Anxiety is not an unknown topic these days. There are things which we can work on to improve our lives and feel calmer and sometimes it is just as easy as breathing. These breathing techniques can help you with soothing the inner voice that makes you feel anxious and you will start your journey of feeling better.

The Correct Way to Inhale

Inhaling deeply is not always the right solution, especially when you are doing it wrong. With a simple image, we will explain why you are making a mistake while breathing.

People usually breathe shallow – you may have heard this term before – shallow breathing. The thing is, it is just chest breathing and you are drawing the minimal breath into the lungs. This can result in rapid breathing and hypoventilation.

Locate your diaphragm. Feel it with your hands and slowly inhale from that part and imagine you are filling your stomach with air. Do it slowly for 7 times in a row. You will probably feel sleepy – that is because the levels of oxygen in your brain increase so your brain will get more oxygen. Do this frequently during the day. If you are having a hard time remembering – start your day with breathing like this and before you sleep do it again, and then gradually increase the number of these sessions.

Long exhale

Inhaling from the diaphragm is a great start. Take a deep breath and start with a long exhale. An exhale influences our body’s ability to relax and calm down. Push all the air out of your lungs and then breathe from the diaphragm again. Try exhaling longer than you inhale. Count the seconds in the beginning – it will be easier. Don’t think about in which position you should do this – do it in the position you are the most comfortable in – just don’t curl up in a ball or something like that – you need your organs to relax.

Breathe Through Your Nose

Do not breathe through your mouth – try breathing in and breathing out both through your nose and notice your stomach rising. Your chest should remain still.

You may also exhale through your mouth – but it is most important that you engage your stomach muscles to help you push out the air. Reminder: the chest area should remain relatively still. Breathe slowly, and in the beginning, try doing this in a quiet location. With time you will learn how to do this in every place.

Don’t worry – this process will become automatic to you – but you need to practice daily.

Try To Focus on NOT Thinking

Focus on just breathing – slowly. This will help you with reducing anxiety. Notice how it feels when you inhale and exhale normally. Naturally, many of us will have tension within the muscles – so scan your body (mentally), and try releasing the tension one part after another. Start from the top of the head, move to your face, neck, shoulders, chest, arms, stomach, abdominal part, legs, and feet. Breathe in and out several times. Exhale whenever you feel most comfortable.

Personal bonus tip: imagine that with every exhale – you are exhaling negative thoughts, energy, and toxic traits.

Don’t give up if you get distracted. Bring back your attention to the breathing and don’t be too hard on yourself.

Bonus: Follow This Type of Content

Have you heard of Eckhart Tolle and the Power of Now? Well, you should. This is something that has helped many people, including me – the person writing this blog. When my father died I felt like I want to be the next one to go, and I didn’t get the purpose of life. So a woman introduced me to this amazing human and ever since that day – I spend at least 15 minutes a day listening to some of his speeches. You may check the content on Youtube or you may download his book The Power of Now.

One more person you should follow, who is not among us anymore but left a legacy which has helped many people worldwide is Alan Watts. He says:

You are in relationships with the external world that, on the whole, are incredibly harmonious.

There is a lot of content on Youtube about his work and there are a lot of speeches he gave and you should listen to them as well. Here is one video worth your time (among many)

Conclusion

It is not always easy to be fully aware – but trust us, this is like any other exercise. When you are doing push-ups for the first time it is hard. It hurts and you want to give up. But then, some time passes and you get used to the feeling and then you don’t want to skip a day without exercise.

Start feeding your brain with material that is useful for you. Your brain is like your stomach – you feed your stomach with junk food you will get Diabetes – you feed your brain with junk content – you get depressed (not literally but you get the point) and focused on things that are not relevant for you as a human being.