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Before you start any new task, it helps to pause for a moment to clear your mind and regain your equilibrium.
This is an easy mind-clearing exercise that can be practised wherever you happen to be. Your breathing is like an interface between your conscious mind and your unconscious physical processes; you can decide if you want to take a deep breath, for example, or slow your breathing down. When your breathing slows down, other physical processes that are not under your conscious control, like your heartbeat, can also slow down – as can your thoughts.
This exercise uses your breathing as a key to influencing these unconscious processes. I taught it to my NLP Practitioner students, and also used it sometimes as the beginning of a hypnotic induction with my clients.
- Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. You don’t have to change your breathing in any way at all, although you may find that in a short while it shifts into a more relaxed pattern by itself.
- If you get any ‘mental chatter’, just let it happen. Left to itself, it will calm down.
- As you stay focused on your breathing, you will find you notice certain sensations more than usual. Notice how the air you breathe in is cooler than the air you breathe out.
- Each time you breathe in, let your attention follow each in-breath a little deeper down inside.
- When you are ready to come back, open your eyes. Take a moment or two to notice how refreshed you feel.
© 2026, Andy Smith. All rights reserved.