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Covid-19 HSE Clinical Guidance and Evidence

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Breathing Exercise using a rectangle

Involves: Sitting down, breathing and looking at rectangle in your space

Time it takes: Approx 1 minute and 20 seconds

Audience:  Busy colleagues who have little time or are not familiar with mindfulness exercises

Preparation:  Practice reading the exercise once or twice through

What people say about this exercise: One said “I really liked it” and another said “[it was] a nice respite from the normal morning frenzy”

This practice is a breathing exercise that you can simply use throughout your busy day.

  1. When you are ready get into a comfortable seated position.
  2. Take three deep breaths. Breathing in and breathing out.
  3. Look around the room or the place that you’re in and find something that is the shape of a rectangle. 
  4. Look at the rectangle for a moment. Then as you look at it, breathe in for the short part, pause, and breath out for the long part and pause
  5. Repeat this three times
  6. When you are ready take one closing deep breath and release.

If you find the time, you can do this at any time throughout the day.

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