5 Breathing Techniques to Try Now

When stressful situations hit us, they hit fast and hard. Often, we are left feeling helpless, hopeless, and even breathless. One of the simplest ways to manage stressful and anxiety provoking situations is to breathe. Although it sounds very simple, we often forget to slow down and taking meaningful breaths to regain control and reconnect with ourselves. Bookmark these five simple breathing exercises so you have them when you need to manage stressful emotions.

Always begin these exercises by placing a hand on your stomach and (if possible) closing your eyes. Use the hand on your stomach to make sure that you are breathing from your belly instead of your chest. Make sure that with each inhale you feel your belly expand and with each exhale you feel your belly contract. Start each exercise with a long, deep inhale, feeling your belly rise and a long deep exhale, feeling your belly fall to help you settle into the work.

1.     Box Breathing (4 - 4 - 4)

• Inhale for four counts through your nose, and feel your belly expand

• Pause, hold the breath in for four counts

• Exhale for four counts through your mouth, and feel your belly contract

• Repeat for 10 counts or until you feel calmer and connected to your breath

2.     4-7-8 Breaths

• Inhale through your nose for a count of four, feeling your belly expand.

• Hold the inhale inside your belly, counting to seven and focusing on the feeling of being still

• Exhale through your mouth for a count of eight, feeling your belly contract. Feel the release as you let the stress and anxiety go with this extended breath   

3.     Equal Breathing

• Inhale through your nose and count slowly up to four, feeling your belly expand

• Exhale through your mouth repeating the count backwards from four to one at the same pace, feeling your belly contract

• Repeat this for 10 breathes and notice the movement of belly and lungs expanding and contracting equally while you focus on your breath 

4.     Breath Counting (Slowly count to 10, then start again)

• Continue to breathe in through your mouth, out through your nose

• Do not change the cadence of your breath, simply count each breath

• As you inhale, one, as you exhale, two, until you reach 10

• Start over again once you have reached 10 from one, do this until you feel in control of your breathing

5.     Breath Visualization (Focus on the inhale and exhale)

• This technique does not require a change in breath, rather you are working on visualization

• Focus on the inhale through your nose, see the breath travel into your nose

• Notice the pause in your breath. Feel the moment of suspension and see the breath sit still inside your throat

• Then focus on the exhale and see the breath leave your mouth and re-enter the world

• This technique can benefit the most from practice when you are feeling calm, since visualization is a skill that takes time to master

These five breathing exercises will help you refocus your energy. This will ease your stress and overtime these breathing techniques will become second nature. The goal is to empower you to take back control of your emotions.

To learn more about using breathing techniques to manage your stress and anxiety, book an appointment online or over the phone with Dr. Rebecca Branda, Psy.D. today.