When you feel frazzled, wound up, completely overwhelmed with work and when stress becomes too much, this is the ideal opportunity to look at the way you are breathing.
When Stress Becomes Too Much… Just BreatheYou can use yoga breathing exercises to help you overcome your worries and anxieties, regain your focus, and recharge your batteries when work pressures are getting on top of you.
Relaxation Tip: When Stress becomes Too Much… Practice yoga breathing
Try this easy yoga breathing exercise anytime you feel overwhelmed and stressed:
- Stop what you are doing;
- Lower your shoulders and lengthen your neck;
- Take a slow steady deep breath in through your nose for a count of 1 … 2 … 3 …
- And slowly breathe out, through your nose, again for a count of 1 … 2 … 3 ….
- Repeat this breathing cycle for three to five rounds.
Sooo, how do you feel?
Hopefully, by practising 3 to 5 rounds of deep breathing, you will feel refreshed, reenergized, and ready to refocus on work.
Quick Breathing Quiz: How well do you breathe?
Now, that you are all chilled and relaxed, let’s take a quick look at how well do you usually breathe.
There are two main types of breathing patterns.
Which one are you?
- Chest/ thoracic breathing
- Abdominal/ diaphragmatic breathing
Chest/Thoracic Breathing
This type of breathing is shallow, irregular and rapid. It is often associated with stress, anxiety or other forms of emotional worry.
In this type of breathing, instead of using your full breathing apparatus, you breathe from your chest and lift/raise your shoulders to help you take in air. If you are going through a particularly emotional challenge or even working on a demanding project, you may “forget to breathe” and end up compensating by breathing too quickly.
Negative Effects of Chest/Thoracic Breathing
Prolong periods of shallow breathing means you fail to take in enough oxygen, and carbon dioxide builds up in the body.
This leads to you feeling tired, light-headed, short of breath, and in some cases, even have heart palpitations, as there is insufficient oxygen being taken into reach the brain and other parts of the body.
Abdominal or Diaphragmatic Breathing
Have you ever watched a new-born baby sleep and marvelled at how deep and steady they breathe?
That is the natural way to breathe.
Slow, steady, and deep.
When you breathe like this, you take air deep into your lungs.
Diaphragmatic breathing is deeper and slower than chest breathing and leaves you feeling calmer, relaxed, and empowered to see the glass as half full rather than half empty.
It is a very efficient way to breathe, as it enables the respiratory system to do its job properly to produce energy from oxygen and cut waste products.
So, what type of breather are you!
I’d love to know.
Share your thoughts and how you felt after doing the breathing exercise, in the comment box below. Thank you.
Final Thoughts…
And, if you are looking for blogs to help you experience less stress and more happiness in your life, check out this EPIC blog post featuring the Top Stress Relief, Relaxation and Meditation blogs https://mymassagechairs.com/stress-relief-relaxation-meditation-blogs/
