How Breathing Exercises Can Reduce Your Stress
Since April is Stress Awareness Month, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite stress relief methods: breathing exercises! Also known as breathwork, breathing exercises have been proven to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety and improve the function of the autonomic nervous system. You might be wondering: How can something you constantly do all the time without thinking make a big difference? It seems too simple. However, the thing about breathing exercises is that they are different from normal breathing.
A breathing exercise is a deliberate pattern of breathing, which makes it different from the normal type of breathing you do all the time. Breathing exercises can be done while sitting in a chair, sitting on the floor, lying down -- whatever position is most comfortable for you. You can do a breathing exercise in just one or two minutes, or you can move through a guided meditation that lasts for ten minutes, twenty minutes, or even longer. Longer breathing exercises are great for starting your morning off on a positive note or winding down before bed. Shorter exercises are perfect for busy people who are always on the go and need to pause for a couple of minutes in the middle of the day. They can even be done a few times per day if desired.
Breathing exercises tend to put emphasis on your diaphragm, which is the dome-shaped muscle that sits at the bottom of your chest, above your abdomen. Your diaphragm helps you breathe by contracting and relaxing. When you take a deep breath, your diaphragm is contracting and allowing your lungs to expand with oxygen. Then, when your diaphragm relaxes, you push carbon dioxide out. Breathing with your diaphragm, which is called deep breathing or belly breathing, is better for stress relief than chest breathing, which is shallow breathing. Chest breathing mainly uses the upper chest muscles and not the diaphragm as much, and it’s the type of breathing you’re likely to do when you’re stressed or exhausted.
One excellent way to practice deep breathing is with the Breath Focus Technique. This can be done in just ten minutes, but if you want it to last longer, you can extend it. Make sure you are sitting in a quiet area in a comfortable position. As you become aware of your breathing, try to slowly switch back and forth between shallow breathing and deep breathing. This allows you to focus on the differences between the two types of breathing. After doing this a few times, shift to deep breathing only, with one hand placed below your belly button to feel your body move with each breath. While you breathe deeply, think about a calming word or positive affirmation. The Breath Focus Technique and other breathing exercises can be found in this Healthline article.
If you’d like to practice a breathing exercise for a long time, guided meditations are what you’ll want to try. A guided meditation can come in video or audio form, and it involves listening to someone’s voice as they gently give you guidance on how to breathe and what to think about and visualize. For example, this 40-minute guided meditation from world-renowned meditation expert Deepak Chopra is meant to help you become more mindful of the way you are breathing. By listening to Chopra’s words, you will gain more control of your breathing and your mind, which creates feelings of being grounded in the present moment. These long meditations are best practiced in a quiet, private room with low light. Filling the room with a scent from an oil diffuser can enhance the experience.
If you’ve never practiced breathing exercises, or you haven’t done them in a long time, I encourage you to give one of these techniques a try. Breathing exercises are an easy and free way to reduce stress, and anyone can do them! If you make it a habit to practice breathwork regularly, you will cultivate mindfulness within yourself, and you’ll be able to relax much more easily.
