Best Breathing Exercises for Stress and Anxiety
5 Best Breathing Exercises For Beginners
Anxiety and stress can negatively affect our health in so many ways. Stress that is not dealt with can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, sleep issues, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, and obesity. Anxiety and stress increase our breathing and heart rate.
Breathing is one of the most important parts of life and it affects our physical, emotional, and mental body. When we are stressed or anxious, we mainly breathe in the upper chest, and it’s shallow. The stress response can be reduced by conscious breathing using breathing techniques, to help relax the body and mind.
When we breathe deeply, it sends a message to our brain to calm down and relax. Continue to read to find out about the five best breathing exercises for beginners to manage stress and anxiety.
Three-part breathing technique to help you reduce stress and anxiety.
Three-part Breathing (Dirga Breathing): Three-part breathing exercise works three ways, clears the mind, relaxes the body, and improves lung function. This simple and effective breathing technique is great for beginners or anyone who wants to reduce stress and anxiety. You can practice this breathing exercise either sitting or lying, as long as you are comfortable. If you are a beginner, you can start by placing one hand over the lower belly, and the other hand over the heart for deeper awareness. Inhale through the nose and allow your belly to expand gently, and then invite the breath into your lower-side chest, and then into your upper chest, and collar bones. Then exhale slowly and fully. Three-part yoga breathing is a deeply relaxing breathing technique. It fills up your body and the mind with vital energy. Best to practice breathing exercises on an empty stomach.
Box Breathing (Equal Breath): Box breathing is also known as square breath or Sama Vritti in yoga. This breathing technique is easy to practice for beginners, as you just count to four on the inhale, exhale, and hold in between breaths for four counts (4:4:4:4). You can either ly or sit comfortably in this breathing exercise. it goes like this; breathe in for four counts, hold for four counts, exhale for four counts, pause for four counts, and begin the cycle again. You can do this as many times as you feel comfortable a day. It’s best to do your breathing exercises on an empty stomach. You can visualize a box in your mind or around the chest, to help you with this breathing technique. Inhale up one side of the box, then go across the box when you are holding, exhale down the other side of the box, and then pause moving your mind across the bottom of the box, then continue to move around the square box.
Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana): To try alternate nostril breathing sit down in a comfortable seated position. Check your spine is tall and your chest is open. Place your left hand on your leg or lap. With your right hand, rest the index and middle fingers on your forehead, in between the eyes. Your right thumb on the right nostril, and your right ring finger on the left nostril. You can close your eyes and take a few slow natural breaths. Close your right nostril, and breathe in through the left, pause for a few seconds, then close the left, and breathe out through the right nostril. Then breathe in the right nostril, then close and pause, then exhale through the left nostril, and pause. Then breathe into the left, close and pause for a few seconds, and exhale through the right nostril, and continue with this cycle. Alternate nostril breathing exercise is said to balance and relax both sides of the brain. This breathing technique can be done any time of the day. Kevala Health live online yoga classes practice this breathing before meditation.
Lengthen Your Exhale: Our exhale is linked to the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps our body and the mind to relax and calm down. When we feel stressed and anxious, it’s easy for us to breathe too much and too fast, which causes less oxygen to the brain. Try to inhale through your nose slowly for four counts, pause for four counts, and exhale for around eight counts through the mouth (4:4:8). Keep doing this breathing exercise for five minutes. You can do this breathing technique in a lying or seated comfortable position.
Breath and Mantra Focus: When we use a mantra and yoga breathing together, this has a deeply relaxing effect on the mind. You can do this breathing technique either lying or sitting in a quiet comfortable position. Gently breathe in and out slowly and with focus. Choose a positive word or affirmation you can repeat on your exhale. Words like “calm”, “peace”, “relax”, and “let go”. Repeat these words slowly and gently, to promote more calmness to the mind. You can do this for a few minutes or longer, any time of the day. Mantras can be repeated quietly or aloud.
Alternate nostril breathing to balance the mind.
Benefits of Breathing Exercises for Stress and Anxiety
Our breathing is more than a physical requirement to live, it is the foundation for our mental, emotional, and spiritual areas of life.
Improved Respiratory Function: Increases lung capacity, which increases oxygen supply in the body and mind.
Boosts Metabolism and Energy Levels: Increased oxygen function improves our energy and blood flow. These breathing techniques can help lower stress hormones like cortisol. Lowering cortisol helps reduce insulin resistance, lowers blood sugar, and decreases cravings for sugary foods.
Enhances Mental Clarity: Breathing exercises help to improve our brain focus and redirect any negative thoughts.
Balances nervous system: Deepening the breath and lengthening the exhale shifts the sympathetic nervous system to parasympathetic function.
Improved Well-being: Breathing exercises help improve overall health. When we can reduce stress and anxiety, this lowers our risks of many health issues such as heart problems, stroke, diabetes, and other inflammatory illnesses.
Deeper Levels of Relaxation: Breathing exercises help relax muscle tension in the body, which can help you improve sleep.
Improved Immunity: Slow conscious breathing sends a message to your brain that everything is ok. It calms the nervous system and reduces stress hormones. So with improved blood flow and less stress hormones help the body clear viruses from the body more efficiently.
Emotional Balance: Focusing on different breathing exercises can help bring more awareness and balance to our emotional body. In yoga, we learn to feel and breathe into our emotions when they arise. When we are faced with a situation that leads to high emotions, controlled breathing exercises stimulate the vagus nerve, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
These calming breathing exercises can be done for a few minutes a day to help you reduce stress and anxiety. You can try to use some calming pure essential oils like Lavender, Chamomile, and Sandalwood to assist with reducing stress and anxiety. More information on Kevala Health’s pure natural essential oil roll-on blends for stress and anxiety with this link.
Don’t forget to eat healthy, get good quality sleep, meditate, and do daily yoga to reduce anxiety and stress. Combine all this with your daily breathing exercises to live a happier and healthier life.
You can learn more about these breathing exercises for beginners in Kevala Health’s live-stream yoga online classes. Try our 14-day free live-stream yoga classes by sending Jodie an email.
