A Morning for Moving and Breathing
Designed by BearmoreSome mornings, you’re awake, but your body still feels half-asleep.
Give your body a chance to catch up with you. A short mobility session, two rounds of breathing (the second is box breathing), then a few minutes of meditation.
The runsheet
Stretching hips and shoulders
StretchingStart the morning with light, easy mobility, it’s not a flat out workout. Ten minutes to remind the body it’s awake without elevating the heart rate. Hips, shoulders, ankles, all gentle movements.
10 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing stretching before breath work
This can help because body awareness and any relaxation can enhance more complex breathing practices.
Nasal breathing
Breath workAn energising round of nasal breathing for about ten minutes, and you can run it with music behind it. The point is the conscious control; the noise in your head should start to quieten as the session goes on.
10 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing breath work before breath counting
This can help because regulated breathing can make simple counting feel more grounded and rhythmic.
Box breathing for seven minutes
Breath countingBox breathing in fours: four counts in, four held, four out, four held. Sandeman (who this Burst was inspired by) has done this every morning for years and calls it the best thing for the mind. Seven minutes is enough.
7 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing breath counting before open awareness
This is an excellent pairing because single-point focus on breath widens into open attention like smoothly zooming a lens out.
Meditation
Open awarenessClose the breath session with a few quiet minutes of just sitting. Ten minutes with no breath protocol running, no agenda, just noticing whatever is passing through your awareness. This is where the results of all your breathwork can be noticed.
10 min activityTime well spent.
51m spent doing something good for yourself.
The breakdown
Burst evaluation
Wellbeing focus
About this Burst
The routine is light movement to wake-up the body, breathwork to bring the energy up, a box-breath for the mind, then a meditation to give some space to notice what the breathwork did. The practice is the controlled structure of the breath rather than the duration, so do not skip the slow exhale. Breathing on purpose as a tool rather than something the body just does on its own.