Breathing How-To

Breathing more slowly, gently and deeply helps to calm and relax and can also reduce tension and anxiety and improve concentration and memory. Shallow and fast breathing can contribute to anxiety, muscular tension, panic attacks, headaches, and fatigue. By practicing slow, deep breathing, your mind will calm down and your body will relax. Diaphragmatic, or, abdominal breathing is one of  the easiest ways to produce the relaxation response. Practice 10 or more minutes to learn the proper technique for deep relaxation. helping to reduce muscle tension and anxiety. Throughout the day, frequently take a few slow, deep breaths or do a couple minutes of diaphragmatic breathing, especially when feeling stressed.

This amusing clip starring Elmo and Colbie Caillat teaches kids early on the importance and technique of breathing deeply as a stress management tool.  This is a technique that works for all ages!

On a more serious note, here is a breathing meditation where you can apply this belly breathing technique to relax and de-stress yourself.

Breathing

Stress can cause us to breathe more shallowly and can lead to anxiety attacks, muscular tension, headache, and fatigue. Most people are not aware they are breathing shallowly or that they are breathing from their chest instead of deeply from their diaphragms. Deep, diaphragmatic breathing is the easiest way to produce the relaxation response.

Try lying on the floor, placing one hand on your chest and the other hand on your stomach. When you breathe in, notice whether your abdomen expands. If your belly doesn't move, or moves less than your chest, you are breathing from your chest. To learn how to change from chest to stomach breathing, exhale fully one or two times. This will create a vacuum that will pull in a deep, diaphragmatic breath. Also, you can push your stomach out as you are breathing in. Breathing deeply is a skill that you can use to help you relax wherever you are.

One last thing you can do is use a clock with a second hand to help you time your breaths. On the odd numbers, breathe out, and on the even numbers, breathe in. This will have you breathing 6 breaths per minute, which is a comfortable pace for many (but not all) people. Experiment with this to find your most comfortable breaths per minute.

Relaxation Recordings

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Autogenics

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Meditation

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Beach Visualization

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

A Walk to the Testing Center

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

A Quiet Place Visualization

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Body Scan

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Breathing for Relaxation

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Performance Rehearsal

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Creation Visualization

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Special Place Visualization

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Healing Liquid Visualization

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod

Self-Hypnosis

Music from Ghosts I-IV is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.

Breathing Exercises

BREATHING EXERCISES

Use one of these techniques for 1-2 minutes each time you do the breathing exercise.


1. Take a deep breath in and as you breathe out repeat a calming word or phrase to yourself such as “quiet,” “still,” “relax,” “peace,” “I am calm,” “I am thankful,” “I feel relaxed,” “I can do this,” or some other tension-reducing phrase. (Erickson, K.)



2. Focus on being with each in-breath for its full duration and with each out-breath for its full duration, as if you were riding the waves of your own breathing. (Kabat-Zinn, J.)



3. Breathe in deeply through your nose while saying in your mind “let”—pause—then breathe out slowly through your mouth while saying in your mind “go.” As you breathe out, purse your lips as though you were blowing through a straw so your exhalation will be longer than your inhalation. Feel your body letting go of tightness and tension as you breathe out. (Coetzee, S.)



4. Fold your arms across your abdomen. Feel your abdomen rise as you inhale and fall as you exhale. Each time you exhale, feel tension leaving your body and feel yourself sink a little deeper into a pool of relaxation. (Maughan, M.)



5. Imagine that you are holding a baby. Now with your shoulders relaxed, inhale gently so that your abdomen widens. Then as you exhale, purse your lips and very gently and softly blow over the baby’s hair. Allow your abdomen to narrow when exhaling. Blow so softly that the baby’s hair barely moves. At the same time, imagine that you can allow your breath to flow down and through your legs. Continue imagining that you are gently blowing on the baby’s hair while feeling your breath flowing down your legs. Keep blowing very softly and continuously. (Peper, E.)



6. Breathe in deeply through your nose. Breathe out slowly through your mouth pursing your lips as though you were blowing through a straw. Make your out-breath two to three times as long as your in-breath.

Breathing for Relaxation

Music Composed by Kevin Macleod