“When the breath wanders, the mind also is unsteady but when breath is calmed the mind too will be still”
– Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Whether you are stuck in a traffic jam in the summer heat, feeling the pressure at work or struggling to cook the dinner for a large gathering of family or friends, allowing your stress to dictate your emotions can make a bad situation even worse. However, by practising some simple breathing exercises you should be able to have a greater level of control over your emotions and allow yourself to relax more quickly. Below are three examples of breathing exercises that can help you relax.
The three part breath
Breathing exercises are a staple part of Yoga and are known as “pranayamas”. One such pranayama is the three part breath exercise which helps to improve breathing, calm your mind and lessen the strain on your organs which comes from a lack of oxygen when you shallow breathe.
This practice involves lying down, crouching or sitting on your knees then beginning to relax your body by closing your eyes and breathing naturally through your nose. The next step is to place your left hand on your abdomen and your right hand on the right of your rib cage; as you do this you should focus on the breath as it travels through your body and exhale completely while pressing on your abdomen to help release the air. After this you should move your left hand toward the bottom of your collarbone and repeat the process for up to five minutes.
Karate breathing
Many people get put off Yoga and breathing exercises by an irrational fear that the exercises will be too difficult, but the beauty of Yoga is that there are a whole range of different exercises for people of all abilities.
Karate breathing is a simple exercise which can help you switch off after a long day at the office and is simple to understand. To begin you should sit yourself in a position that is comfortable and natural for you, relax your body and close your eyes. Next you should take a very deep breath, allowing your shoulders and stomach to expand fully. Inhale through your nose and out through your mouth but make sure your stomach expands and your shoulders stay still. During this exercise you should focus solely on your breathing, as this helps to keep out negative emotions and allows your body to de-stress itself.
Coherent breathing
Coherent or steady breathing is the practice of breathing at a constant rate of only five breaths per minute. To do this you must count to five as you inhale and again as you exhale. Research into coherent breathing has suggested that such a significant change in breathing can shake up the nervous system and improve your body’s natural response to stress.
If you decide to adopt some of these techniques then you should make sure that you allow at least 10-15 minutes a day to practise. The more you complete the techniques the easier you will find them do and the greater the effect they will have on your daily life.
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