Stress Management Articles

 

3 Astounding and Life-Enhancing Ways to Just Breathe
By Amy Phillips-Gary

I've got a busy week ahead. I am doing my usual work of writing, cooking, picking up the house, helping my kids with learning, driving them to and from activities, creating time and energy to stay connected with my husband, catching up with friends and extended family and of course caring for our many and varied pets.

Phew!

Have you ever been so busy with, well, just life that you sort of hold your breath?

Of course, you probably don't completely hold your breath as if you were underwater or trying to break a world record for breath-holding.

There is likely air leaving and entering your body.

But it is possibly constricted or has a "held" feeling. This is certainly how I feel when I am in a busy or stressed out place and I take a second to notice my breathing, such that it is.

I suppose there's a part of me who perhaps feels too busy to breathe. 

Or, when I am afraid, there might even be a part of me that is holding on tightly just trying to make it through whatever the memory or trigger is that's got me in a panicked state.

Holding the breath can be a coping mechanism, a way to try to guard the self against perceived threats-- whether they be in the present or are ghosts of a difficult past.

Holding the breath can also be a way to manage our seemingly out of control lives. Holding tension goes hand in hand with holding the breath.

Benefits of a deep, cleansing breath.
What you probably already know is how beneficial breathing deeply is.  When I stop myself mid-stream in a busy day, week or moment and take a big deep breath, the sense of release is immediately apparent.

If you meditate, you have probably felt the difference between breathing freely and throughout your whole body and breathing from a smaller and more restricted place-- for example, from the chest only.

Women in childbirth are usually coached to breathe as a way to manage the pain of contractions.

When you exercise, you undoubtedly have experienced deep breathing. After all, you will fall over and pass out if you don't breathe effectively while running, playing racquetball, swimming, or even lifting weights.

A whole body, free kind of breathing can help relieve stress, manage pain, improve energy and concentration and bring you back to the present moment. A deep cleansing breath can even clear the path to greater joy!

Here are 3 ways to Breathe and expand your personal growth, health and happiness:

#1) The Big Sigh
As I mentioned above, when we get stressed out, afraid, panicked or even outraged, we tend to clamp down and hold our breath.

Sometimes, the key to loosening up so that you can process your difficult feelings and allow them to run their course-- without running you over in the process-- is to make a big sigh.

No matter where you are or how silly you might feel doing it, try it anyway. Inhale deeply and as slowly as you can through your nose or mouth. Try to make your abdomen expand with your inhale.

Hold on to your breath for just a few seconds and then expressively sigh. Let
your jaw drop and make noise with the sigh.

If you are so stirred up a sigh just isn't going to work for you, start out by pretending to blow out a candle with your exhale. Remember to inhale deeply before blowing out that candle.

Follow up this quicker exhale of blowing out a candle with the big sigh.

I find that my jaw (a prime place for holding stress) loosens when I do both of these exercises, my head feels clearer and I relax.

#2) Mindfulness Breathing
Buddhist monk and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has written poems and entire books about breathing mindfully. The breath is an essential element and tool for personal and spiritual expansion in traditions such as Buddhism as well as other spiritualities.

Thich Nhat Hanh offers simple yet very powerful practices to cultivate mindfulness, a sense of presence, calm and peace in each moment of your everyday life-- not just when you are sitting on a meditation pillow.

You don't even have to be a Buddhist to incorporate Thich Nhat Hanh's breathing practices into your own life.

In The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh recommends that you breathe in and out as you say words like these in your mind or out loud.

"Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out."
"Breathing in, I feel calm. Breathing out, I feel at ease."
"Breathing in, I smile. Breathing out, I release all my worries and anxieties. Smile/release."

At the root of mindfulness breathing is the practice of bringing your attention to your breathing right here in this present moment and guiding your breathing (and self) into a calmer, more peaceful and happier-- or at least improved-- place.

#3) Pranayama Breathing
Don't let this big Sanskrit word turn you away. Pranayama is a yoga breathing exercise. It helps move more oxygen to the brain and through the blood and it also brings vital life force energy-- or Prana-- to you.

With pranayama, there is an emphasis on controlling the breathing in particular ways that end up opening pathways for this essential life force energy.

There are various pranayama breathing exercises you might try. Some involve repeating patterns of closing one nostril and breathing through the other and then switching to the other side.

Other pranayama breathing involves concentrating the breath in particular parts of the body.

Please consult with a yoga instructor or other reliable resource for more information.

It matters less which particular breathing exercise you try. What's most important is that you breathe...and keep breathing deeply. The breath can act as a natural relaxant, an internal cleanser and a re-focusing agent.

Your breath is, by far, one of your most potent tools for dealing with life which can even seem less of a struggle and more of a gift and a joy when you keep the breath flowing.
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Amy Phillips-Gary is a freelance writer, a homeschool mom and a personal growth adventurer.

Click here for more information on Thich Nhat Hanh's mindfulness breathing

Click here for introductory information about pranayama breathing


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Susie and Otto Collins are Relationship Coaches and authors of 4 books on relationships and personal growth. To get their FREE weekly newsletter filled with practical tips and ideas for creating more connected, passionate and alive relationships
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