Breathe away Stress
Learning to relax starts with learning to let go. Tension often manifests in our body and mind when we try to control e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g in our lives. We often fill our mind with worries about tomorrow rather being in the present. Once you realise you CAN actually control HOW you react to situations and people, you can become powerful with your new inner peace and are able to lead a more fulfilling life.
This acceptance does not occur over night but it does starts with this first step- focus and relaxation. A few slow, purposeful deep breaths can stop a stress attack in its tracks. When told to breathe deeply, people tend to gulp in a huge amount of air with dramatic uprising of the chest. Actually, deep breathing happens much deeper and it’s the abdomen that should rise and fall, not the chest- and especially not the shoulders. Also in deep breathing, the exhalation is the focus, the inhalation will take care of itself. Here is how you get grounded whenever you start to feel life pulling you off course.
Breathe Away Stress from Within
According to Eve Adamson in “The Everything Stress Management Book”, we start breathing from the core when we are infants but as adult in a high stress world, it is easy to forget how. The easiest way to retrain yourself is to lie comfortably on your back and put one hand on your abdomen and the other on your chest. Then do the following:
Begin by breathing normally. Be conscious of your breathing but do not try to force it. Notice which hand is moving more, the hand on the chest or abdomen?
Now, try to exhale every bit of breath slowly, making a “sss” sound. When you think you’ve exhaled every bit of breathe, give your lungs one more push and let out a final “sss” of air. As you exhale, feel the hand on your abdomen sinking in, lower and lower, as the breath empties out of the body.
After this deep exhalation, you’ll naturally take in a deep breath, but don’t try to suck in air. Just let your body refill. As it refills, try to keep your chest and shoulder still. Be conscious of how the hand on your abdomen rises up again as breath enters the body.
Exhale again, slowly, as fully as possible, feeling the hand on your abdomen sinking in.
Repeat for ten deep breaths.
Breathe Away Stress in 1 Minute
Once you’ve mastered the feeling of deep relaxation breathing, you can try it sitting up. Again, focus on the exhalation. A good calming breathing exercise is to measure your breathing by silent counting, making the exhale twice as long as in the inhale.
Slowly breath in through your nose to a slow count of five, filling from your torso, from the bottom up, with air. Keep your shoulders and chest still. Instead, feel your body expanding from the abdomen and lower back
Slowly breathe out through your mouth, lips pursed, making an airy, whispering “whhhhh” sound, as if you are blowing away a dandelion from childhood, to a slow count of ten. Keep your shoulders and chest still, feel your body deflating from the abdomen and lower back
Fill your mind with a happy memory- playing as a child, a scene from your favorite vacation, a hug from your loved one. Repeat several times, or until you feel calm.
Use this technique whenever you feel tense (before you say or do something you regret) and we hope it will give you a happier state of mind.
