Breathing exercises are extremely useful for calming the mind and relieving anxiety. Everyone is armed with this drug-free way of activating the parasympathetic nervous system; all you need to do is learn how to use it.
When the body is under stress, or suffering from anxiety, the sympathetic nervous system is activated and puts us into 'fight or flight' mode. This system is an important response our body has for dealing with short term emergencies. It allows us to perform at a higher level - run faster; hit harder; stay awake longer - but people today tend to have it switched on more than it is off. The sympathetic nervous system directly affects our breathing by increasing it, so using breathing exercises to reduce breathing calms both the mind and body. If you are anxious or stressed, you can use breathing exercises to override the sympathetic nervous system's 'fight or flight' mode and avoid a full-blown panic attack.
Most people who suffer from stress and anxiety can feel it building up inside. When you notice the first signs approaching - a racing heart; butterflies in your stomach; a lump in your throat; shortness of breath - you can use these simple but effective breathing exercises to calm things down again:
Activate your diaphragm.You can either be sitting, well supported, or lying down with knees bent up for this breathing exercise. Make sure you are not tensing up and using your upper chest to suck air in. Lift your shoulders up and let them collapse down to a relaxed resting position. Repeat this three times. Then place one hand on your chest and one hand on your abdomen and practice quiet diaphragmatic breathing. You know your diaphragm is working when the hand that is on your chest is not moving at all, and the hand on your abdomen rises up on the in-breath and sinks down on the out-breath. Practice quiet diaphragmatic breathing with relaxed shoulders, neck and chest for 2-3 minutes. Think calm, relaxing thoughts. Focusing on the breath itself can help take your mind off distressing thoughts and allow your body to over-ride the sympathetic nervous system.
Small Breath Holds. If the diaphragmatic breathing and relaxation exercise above does not completely squash any anxiety and return you to a place of calm, try some small breath holds. Take a small breath in through your nose followed by a small breath out (note, these are not big breaths). On the out-breath, hold your breath for a count of 5 then let go and gently breathe in through your nose again. Follow this with ten relaxed breaths into your diaphragm as described above. Repeat the five second breath holds followed by ten relaxed diaphragmatic breaths for about five minutes. This should activate the parasympathetic nervous system and override any ensuing panic.
With effective breathing exercises that are designed to override anxiety, there are three key things to remember. Firstly, the in-breath must occur through the nose. In fact, it is essential that we all breathe through our noses with every breath we take; that is what the nose was designed for. But in this instance, nose breathing will help ensure you do not hyperventilate as it is difficult to move a lot of air through the nose. If you like, you can exhale through the mouth using pursed lips as some people find a long exhale performed in this fashion very relaxing.
The second point is relaxation. You cannot reduce your breathing and calm your mind if your muscles are tense making it difficult to activate your diaphragm. So learn to recognize muscle tension and relax the muscles that are likely to tense up in times of anxiety or stress. Typically these are the neck and shoulder muscles, pushing you into a head-forward posture with shoulders raised. The chest will then usually move up and down like a pump handle with every breath. You need to be conscious of this happening and make every effort to avoid these postural changes. Your upper body needs to become very still and loose, and your abdomen relaxed; moving up and down as the diaphragm pushes it out on each calm in-breath.
The third point is the breath holds. Anxiety tends to increase our breathing, and with each breath we exhale carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is not just a waste gas; it is an important chemical compound that regulates many of our bodily functions. If you can retain carbon dioxide by doing these small, relaxed breath holds, you have a good chance of overriding the sympathetic nervous system, preventing hyperventilation, and restoring calm.
Breathing exercises are not difficult to learn and they are a highly effective way of bringing equilibrium to the mind and body. If you suffer from chronic stress or anxiety, these simple breathing exercises will be useful strategies for you to use to manage anxiety attacks without reaching for the pill bottle.
Brenda Stimpson is the President of Breathingwise Inc. based in Pasadena, California. She is a trained physiotherapist and Buteyko practitioner who has long had a professional interest in disorders of the respiratory system.
Resouces:
Expert help and information about managing anxiety-related breathing problems http://www.breathingwise.com
The Buteyko Institute of Breathing and Health http://www.buteykohealth.com.au/other.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brenda_Stimpson/334424
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