth. I first want to teach a new type of breath: It’s called oceanic breath or breath with sound. This is a gentle and controlled breath. To start, I want you to imagine (or physically do so) bringing the palm of your hand just a few inches in front of your mouth, like you’re holding up a small mirror. Next, you’ll take an inhale, and as you exhale, breathe as if you are trying to fog up the mirror. Notice the gentle contraction of your throat that makes this sensation of fogging the mirror. This is the breath with sound. The Oceanic breath. As you continue with a natural breath, keep that same sensation in the throat with your mouth closed for the inhale AND the exhale. Remove your hand from your face and take a few breaths here like this. (BREATHE!) Notice the sound it makes in the back of your throat, and see how this sound draws your attention inward. As always, take what works, use what feels good and leave the rest. I appreciate you being here!! Follow this and my storytelling on Substack: https://substack.com/@katiescoggins [https://substack.com/@katiescoggins] Intro Music: Music: Apollo 11 by Wanheda https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508 [https://soundcloud.com/user-724527508] License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11 [https://audiolibrary.com.co/wanheda/apollo-11] Music promoted by Audio Library: https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273 [https://youtu.be/Ot9187kyNpM?t=273] Breathwork/Meditation Music: Music: memories of the sea by Rexlambo https://soundcloud.com/rexlambo [https://soundcloud.com/rexlambo] License: Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://audiolibrary.com.co/rexlambo/memories-of-the-sea [https://audiolibrary.com.co/rexlambo/memories-of-the-sea] Music promoted by Audio Library: https://youtu.be/wjgpQXfY4O8 [https://youtu.be/wjgpQXfY4O8] Get full access to A Daily Pause at katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe [https://katiescoggins.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]