How do breathing exercises work?

We’re often told to use breathing exercises if we’re feeling stressed, angry or anxious but does it work? Clients report back to me that, yes, it does. But how can such a simple thing help you to deal with such strong emotions?

The science behind breathing exercises

The tradition of taking time out for deep breathing goes back a long way – it’s part of meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and many other disciplines designed to help keep you calm and feeling good. But science is now backing up the tradition with a few facts which confidence to those who might previously have dismissed the whole thing as ‘a bit of New Age nonsense’.

David DiSalvo, in Forbes Magazine, reports that slow, steady breathing:

• calms your brain and influences your emotional state,
• helps to regulate your blood pressure,
• taps into the brain’s emotional control areas,
• influences your memory,
• calms the parasympathetic nervous system, which has the side effect of boosting the immune system.

A breathing exercise for stress, anxiety, and improved sleep

• Put one hand on your chest, about a hand’s width down from your collarbone.
• Put the other hand on your tummy, immediately below your ribs.
• Breathe slowly and deeply, in through your nose and out through your mouth, and notice which hand moves the most.
• The most effective calm breathing uses the diaphragm and not the chest muscles – if you’re doing this the bottom hand will move the most.
• If that’s the case, continue that calm breathing for another two minutes.
• If the top hand is moving the most, imagine pushing the breath down into your body until the bottom hand moves the most.
• Continue this, starting with a minute and gradually working up to two minutes.

You can do this exercise sitting or laying down on your back, but you might find laying down is easier if you’re new to breathing techniques. And after a while you’ll find that you won’t need your hands to guide you and can switch easily into this breathing pattern wherever you are, feeling calmer and more relaxed.

Self-help

You can also listen to my free MP3 relaxation audio or purchase audios from this site.

Or email me for my free relaxation exercises flyer.

Acknowledgement: Photo by Birti Ishar on Unsplash