20 Connected Breaths is an excellent introduction to the Conscious Connected Breathwork process. 

It is a technique you can use to energise yourself or relieve stress throughout the day. 

It is very simple: four groups of five connected breaths – twenty breaths in total.  

Each ‘breath’ cycle includes an inhale (in-breath) and an exhale (out-breath). Here are the steps:  

1. Relax yourself as much as you can in the circumstances you find yourself in. Sit down, if possible, and make yourself comfortable. 

2. Take four connected breaths at a pace that suits you. Let the inhale merge into the exhale and the exhale merge into the inhale, and the inhale merge into the exhale.

3. Then take one big breath, filling up your whole body. Let it release like a sigh on the exhale and relax your body even more. Remember, no gaps. (You have now completed the first cycle of five connected breaths.) 

4. Without pausing, do the cycle three more times, keeping it all connected. An important element of this technique is that the inhale is active and the exhale is passive. You PULL the breath in and LET the breath out.  

No pushing or blowing or forcing of the exhale. You snap the exhale loose, dump it out, set it free.  

You control the inhale, but don’t control the exhale.

You can breathe in and out through your mouth or you can breathe in and out through your nose. But do not breathe in the nose and out the mouth. 

Before starting 20 Connected Breaths go ‘within’ your awareness and see how you feel before doing the exercise, then check inside again after doing the 20 connected breaths. 

Notice what gets activated in you by the exercise.