Breathe Away Anxiety

Take positive action to calm anxious thoughts using one of your most powerful tools - your breath. By breathing in a certain way, you can quickly relax your nervous system and reduce feelings of anxiety.

In this short, guided track, you'll practice breathing in for 4 counts and out for 6 counts to slow down your heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and regulate your emotions.

I hope you find this useful to use in anxious moments and can call on it anytime you feel the need.

Thanks to Alex Dallas for the music.

Transcript

Anxiety can show itself in many different ways but one common experience is the impact anxiety can have on your breath.

The effects of anxiety on your body mean that your breath often becomes more shallow and speeds up.

You might take shorter in-breaths higher up in the chest.

This then only exacerbates those anxious thoughts and feelings and the anxiety cycle continues.

But the breath is a powerful tool.

Used in the correct way it can actually help to calm the nervous system and reduce feelings of anxiety just by breathing in a particular way.

And that way is to breathe out for longer than you breathe in.

Breathing slowly and breathing through the nose.

Breathing in this way stimulates the vagus nerve which helps to slow down the heart rate,

Reduce blood pressure and regulate emotions.

So let's try that now and we'll be counting in for four and out for six.

To prepare take a breath in through your nose and then a long loud sigh out of your mouth.

And do that two more times.

And now breathing only through your nose if you can.

Inhale two three four.

Exhale two three four five six.

Inhale two three four.

Exhale two three four five six.

Inhale two three four.

Exhale two three four five six.

Inhale.

Inhale.

Inhale.

And keep going now for a few more rounds of breathing in and out through your nose.

Inhaling to a count of four.

Exhaling for a longer count of six.

By working with the breath in this way you're working directly with the body.

You're taking positive action using the powerful tool of your breath rather than trying to think or talk your way out of anxiety which can often be much more complex.

The effects of breathing exercises increase over time and so with practice you'll be able to more quickly relieve some of your anxiety symptoms.

As you come to the end of your practice now head over to one of the other guided breathing sessions like hummingbee or ocean breathing to try out a longer practice and see if you can notice your body and mind feel calmer and more in balance.

Thank you so much for joining me today.