Breathing techniques

Breathing … and why it’s good for you!

Have you ever found yourself feeling really anxious and notice that your breathing has changed? Maybe your chest feels tight, and you notice your breathing rate has increased. When we feel anxious or stressed, this is one of our bodies coping strategies to get us ready to fight, flight or flee. The fight or flight response is an automatic physiological reaction to an event that you have perceived as stressful or frightening.

To our ancestors, this was useful; for example, if they faced a wild animal, it helped them to survive. Nowadays, we still have the same physiological make-up, but fortunately we rarely come across the same threats, such as wild animals. Instead, many other things can trigger this response in us. We have spent the past year with a significant threat to our wellbeing just outside our front doors.

The perception of a threat activates the sympathetic nervous system and triggers an acute stress response that prepares the body to fight or flee. Now, maybe the thought of visiting a busy shopping centre or getting on public transport as we venture back out into the world triggers this response for you.

You can reap many benefits from breathing exercises, even those that take only a few minutes. If you find you have more time, you can do them for longer too.

Below, I have listed seven techniques to help you cope with panic, anxiety, and stress. For each one, I have mentioned when it could be helpful for you.

Hand on heart

The hand on heart technique is great if you are away from home or with other people, as it is very discrete. Anyone can try this.

Just the action of placing your hand on your heart very quickly stimulates the release of oxytocin and the parasympathetic nervous system. Oxytocin, also known as the cuddle hormone, is responsible for a calm and connect response in the body. It is the brain’s direct and immediate antidote to the stress hormone cortisol. To practice this technique:

Simply place your own hand on your own heart, breathe gently, softly, deeply into your chest.

Remember one moment, just one moment, when you felt safe, loved and cherished by another human being. This could be anyone, even a pet. As you remember this moment of feeling safe and loved, breath slowly and deeply, let yourself feel the feeling of that moment, stay there for 20 or 30 seconds.

This technique quickly has a soothing, calming effect, and some people have reported it can stop a panic attack in 30 seconds or so.

Box breathing

Another very simple technique is called box breathing (sometimes referred to as square breathing). It is again a simple technique that anyone can try.

Before starting, sit with your back supported in a comfortable chair and put both feet on the floor.

• Close your eyes. Breathe in through your nose while counting to four slowly. Feel the air as it enters your lungs.

• Hold your breath inside while counting slowly to four. Try not to clamp your mouth or nose shut. Avoid inhaling or exhaling for four seconds.

• Begin to slowly exhale for four seconds.

• Repeat steps 1 to 3 at least three times. Ideally, repeat the three steps for four minutes or until calm returns.

If you find this technique challenging, to begin with, try counting to three instead of four. Once you have got used to this technique, you may choose to count for longer, up to five or six.

Belly breathing

Belly breathing, also called diaphragmatic breathing, is a breathing exercise that helps strengthen your diaphragm, an important muscle that helps you breathe. One of the most significant benefits of breathing in this way is the reduction of stress.

Here’s how to do it:

• Sit in a comfortable position or lie flat on the floor, your bed, or another comfortable, flat surface.

• Relax your shoulders.

• Put a hand on your chest and a hand on your stomach.

• Breathe in through your nose for about two seconds. You should experience the air moving through your nostrils into your abdomen, making your stomach expand. During this type of breathing, make sure your stomach is moving outward while your chest remains relatively still.

• Purse your lips (as if you’re about to drink through a straw), press gently on your stomach, and exhale slowly for about two seconds.

• Repeat these steps several times for the best results.

5-4-3-2-1 grounding

This technique is really good to use before you do something that you are maybe not looking forward to; or feel nervous about.

Before starting this exercise, pay attention to your breathing. Slow, deep, long breaths can help you maintain a sense of calm or if you are feeling anxious, it can help you to return to a calmer state. Once you find your breath, put both feet onto the floor and go through the following steps to help ground yourself:

· Acknowledge FIVE things you see around you. It could be your computer, a bird in the garden, anything that is nearby.

· Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch around you. It could be your pen, a cushion, or the ground under your feet.

· Acknowledge THREE things you hear. This could be anything from the radio, birds singing to a plane going overhead.

