Breathing for relaxation
These simple exercises can help:
- Relax your body and mind
- Reduce anxiety and feelings of stress
- Support overall wellbeing
- Help you have a clear mind
Deeper breathing
When we are feeling stressed, we tend to shallow breathe, breathing in and out of our chest area.
By breathing slowly and deeply, we are taking the effects of stress from our body and mind and helping ourselves relax.
- Make yourself comfortable, sitting or lying down
- Close your eyes, or if you would rather, just soften your focus
- Put one hand on your tummy and one on your chest
- Breathe in through your nose all the way down to your tummy area
- Breathe out through your mouth
Tips:
- Allow your tummy to gently move up and down with the breath. You will feel the hand on your belly area moving up and down as you breathe
- See if you can make your outbreath slightly longer than your inbreath
- You can count breathing in for 3 and count breathing out for 4
- Or repeating words such as ‘breathing in’ and ‘breathing out’, to help focus the mind
Alternate nostril breathing
This is a great tool to use at times of stress. It can also be really effective for helping with menopausal hot flushes.
- Sit in a comfortable position, placing your left hand on left knee, and lifting your right hand up towards your right nostril
- Start by inhaling
- Then use right thumb to close off right nostril
- Exhale, through left nostril, then inhale through left nostril
- Then close off your left nostril with forefinger, opening the right nostril and exhale through the right nostril, then inhale through right nostril
- Then close the right nostril, opening the left nostril and breathing in through the left nostril
- Continue this for up to 5 mins
Tips:
- Keep it simple!
- The only thing you need to remember is to exhale, then inhale from the same nostril, then closing it off and repeating on the other side