Breathing to Calm Your Mind and Relax Your Body

Anxiety and Stress Breathing Exercises to Calm your Mind and Relax your Body

There is nothing worse than the feeling of anxiety that causes that familiar feeling of throat-clenching/chest-grabbing lack of oxygen which threatens to cause hyperventilation, fainting or both. It’s difficult to stop the stress sequence when you suffer from anxiety. Here are some simple breathing techniques and natural products that might help you cope better with being anxious.

* Consider What Anxiety Is – We are born with a “fight or flight” response and severe stress is the modern response that goes a bit haywire when it is not followed by physical action. It is natural to feel anxious about stressful situations in your life, so add some exercise or use a breathing technique to calm your nerves and lower your heart rate quickly. The sooner you channel your emotions into a calmer place, the more your can focus and get the job done, adding more success in your life which builds confidence.

* Stop and Take Positive Action – Don’t allow the panic response to take over when you are feeling extreme anxiety, stop and change your thoughts. Escape trains your body to keep up the overreaction response to normal situations. So stop and change your focus to something that helps you move forward without feeling that sense of anxiety. Listen to calming music to clear your mind. Then try finding a different way to approach the situation.

* Change your Breathing pattern by taking Deep, Slow Breaths – When your heart is pounding and your breathing is rapid, you take in too much oxygen. Too much oxygen causes rapid heartbeat, euphoric feelings and maybe even tingling hands and feet. So stop, close your mouth, breathe in slowly from your nose while completely filling your chest with air, hold your breath for a moment and then slowly release the air out through your mouth in a controlled release of air.

* Hold Your Breath – If breathing slowly doesn’t work, hold your breath, it may stop the panic feelings almost immediately. When you stop so much oxygen from going to your brain, your body has a chance to catch up so then you can use the deep breathing method.

* Practice Develops a New Pattern – Anxiety is a pattern that needs to be broken. It is important to practice deep breathing so when you’re in an anxious situation, deep breathing is your natural response. Pratice deep breathing for 10 minutes daily to develop this pattern. Sit or stand in a comfortable manner with upper body erect to give easily expand your lungs. Breathe in deeply and slowly, pull air in from the bottom of your lungs to the top of your lungs, hold and then let the air out very slowly.

* Practice Monitored Breathing – Do the above exercises and alternate between deep breathing and normal breathing. Very shallow breathing is a bad habit, which deprives us of oxygen and can bring on a panic attack more easily. This sets up the anxiety attack and keeps it going. So become aware of your breathing and make sure you breathe slow, deep breaths. Ensure that you are breathing into your diaphragm. Think about how a baby looks when he is breathing. That’s the right way.