Breathing Exercises To Counter Stress
Stress is something that we can’t avoid in this hectic, fast-paced society. But we can do something about the way we respond to it. By regulating our breathing, we are able to trigger the body’s relaxation response to counter stress.
In this article, we break down the breathing exercises that will help you produce a calmer, more relaxed physical and mental state.
Deep Nasal Breathing
Deep nasal breathing is the most effective way to breathe in order to produce a relaxed, calm state. When you draw in air through the nasal passage you are able to achieve a greater intake of oxygen to the bloodstream.
Your breathing rate will naturally slow down when you breathe through the nose, producing a calmer state. As a result, your mind will start to relax. It’s as if a switch is triggered to counter stress.
Learning to Breathe Again
Breathing through the nose is not natural. For it to become habitual, we need to work at it.
Begin by drawing in deep nasal breaths for 30 seconds every hour. Build this up so that you’re breathing through your nose for a minute at a time. Continue until you are breathing nasally for 5 minutes at a time.
How to Do It
Stand or sit comfortably. Now, take in a long, deep breath through your nose until the lungs are completely full and your chest is inflated. Hold this breath for a 5 full seconds. Then allow the breath to slowly leave your body.
Be thinking about expanding and compressing the diaphragm as if it were an accordion on every inward and outward breath.
Sub-10: Your Breathing Goal
When you are breathing optimally, you will be taking in no more than 10 breaths a minute, ideally just seven or eight. Your goal is to achieve as many sub-10 breath minutes as possible in your day.
Breathing Exercise
Do this first thing in the morning upon waking and again in the mid-afternoon (it will provide a caffeine-free way of overcoming the 3 o’clock slump!).
Step One: Get comfortable, either standing or sitting.
Step Two: Breathe in through the nose for 5 seconds. Feel your stomach pushing out as the energy giving oxygen fills your lungs.
Step Three: Hold for 20 seconds. Feel the oxygen circulating around your body as it gives life to your trillions of cells.
Step Four: Repeat this process four more times.
When performing lung exercises, it is important to focus on inflating the lungs upward and outward rather than downward. Imagine that the intake of oxygen is about to lift you up and carry you skyward.
Wrap Up
Deep Nasal breathing is a powerful technique that will improve your emotional, mental and physical well-being. Take the effort to learn how to do it and you will have a powerful technique to trigger the body’s relaxation response to counter stress.
