Controlled breathing benefits your mind and body. Panic breathing results in lower carbon dioxide in your bloodstream, which can make the symptoms of anxiety worse. It also reduces sympathetic nervous system activity. The sympathetic nervous system is your "fight or flight" reaction to stress. Calming yourself with controlled breathing helps to switch into the parasympathetic mode, so you become more relaxed.
Muscle Tension and Anxiety
Your rhythm of breathing varies considerably depending on your physical activities and emotional state. Anxiety, breathing disturbances and muscle tension are all linked. Learning relaxed breathing can help to make you feel less anxious and to relax your muscles at the same time. It triggers the body's natural ability to feel relaxed and serene, diminishing the symptoms of anxiety.
Breath Awareness
Controlled breathing begins with breath awareness. In a quiet place and a comfortable position, pay attention to your breathing. Think about how deeply or shallowly you are breathing, whether your breathing rhythm is smooth and even or ragged and irregular. When you are distracted by other thoughts, just let them go and return to thinking about and watching yourself breathe. Think about how your breathing makes you feel, and whether you have areas of tension. If you feel tense anywhere in your body, try to relax that area and return to focusing on breathing.
Breathing Exercises
At the next time you practice relaxed breathing, count your breaths. Start by just counting to see how long each breath is: in, one, two, three, out, one, two, three. At first focus on keeping your breathing regular, and then gradually slow it down, in, one, two, three four -- out, one, two, three, four. You might find it difficult at first to keep your breath regular. If so, just go back to watching and feeling your breathing without counting for a while, and then begin counting again. The purpose is to fill and empty the lungs evenly. When you hyperventilate, you tend to breathe in more than out, so that oxygen builds up and carbon dioxide is diminished, making your symptoms worse.
Filling Your Lungs
Place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. As you inhale, notice that your abdomen expands first. As you continue to inhale and your lungs fill with air, you will feel your chest expand. As you exhale, still counting, notice that your lungs and abdomen relax and settle until your next breath. When you inhale, the diaphragm muscle compresses abdominal organs so they move down and forward in the abdomen. When you exhale the diaphragm relaxes and the organs return to their resting place until you inhale again.
Considerations
Combine breathing exercises with things that trigger your senses, such as essential oils, music, a view or a phrase that you repeat. Practice when you feel relaxed. Then when you feel stressed you can use the breathing techniques to relax. If you have a sensory trigger such as aromatherapy or music, you can use that too to remind you to relax and breathe when you are stressed.