· Acknowledge TWO things you can smell. Maybe you are in your kitchen and smell your favourite fruit tea. If you need to take a brief walk to find a scent, you could choose to smell your perfume, aftershave, or you may prefer to go outside into nature.

· Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste. What does the inside of your mouth taste like—toothpaste, coffee, or the sandwich you had at lunchtime?

Butterfly technique

The “Butterfly Hug” was first used by Lucy Artigas while working in Acapulco with survivors of hurricane Paulina in 1997. Sometimes this approach is taught in trauma therapy, it can also be used to self-soothe when under stress. You may prefer to use this technique when you are not out and about; only practice in the car if the car is stationary.

Cross your arms over your chest so that the tip of the middle finger from each hand is placed below your collarbone. Hand and fingers should be as vertical as possible so that the fingers point towards the neck and not towards the arms.

Your eyes can be closed or partially closed.

You alternate the movement of your hands, like the flapping wings of a butterfly; let your hands move freely.

Breath slowly and deeply (abdominal breathing) while you observe what is going on through your mind and body, such as thoughts, images, sounds, smells, feelings without changing, pushing your thoughts away or judging

You can pretend as though what you are observing is like clouds or bubbles passing by.

Stop when you feel in your body that it has had enough and lower your hands to your thighs.

There is no time limit on this one, and you can do it anywhere, anytime for as little as 3-4 minutes. You don’t have to do it for long.

4-7-8 breathing

This technique is helpful if you struggle to get to sleep. This one is not for any setting where you’re not able to fully relax. You don’t have to use it for falling asleep; it can also put you into a state of deep relaxation.

Find a place to sit or lie down comfortably. Prepare by resting the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, right behind your top front teeth. You’ll need to keep your tongue in place throughout the practice. It takes practice to keep from moving your tongue when you exhale. Exhaling during 4-7-8 breathing can be easier for some people when they purse their lips.

The following steps are carried out in the cycle of one breath:

1. First, let your lips part. Make a whooshing sound, exhaling completely through your mouth.

2. Next, close your lips, inhaling silently through your nose as you count to four in your head.

3. Then, for seven seconds, hold your breath.

4. Make another whooshing exhale from your mouth for eight seconds.

When you inhale again, you initiate a new cycle of breath. Practice this pattern for four full breaths.

The held breath (for seven seconds) is the most critical part of this practice. It’s also recommended that you only practice 4-7-8 breathing for four breaths when you’re first starting out. You can gradually work your way up to eight full breaths.

Alternate nostril breathing

Alternate nostril breat things you can smell. Maybe you are in your kitchen and smell your favourite food or drink. If you can to take a brief walk to find a scent, you could choose to smell your perfume, afgo outside into nature.re.e.ture.ure.re.e..

1. Sit in a comfortable chair with your spine straight and your chest open

2. Relax your left palm comfortably into your lap and bring your right hand just in front of your face.

3. With your right hand, bring your index finger and middle finger to rest between your eyebrows, lightly using them as an anchor. The fingers we’ll be actively using are the thumb and ring finger.

4. Close your eyes and take a deep breath in and out through your nose.

5. Close your right nostril with your right thumb. Inhale through the left nostril slowly and steadily.

6. Close the left nostril with your ring finger, so both nostrils are held closed; retain your breath at the top of the inhale for a brief pause.

7. Open your right nostril and release the breath slowly through the right side; pause briefly at the bottom of the exhale.

8. Inhale through the right side slowly.

9. Hold both nostrils closed (with ring finger and thumb).

10. Open your left nostril and release your breath slowly through the left side. Pause briefly at the bottom.

Repeat 5-10 cycles, allowing your mind to follow your inhales and exhales.

Steps 4-9 represent one complete cycle which should take about 30-40 seconds.

If you are feeling stressed or anxious, move through 5-10 cycles.

Try to match the length of your inhales, pauses, and exhales. For example, you can start to inhale for a count of five, hold for five, exhale for five, hold for five. You can slowly increase your count as you refine your practice.

Many of these techniques, as you can see, use numbers. If, when you feel anxious, you can’t remember any of these, even just slowing your breathing and making your out-breath longer than your in-breath will help, even if you can’t remember the exact combination of numbers.