Calm Body and Mind are Just a Breath Away
We are living in a stressful world, we as a society are stressed about everything. As being a human we don’t like stress and we try to get rid of it. For that purpose we follow wide array of approaches. But we don’t know is that in order to relieve the stress all we have to do is to just take a deep breath. This is our body’s mechanism of reliving stress and this is a most nature, cheap and easy way. What else do we need? Below are some breathing techniques that you can use to relieve your stress.
Equal Breathing
Equal Breathing
Our whole body is all about balance. Therefore, it can also benefit from balanced breathing as well. You can practice equal breathing by first inhaling and count till four, then exhaling will again counting till four. This is the most basic form, experts in this can go up to six or even eight counts on each breath. Equal breathing will help in reduction of stress and increasing your focus.
Though it can be performed at any time but it would be most beneficial if you practice it while sleeping. This will help you take your mind off from all the stressful thoughts that prevents you from sleeping.
Abdominal Breathing
Abdominal Breathing
This breathing exercise is performed by placing your one hand on your chest and other on your belly. Now take a deep breath and make sure your diaphragm inflates not your chest. This inflation should be enough to make your lungs stretch. Try to achieve such six to ten deep breaths over the time of one minute and repeat this activity for ten minutes. Abdominal breathing will instantly reduce your heart rate along with blood pressure.
Progressive Relaxation
Progressive Relaxation
This procedure will help you in alleviating the tension from your whole body. Start by closing your eyes and then focus on your each group of muscle and tense them followed by relaxing them for about two to three seconds on each group. You cannot just start with any muscle group you have to follow an order. Say start from toes and move it up all the way to your head. During this process you also need to maintain deep and slow breaths.
Alternate Nostril Breathing
Alternate Nostril Breathing
This way of breathing is very famous among yogis. According to them this method of breathing will be able to balance your left and right side of the brain. In this method start by sitting in a comfortable yet meditative pose. Next you have to close your right nostril by putting your right thumb over it after that take a deep breath from your left nostril. When you reach at the peak, close your left nostril and with the help of ring finger and now exhale from the right nostril. Repeat this process for a while and soon you will feel awake and focused. Due to this specific reason avoid doing it at night.
Brain Breathing
Brain Breathing
As the name suggest this technique will make you more active and keep lethargy at bay. Using this breathing exercise you can warm your body up and make your brain wake up. This is more like your morning dose of coffee. Therefore, it is recommended at the start of the day. Start by slow yet long inhale which will be followed by a powerful and quick exhale using your lower belly. As you become comfortable with this procedure you can increase your pace.