A great way to relax your body/mind and take a few moments for yourself is through a head-to-toe body scan and relaxation meditation. You should work through this slowly and deliberately. This process involves focusing on each part of your body, starting from your head and working your way down to your toes, releasing any tension as you go.

Get into a comfortable position in your chair. You can remove your shoes if you wish, loosen any tight clothing. Legs uncrossed with feet flat on the floor.
Close your eyes if you feel comfortable doing so. This helps you focus on the sensations in your body instead of other things around you.
Settle into the space you are in. Feel the weight of your body being supported by your chair. Notice any sounds, sensations or smells and just let them be.
Take a few deep breaths, feeling the air enter your nose as you inhale and your belly gently rising and falling with each breath. Keep your breathing slow and controlled, 6 second inhales and exhales. Breathe from the belly, not the chest, let your abdomen expand and contract with each breath. Visualize a balloon in your abdomen that inflates and deflates with each breath.
Observe sensations in your body, acknowledge them and gently breathe through them, letting them go. If you have any uncomfortable sensations, tightness, pain, pressure, focus on it, breathe into it and visualize it leaving your body through your breath and evaporating into the air.
Start with your head and face. Soften your forehead with the eyes lightly closed. Think about the lines in your forehead smoothing out. Let your jaw relax, teeth come apart, tongue and throat are relaxed, releasing any tension in the mouth and jaw area. Your entire face is soft and relaxed. Breathe.
Now, focus on your neck by turning your head as far to the right as you can without feeling any discomfort and holding it for 3-5 seconds, then release and breathe. Repeat on the other side. Come back to center and soften.
Raise your shoulders up toward your ears, hold for 3-5 seconds, then release and take a breath. Repeat. Relax your shoulders down, releasing any tension that you feel.
Shift your attention to your chest, ribcage and upper back area. Let go of any tension that you are holding in these areas. Take 5 deep breaths and with each exhale, soften the chest and upper back.
Move your attention to your arms. Focus on your biceps, elbows and forearms. Ensure that your arms are resting softly at the sides of your torso. Direct your breath there to release any discomfort.
Now move to your hands. Wiggle your fingers and then rest your hands on your thighs, fingers are loosely spread apart. Relax and breathe.
Now focus on your belly, pelvis and lower back. We hold a lot in this area, take some deep breaths and allow your belly to soften, lower back and pelvis softening at the same time.
Moving to the hips, buttocks and thighs, allow your body to sink into the chair. Adjust your legs if your thighs are tensed, you can move your feet away from your body to release any discomfort. If you feel any distress, you can flex the muscles and release them. Take several breaths.
Next focus on the knees and the lower leg including your ankles. Make adjustments as needed so that your knees feel relaxed and your lower legs are softening. Ankles are neutral--not flexed. Adjust your legs, moving them closer or away from your body where needed so that you are relaxed.
Finally moving to your feet and toes. Notice any tingling in your toes, as well as sensing the parts of your foot that are touching the floor like your heel or the ball of your foot. Wiggle your toes and then settle them so that they are spread apart, lightly touching to floor. Think about the soles of your feet being grounded and breathe.
Relax here, focusing on your breath. Taking 6 second inhales and then 6 second exhales. Feel the weight of your body in your space, releasing tension wherever needed.
When you feel ready, start to wiggle your toes and fingers, stretch your limbs and slowly blink your eyes open.

The purpose of deep breathing is to get the respiratory system to function at its best. Respiration helps to purify the body. Deep breathing improves blood and body fluid circulation and disposal of carbon dioxide. Have you ever watched how a baby breathes? Babies breathe all the way down into their bellies—taking very deep breaths. As we age, our breath becomes shallow for a variety of reasons such as pollution in the air or wearing restricting clothing.

I want to share with you some exercises that will help you relearn how to breathe deep into the belly to the lowest part of the lungs where the blood is richest in oxygen. Deep breathing is important because the oxygen that you take into your lungs goes out to every part of your body. When you are breathing properly, it will bring good health and can be the best preventative treatment for conditions like high blood pressure and asthma.

The average person breathes 15 times per minute (that is 15 inhales and exhales). Slowing down the breath will slow down the heart rate, reduce stress and slow the aging process, leading to a longer life. The goal of these exercises is to bring attention to your breathing and work toward breathing 5 times per minute (5 inhales and 5 exhales). Keep practicing until it becomes natural.

Belly Breathing (abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing)

Place your right hand over the center of your chest, and your left hand over the center of your belly and take a slow deep breath in. If you notice that the hand on your belly rises higher than the hand on your chest, you have been successful in drawing the breath deeply into the depths of your lungs. If that isn’t what happened for you take a minute or two to experiment, be sure to empty your lungs fully on your out-breath to encourage the next breath in to deepen and cause your stomach to rise.
Exhale through your mouth, letting the breath out slowly and completely. When you feel that your lungs are nearly empty, pull your stomach in a little to squeeze the very last air from your lungs.
Repeat four times, until you have completed five cycles of deep refreshing abdominal breathing.

Once you are comfortable with this breathing technique you can stop using your hands, and you might like to add some words to the exercise to help you feel a sense of calmness.

Counting Breaths

Counting Breaths is a simple technique that occupies your mind by keeping it focused on counting every time you exhale. Placing your full attention on your outgoing breath, you may notice that things start to feel less rushed and more peaceful.

Take a few deep breaths and let tension drain away from your shoulders and concentrate on breathing steadily, slowly and quietly.
Count "one" to yourself as you exhale, and the next time you exhale, count "two", on the next exhalation count "three" and onwards until you reach the number five.
Begin a new cycle, starting again with "one" on your next exhalation. Watch your breath and try and breathe deeply and steadily until you have counted up to five and then begin again.
Repeat this cycle five times, or more if you feel comfortable.

The Calming Breath

The power in this particular technique lies in counting out an extended exhalation which feels very calming and also helps slow your heart rate if it's racing away due to stress or anxiety.

Part your lips slightly and curl your tongue up so it's resting on the roof of your mouth, behind your top teeth (the place you put your tongue to make the sound of the letter "L"). Take a deep breath in through the nose for the count of four, then hold your breath for the count of two, and release slowly through slightly pursed lips for the count of eight.

The calming breath is also useful if you feel angry or irritated, it can quickly calm and cool your mind and help you gain a sense of clarity and control.

Cooling Breath

This breathing exercise has a similar effect to the way dogs cool themselves down by panting, though you'll be glad to know it looks more discreet and you can do it without anyone noticing.

Part your lips slightly and curl your tongue up so it's resting on the roof of your mouth, behind your top teeth (the place you put your tongue to make the sound of the letter "l"). Now breathe in slowly through your slightly open mouth, and feel the cool sensation of the incoming air on the underside of your tongue. Hold the breath for a moment or two and then exhale slowly through your nose. You can repeat this until you feel cool, calm and collected.

What is the best thing about these exercises? You can do them anytime and anywhere! Below is a really cool website where you can go into a virtual breathing room. Check it out.

www.doasone.org

Happy breathing!