You may have already noticed it yourself: when you focus on your breathing, you may start to feel calmer again. However, what exactly are you changing in the way you breathe. For example, do you breathe faster or slower, or do you take larger or smaller breaths?
At times when you feel stressed, it is smart to calm your breathing first. But how do you go about that easily? Below you will find three simple exercises to do for ten minutes at rest.
Try breathing a little slower
Place your hand on your stomach above your navel and follow the up and down movement of your hand with your attention. This gesture stimulates you to breathe a little deeper, with your diaphragm doing the breathing work. For example, the emphasis shifts from chest breathing to abdominal breathing, and the latter is automatically slower due to (among other things) better oxygen uptake deep in the lungs.
Try to breathe a little less air
Contrary to what you often hear – the advice to inhale large gulps of air – it is better to do the opposite. Breathe as lightly as possible. Sit down, relax the chest and abdominal muscles, and breathe through the nose as lightly and slowly as possible. Notice how little air you need to get and how comfortable you are with it. It improves the absorption of oxygen in your body cells, so that all organs and tissues function better. It also brings balance to the autonomic nervous system.
Breathe only on the left, or alternately through both nostrils
Research shows that both exercises make you a bit calmer, which reduces blood pressure and heart rate. (Breathing only through your right nostril appears to raise blood pressure a bit.)
Learning the Buteyko Method
Do you find these exercises difficult, or do you want to learn more about them? Maybe a Buteyko course is something for you. I offer this course both on location in Heemstede and online. You can always learn to calm your breathing at a time that suits you.