5 Breathing Techniques to Relieve Stress

There are many benefits of controlled breathing, including the lowering of blood pressure, promoting of calm feelings and relaxation, and helping to destress. With more and more activities that kept people busy all day, many have resulted to a stressful life. The good thing is that there are many ways of finding calm, without spending on a spa massage. Breathing should also work on you if you do it the right way. Here are some steps that you can mimic so that you can begin eliminating stress from your life.

1. Equal Breathing

If you can apply balance in your life, you can make a difference to your health. This can begin through breathing. You just need to inhale in a count of four and exhale with the same counting. This should be done through your nose, adding resistance to the breath. This can work best at any time or any place, but you should do this before going to bed. If you find it hard to fall asleep at night, then you can use equal breathing techniques to solve your problem.

2. Abdominal Breathing

You need to put one hand on the chest while the other on the belly, then begin breathing through your nose. This will ensure that the diaphragm is inflated with sufficient air so that you can create a stretch in your lungs. The goal is to achieve 6 to 10 deep breaths a minute that should span for at least 10 minutes so that it can produce immediate reductions to the heart rate as well as the blood pressure.

3. Alternate Nostril Breathing

Allowing to breathe through alternate nostrils will indeed bring balance and calm, while uniting the left and right sides of the brain. This could be done by starting in a comfortable pose, while holding the right thumb over the left nostril and deeply inhale through the right nostril. When you reach your peak, try to close the right nostril using the ring finger, then you need to exhale using your left nostril.

4. Progressive Relaxation

In order to release tension from your head to the toes, you must close your eyes and then focus on the relaxing and tensing the muscle group in a matter of 2-3 seconds each. You can begin with the toes and the feet moving up to the knees, the thighs, the rear, the chest, the arms, until it reaches the eyes. This should be done while keeping deep and slow breaths.

5. Guided Visualization

Find a happy place that is nearest your location. You can ask for assistance from a therapist to record your progress and to keep your activity effective. You just need to breathe deeply as you focus on positive and pleasant images that should be able to replace negative thoughts.

If you think that you have problems regarding stress, it is always best to consult a therapist or professionals that can provide assistance in treating your condition. Sometimes, finding a person to help relieve stress is necessary when you can’t do it on your own due to your very busy lifestyle.