How to Stay Present During Your Day

There is no shortage of distractions today especially if you’re an online biz owner or entrepreneur, so here are some quick tips using our breath to help you stay present throughout your day.

How to add presence when you wake up:

• As soon as you wake up, before reaching for your phone to check your text messages, email, or social media take three breaths. Inhale counting to four, holding for four, exhaling for four, and holding for four again before repeating. This technique is called “box breathing” and is a great way to help us slow down. This allows me to take a few seconds before immediately having my brain start problem solving.

• If you have time to create a morning routine, I highly recommend doing so. I recommend starting slow and allowing for maybe 10 - 15 minutes of extra time in the morning so you can sustainably build up to a longer routine. I started my morning routine probably around 5 years ago and it continues to be a vital part of my day. It prevents me from running around like a chicken with its head cutoff rushing into the day, and clears out the clutter that that sometimes accumulate. Stay tuned for a more in depth look at how to build your own morning routine.

Phone Breaths:

Wait what?

• Throughout the day as you go to automatically reach for your phone because let’s be real, it happens to all of us–I often grab my phone and before I know it I’m already a dozen scrolls into Instagram and I can’t remember why I unlocked my phone in the first place. For a vid version of this see my tiktok.

• STOP.

• PAUSE.

• BREATHE. (3 times)

• Why are you unlocking your phone?

• Do you need to?

• How can you be intentional as you use your phone?

How to Not Stress Spiral:

• Feeling a little stressed because of a looming deadline or imposter syndrome has flared up?
  
  Breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 7, and exhale for 8. Repeat a few times until you feel your heart and mind relax. If you need support moving through this I highly recommend this meditation on Insight Timer.
  
  This breathing pattern helps us to move from fight for flight (the reaction that often happens when we feel stressed out) into rest and digest mode. The meditation linked above has been extremely helpful to me in moments of intense anxiety and panic and I hope it can provide a sense of calm for you too.

• If you’re feeling scattered and are having a hard time focusing take a few moments to breath into your belly. Inhaling fully and pushing out our belly as much as we can. Exhaling entirely squeezing out all of the air in our belly.
  
  On the next inhale notice how your ribs feel on your inhale, can you create space between your ribs? Exhale and feel your body relax.
  
  On the next inhale breathe in to your back body, creating space between your shoulder blades and then relaxing on the exhale.
  
  Last breath breath into your chest, filling up your lungs as much as you can, broadening your chest like a lion. Exhale and relax.

Staying present before going to bed

Similarly to our morning suggestion, how can you create some non-tech time before bed? I’ve read recommendations to turn off tech 30 - 60 minutes before you head to sleep. Does that mean reading a book? Doing some journaling or drawing? How can you unwind from your day without the blue light of your phone on your face?

And once you’re laying in bed, can you allow each breath to bring attention to your body as you do a body scan?

Inhale to bring attention to the top of your head, exhale and feel all the muscles on your skull relax.

Inhale to feel your face, and exhale relaxing the muscles between your furrowed brow, and releasing your tongue from the roof of your mouth.

Inhaling, feeling the air in your windpipe and exhaling relaxing your entire neck.

Continue this exercise until you reach your toes (if you make it that far haha).

I hope these breathing techniques are helpful and bring some extra presence and calm to your day. If you’re interested in learning more breathing techniques I recommend checking out this book “How to Breathe” by Ashley Neese. AND if you’re looking for more self care tips and how to create your custom self care routine, I’d love if you checked out my FREE “What the Crap is Self Care?!” workbook here.