Let’s face it, life is stressful. It doesn’t matter whether you go to work, take care of the kids, or try to get through school. We all encounter challenging moments now and then, and it can make it hard to relax. However, we all have to find healthy coping mechanisms that can get us from one minute to the next. If you’re looking for a way to reduce your stress and feel more peace in your life, you may want to look into different breathing techniques. There are many different techniques that encourage you to slow down your breath. Practice these techniques enough, and you may just find that you feel a lot better on a daily basis. Wondering how to do it? Take a look at these helpful breathing exercises!
Belly Breathing
It’s always a good idea to start with the basics, which is why you may want to learn belly breathing before any of the other techniques. Belly breathing encourages you to take bigger, deeper breaths and control those breaths for longer. You know how when you normally breathe, your chest rises and falls? That kind of breathing tends to be relatively shallow, and it won’t do much to release tension. Belly breathing, on the other hand, is much deeper. Instead of your chest moving, your belly will move. When you take a breath in, imagine your belly is a balloon you’re inflating. When you reach the top of your breath, hold it for a moment before you release the breath with control. Repeat this as many times as you need to feel better.
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4-7-8 Breathing
Another technique you may want to employ is called 4-7-8 breathing. Start off by putting one hand on the belly and the other hand on your heart. Take a deep breath, counting to four silently as you go. Then, hold your breath, and start counting from one to seven. As you’re breathing out, count from one to eight, controlling your breath as you go. When you start, it’s a good idea to lie down and keep your hands on your body, but once you have more experience with it, you can do this breathing exercise in just about any position. You’ll want to repeat this sequence three to seven times (or even more) to notice an effect on your stress levels.
Now that you have some deep breathing tips, you have the tools you need to reduce your stress on even the most hectic of days.
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