Stress and how our bodies react to it can be a debilitating problem for a lot of us. So how can learning how to breathe change how you feel? There are several breathing techniques you can use in times of stress and anxiety that will literally do that very thing.
Incorporating breathwork exercises into your life can also greatly improve your mental, physical, and spiritual health.
Benefits of Breathwork
- Lowers heart rate
- Lowers stress levels
- Elevates mood
- Increases sleep quality
- Reduces anxiety
- Increases energy
- Produces an overall feeling of calm
- Promotes better detoxification of the body
- Increases focus
Breathing Techniques
There are various types of helpful breathing techniques. Try a couple out and experiment a little to see which one you like.
Different circumstances and time constraints determine which one I use. The two that I use the most right now and find most helpful are box breathing and the cleansing breath.
Abdominal (Diaphragmatic) Breathing
This exercise can be done sitting or lying down.
- Place one hand on your chest and one hand abdomen.
- Inhale slowly through your nose.
- Make sure your hand on your belly raises with your breath and your chest does not.
- Take in as much air as possible.
- Slowly exhale through your mouth or nose.
- Use your stomach muscles to push out as much air as possible.
- Repeat for 5-10 minutes.
4-7-8 Breathing
- Place the tip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind your teeth.
- Inhale slowly through your nose for 4 seconds.
- Hold your breath for 7 seconds.
- Exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds.
Bellows Breathing (Invigorating)
- Breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose.
- Hold your breath for 10 seconds.
- Slowly breathe out through your mouth completely.
- Breathe in deeply again.
- Breath out loudly through your nose in short bursts using your abdominal muscles.
- Repeat several times. Try working up to 30 bellows each time.
This exercise is a little tricky to explain so here’s a great instructional video for anyone needing to see it demonstrated.
A short introduction and tutorial on the Pranayama technique Bellows Breath. Skip to 1:29 to go straight to the exercise.
Box Breathing
- Inhale slowly and deeply through your nose for 4 seconds.
- Hold your breath for 4 seconds.
- Exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds.
- Hold exhalation for 4 seconds.
- Repeat at least 3 times if possible, working up to a 6 second hold.
Cleansing Breath
- Close your eyes.
- Take a deep breath in through your nose.
- Take in as much air as possible.
- As you’re breathing in, visualize breathing in light.
- Picture it as a pure, invigorating, cleansing white light slowly filling your body.
- Hold this breath for 6 seconds.
- Exhale slowly through the mouth.
- While exhaling, visualize all the darkness of anger, pain, stress, and negative emotions leaving your body.
- Repeat as long as necessary to change how you feel.
Download your 5 free breathing technique printables!!!
The hardest part about incorporating breathwork into your life is simply remembering to do it. When you’re feeling highly stressed and upset, the last thing you tend to think about is breathing.
What I did that helped, was to put a reminder on my phone’s screensaver that says “Breathe”, so every time I open my phone I see it. Some people set alarms on their phones to remind them.
The more you make breathwork a habit, the more it will come to mind during those high stress moments. The more you experience the positive effects of breathwork the more motivation you’ll have to continue with it.
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