Breathing
Breathing Activities
Take a deep breath, expanding your belly. Pause. Exhale slowly to the count of five. Repeat four times.
Congratulations. You’ve just calmed your nervous system.
Controlled breathing, like what you just practiced, has been shown to reduce stress, increase alertness and boost your immune system. Consciously changing the way you breathe appears to send a signal to the brain to adjust the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, which can slow heart rate and digestion and promote feelings of calm as well as the sympathetic system, which controls the release of stress hormones like cortisol.
Mindful breathing for one minute
Lower your eyes and notice where you feel your breath. That might be the air going in and out at your nostrils or the rise and fall of your chest or stomach. If you can’t feel anything, place your hand on your stomach and notice how your hand gently rises and falls with your breath. If you like, you can just lengthen the in breath and the out breath or just breathe naturally. Your body knows how to breathe.
Focus on your breath. When your mind wanders, as it will do, just bring your attention back to your breath. You might like to say ‘thinking’ when you notice your thoughts and just gently shepherd your attention back to your breath.
This can be done for longer than one minute. However, even for one minute it will allow you to pause and be in the moment. Or you might just like to breathe out stress on the out breath and breathe in peace on the in breath.
STOP.
Stand up and breathe. Feel your connection to the earth.
Tune in to your body. Lower your gaze. Scan your body and notice physical sensations or emotions. Discharge any unpleasant sensations, emotions or feelings on the out breath. Notice any pleasant ones and let them fill you up on the in breath.
Observe. Lift your eyes and take in your surroundings. Observe something in your environment that is pleasant and be grateful for it and its beauty.
Possibility. Ask yourself what is possible or what is new or what is a forward step.
If you find yourself being reactive, try the following steps:
Pause and take one to three big breaths.
Say “step back.” ( You don’t have to physically step back, you can just do it in your mind.)
Say “clear head.”
Say “calm body.”
Breathe again. Say “relax,” “melt” or “ease.”
4- 2- 4- 2
Inhale 4, pause 2, exhale 4, pause 2. Repeat several times. Deep diagrammatic breathing expands and contracts the abdominal area
5- 2- 5
Stop, take a long around. Tell yourself, ‘Keep calm.” Inhale 5, pause 2, exhale 5. Repeat the breathing pattern until you feel calm. (this one works with kids, too) Elias, Tobias, and Friedlander, 1999
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
Breathe and count-- Inhale-exhale 10, Inhale-exhale 9, Inhale-exhale 8, etc.
1-2-3-4 4-3-2-1
Inhale to the count of 4. Exhale to the count of 4.
Coherent Breathing:
Inhale 5 Exhale 6
In coherent breathing, the goal is to breathe at a rate of five breaths per minute, which generally translates into inhaling and exhaling to the count of six. If you have never practiced breathing exercises before, you may have to work up to this practice slowly, starting with inhaling and exhaling to the count of three and working your way up to six.
1. Sitting upright or lying down, place your hands on your belly. 2. Slowly breathe in, expanding your belly, to the count of five. 3. Pause.
4. Slowly breathe out to the count of six.
5. Work your way up to practicing this pattern for 10 to 20 minutes a day.
Aldermannov, 2016, NYT
Rock and Roll Breathing: Stress Relief
When your mind is racing or you feel keyed up, try Rock and Roll breathing, which has the added benefit of strengthening your core.
1. Sit up straight on the floor or the edge of a chair.
1. Place your hands on your belly.
2. As you inhale, lean forward and expand your belly.
3. As you exhale, squeeze the breath out and curl forward while leaning backward; exhale until you are completely empty of breath. 4. Repeat 20 times.
Aldermannov, 2016, NYT
Energizing HA Breath
When the mid-afternoon slump hits, stand up and do some quick breath work to wake up your mind and body.
1. Stand up tall, elbows bent, palms facing up.
2. As you inhale, draw your elbows back behind you, palms continuing to face up. 3. Then exhale quickly, thrusting your palms forward and turning them downward, while saying “Ha” out loud.
4. Repeat quickly 10 to 15 times.
Aldermannov, 2016, NYT
4-7-8: Powerful Relaxing Breath
1. Touch tongue tip to ridge of tissue above front teeth.
2. Begin with exhale through your mouth noisily around your tongue, pursing your lips outward.
3. Inhale through nose quietly to count of 4.
4. Hold breath to count of 7.
5. Exhale slowly to count of 8. Repeat.
Dr. Andrew Weil
Breathe with your phone. Every time your phone dings or rings or buzzes, pause and take three mindful breaths. Or set an alarm to go off several times a day, such as every 53 minutes, and take several breaths then. As Bays writes, this is like “a pause that refreshes.”
