Breathing For Stress Release

By Marlene McIntyre, CPC

We all feel stressed at times and we wonder how we may take control of the stress, instead of feeling captive to it. Stress, especially excessive or continuous stress is linked to contributing to a wide variety of serious medical conditions, including heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, ulcers, acid reflux disease, as well as numerous other illnesses. It is prudent to alleviate the stress and to do it as quickly as possible.

Removing yourself from the stressful situation and then undertaking some vigorous physical exercise (never undertake a physical exercise program without consulting your physician first) is certainly one of the best methods of quickly relieving your stress. It will help if you have someone who will listen to you as you talk through your stress; pets are great listeners. Hobbies are also great stress relievers.

If perhaps you are stuck at work and facing a stressful situation there is a simple breathing method that will assist you in relieving your immediate stress. It will not cure the stress, but it will certainly help you get through the day. Although most of us have heard that deep breathing will help, most of us do not know how to correctly breathe deeply. When you practice deep breathing correctly you will feel more relaxed. Correct deep breathing quiets our over stimulated minds and emotions and releases the tension in our diaphragm, ribs, belly and our back allowing us to breath deeply. The result is that we end up breathing shallowly requiring that we breath faster to get the necessary oxygen our bodies crave hence we become even more anxious and tense.

Breathing is automatic, something that we seldom think of as we go about our lives. Learning to master this simple deep breathing technique will teach you how to relax even when feeling stress. It is simple, it is effective and it can be done anywhere, and it will let you relax.

Here it is, take a long inhalation, let your body look after this part and now here is the secret, just pay a little attention to how you exhale. Exhale through your nose, just exhale slowly, that’s it, let all the air leave your lungs. Let yourself be conscious of the air gently leaving your body and let yourself relax as you do it. Now inhale as normal, giving no thought to how you inhale, let your auto responses take over your air intake. Then slowly, gently exhale through your nose again do it slowly and completely, and let your body relax as you do it. It is that simple and with a little practice you can do it without even thinking. Sense the air from your lungs going out slowly and gently through your nose. You likely will need to take four or five breaths this way to feel the desired effect – you body relaxing, your stress dissipating.

Another choice is to inhale as normal and then with pursed lips gently blow out as you exhale. It is suggested you again take four or five breaths this way or until you soon feel your body’s tension lessening, leaving you with a sense of calm.

There is nothing to count, no equipment necessary and these exercises can be done anywhere. But for optimum effect, find a quiet corner somewhere to do these exercises and envision your private place. Your private place is that place your mind escapes to when you think of where you would like to be, if you had your druthers. Even a couple of minutes of quietly doing these slow gentle breathing exercises will make you feel like you can face what the day holds for you.

And these exercises may be done several times a day.

Content provided courtesy of Marlene McIntyre, CPC
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