Self Care Hack – Just Breathe

As an Integrative Therapist I have many supplementary tools and resources to help clients become more self-secure. Breath techniques are one small but useful tool. Breath is one of the most critical requirements for human life and how we use it profoundly influences our entire being.  Quite literally, how we  breath affects every cell in the body via changes in gene expression; for better or worse.

When stressed, our breathing naturally becomes more shallow and rapid. Triggering the body’s fight/flight/freeze responses which are managed by the sympathetic nervous system. The extreme, is hyper ventilation with that panicky “can’t get enough air” feeling caused by to little CO2 in the body. We need a good balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our bodies to function efficiently. The appropriate amount of CO2 actually helps the body utilize oxygen. In fact this is why 1^st responders in Europe administer oxygen mixed with CO2 instead of straight oxygen.

Understanding this is great, but the devil’s in the details. Forcing  ourselves to breathe deeply feels hard, and overdoing it can leave us with that feeling anxious and light headed feeling. Hardly calming.

 

While breathing in, imagine you’re sucking the air down into your lower belly using the muscles in your lower belly. Now gently and naturally exhale supporting your breath by tightening those same muscles. Notice how easy and natural this feels.

When we breathe in, it stimulates the fight/flight/freeze or sympathetic nervous system. Breathing out stimulates the parasympathetic or calming nervous system. When feeling stressed, take a few minutes to do the following.

Draw your breath in deeply from the lower belly; fairly quickly, say a count of 4-6 as feels comfortable. Now hold that breathe for the same amount of time, followed by calmly breathing out using twice the count used on the inhalation. Remember to lift that breath out from that cradle of muscles in the lower belly.

If the stress levels you’re experiencing require more substantial resources, you may wish to book a session with David Gilbert our Integrative Therapist – Providing tools so powerful they’re guaranteed.

Yours in good mental and emotional health.