You just touch it lightly and keep it there.

You can do this exercise in any position, standing, lying, sitting, but if you're seated, it's good to keep your back straight and your feet on the floor.

Okay, so in this exercise, you're going to breathe in through your nose quietly, and you're going to blow air out forcefully through your mouth, like making a whoosh sound and pushing your lips out.

I'm going to describe this to you, and then I'm going to demonstrate it for you, and then we'll do it together.

So the exercise begins by letting all the air out through your mouth.

You close your mouth, breathe in through your nose quietly to a count of four, hold your breath for a count of seven, and then blow air out through your mouth to a count of eight.

And then you'll do that for a total of four breath cycles, and that's it.

It takes all of about 30 seconds, so there's no excuse for not doing it.

And this is a practice, it's not a one-time thing.

This is something, I'm going to tell you how to do it, but it's something you're going to want to practice.

Okay, so watch me, I'm just going to, I'll demonstrate it for you, and then afterwards we'll do it together.

So it looks like this.

That's all.

It's a little hard for me to come back and talk to you after I do that because this produces a very pleasant altered state of consciousness that I would rather stay in.

You may not get that the first time you do it, but it's one of the rewards of practicing this.

Okay, so let's try this all together.

I'm going to count.

What limits you is how long you can hold your breath.

So you have to get enough air in on the four to last you for the seven.

I'm going to count for you at a moderate rate that you should find comfortable.

Okay, so let all the air out through your mouth.

Close your mouth in through your nose, 2, 3, 4, hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, close in, 2, 3, 4, hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, close in, 2, 3, 4, hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, one more in, 2, 3, 4, hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Good.

Now just breathe normally and notice how you feel.

Some of you may feel a little lightheaded after doing that.

In fact, that's not the goal and that will disappear with practice.

Some of you may have some sense of internal relaxation.

That will become very profound as you practice this.

You have to do this at least twice a day religiously.

I do it in the morning when I get up before I do some sitting meditation.

I do it at night when I get into bed to fall asleep.

It will become a wonderful way to help you fall asleep if you get up in the middle of the night for any reason.

Get back in bed, do this, it will help you go right to sleep.

You can do it more often throughout the day, but never more than 4 breaths at one time.

But you've got to do it a minimum of twice a day.

After a month, if you're comfortable with it, increase to 8 breath cycles.

And that's the absolute maximum.

So then the practice would be 8 breath cycles twice a day.

Again, you can do it more often.

So, after 4 to 6 weeks, as you become familiar with this, start using it for things.

If somebody cuts you off in traffic, somebody says something to you that pushes your button, before you react, do this.

It's a wonderful way to help deal with cravings for whatever, cigarette, piece of candy, before you act on the craving, do the breathing exercise, by the time you get back, it will be gone.

But the really interesting changes happen after about 4 to 6 weeks of doing this regularly.

You will see wonderful changes in your body.

This slows heart rate, it lowers blood pressure, it improves digestion.

I've seen people who've had cold hands all their life who now have warm hands just as a result of doing this.

That's a sign of reducing the fight or flight response in the body.

I've seen people that have had chronic digestive problems that have disappeared just as a result of doing this.

I've seen people who've stopped atrial fibrillation from doing this breathing exercise.

It is a fantastic thing.