We often turn our attention to our breath when we climb upstairs, or when we practice yoga. But for most of the day we don’t pay attention to the way we breathe. If we get used to making quick control of our breath during the day, we can easily recognize our stress levels and improve the quality of our life.
Deep and full breathing can overcome the obstacle of stress and send clearer messages to our nervous system.
On the other hand surface breathing is the natural reaction to a stressful situation. At the same time, messages are sent to our nervous system that something is wrong, and this fact activates even more stress.
This way, even if you sit and work at your computer and everything seems fine, you may give the order to your body to release the stress hormones-especially if you sit humbly since the bad stance compresses the torso, and this limits the lungs and you end up with surface breathing.
This situation may look like a dead-end but you can fix it easily. The only thing you have to do is to start taking some deep full breaths. Deep breathing causes a relaxing reaction. And the good thing is that you can do them everywhere you want and in just a few seconds – even in the middle of a really important appointment, during a flight or just when you are waiting in a row.
Below I give you some ideas on how you can transform your next breath into full, soothing and relaxing:
Help yourself
Place your hand to your belly exactly below your belly button. At your next inhalation breath deep until you feel your stomach inflating and your hand moving away from your spine. With the exhalation pull your belly inside, in order your hand to come backward and release as much air as you can – without pressuring yourself.
Make a long exhalation
Make a sigh or pretend that you are wiping out a candle or just exhale for as long as you can. Any way you choose to do it take out as much air as you can – always without pressure. This way space will be created that will cause a big, deep and relaxing inhalation, that will come effortlessly.
Translated by Marianna Thimiaki
