Written by: Corie Chu
Read time: 3 minutes
When faced with stressful situations all of a sudden, it’s natural for us to pause and take a deep breath. There’s a reason why “Just breathe it in” has become a popular piece of advice for someone dealing with stress. Deep breathing techniques and effective breathing exercises are some of the best ways of reducing anxiety, lowering tension, and activating the body’s natural relaxation response. Here are the benefits of breathing and how it can provide us with the relief we need in the midst of hectic, crazy events:
Deep Breathing Is Relaxation
Breathe in, and then breathe out. Notice how you easily feel a change in how you’re feeling?
When we’re slumped with stress, it’s easy to think of escaping to the sea, or going on a getaway. But there’s a super effective stress buster that is actually free – breathing. Deep breathing helps lower stress in the body by sending a signal to our brain to calm down. In fact, the Art of Breathing is referred to as “healing to the soul.” Proper breathing exercises – also known as focused breathing – can lower heart rate, regulate breathing, and improve blood pressure, which can go haywire when we’re stressed.
Benefits of Practicing the Art of Breathing
Breathing exercises may be considered simple relaxation techniques but their benefits go beyond calming your nerves. Taking a deep breath benefits both the mind and the body.
It Protects Your Heart
Deep breathing helps your heart maintain its optimal health. When you practice diaphragmatic breathing, your vagus nerve is stimulated, signaling the brain to minimize the tension felt by your heart and body. With diaphragmatic breathing exercises, you can calm yourself down and prevent straining your heart in just a few quick minutes.
You’ll Feel More Peace
When we’re stressed, our body’s flight or fight response goes on active mode. The uneasy feeling, and the overwhelming anxiety have a great effect on how we deal with a stressful event. Taking the time to escape the noise and focus on healthy breathing can bring peace to our troubled hearts and minds.
It Helps You Become Mindful
It’s easy to feel all over the place when we’re stressed – we can’t stop thinking about the unknown, and the thought of things getting worse can take a toll on how we perceive the problem. When things start to feel too much, take a few deep breaths to clear your mind of worry. Deep breathing allows you to be mindful, which helps you more capable of facing the problem realistically.
It Increases Energy
Stress causes us to breathe in a shallow way. This is a main reason why stress and anxiety can oftentimes make us feel spent. In hard situations, deep breathing can give us a quick boost of energy. One of the best ways to retain energy when dealing with challenging situations is to practice proper breathing. Slower, deeper, regular breaths deliver more oxygen to the cells, thus, providing the body with the energy it needs.
Deep Breathing Exercise + Ways to Keep Focus
Experience a stressful day? Feeling like you are one push away from letting out some steam? Keeping in mind some deep breathing exercises as an easy healing session can help you face your daily challenges with grace.
Settle to a comfortable position.
Breathe in with your nose, making sure that the belly gets filled with air.
Breathe out using your nose.
Take the time to feel your chest and body rise and fall as you breathe in and breathe out.
Repeat three times, or more if necessary.
The Art of Breathing – A Free Stress and Anxiety Management Tool
Breathing is free, but not everyone knows about a breathing technique and its amazing benefits. When you’re so caught up with stress, remember that you don’t always need to book that flight out of the country—a breathing session on your own can make a world of difference.
Difficulty with Breathing
If you’re having trouble with deep breaths, you might have a lot of what we call “energetic clutter” that’s in the way of your passageways. In that case, you may want to consider an energy healing session such as Reiki with a credible Reiki master for a deep cleansing first, and you may find it a lot easier to do deep breaths again on your own!
