7/11 Breathing

The 7-11 breathing exercise works along a simple yet powerful principle. When your anxiety levels rise, your body experiences a cascade of changes. The very first change is your breathing pattern. Basically, your body begins to take in more oxygen in case it has to fight or run away.

With the 7-11 breathing exercise you will reverse this process, returning your body and mind to a calm and relaxed state astonishingly quickly. And the more you practice the easier it will become

Transcript

The 7-11.

One tactic you can use if you start to feel really anxious is a 7-11.

This practice can be a great help at any time,

But especially if we're lost in worry or another intense and difficult emotion.

It is a really good way of unworrying.

So let's have a go.

Feeling your feet on the floor or yourself sitting down.

Expanding to feel all of the sensations in the lower half of the body.

Just breathing normally.

Exploring the sensations.

In a moment I'm going to count up to 7 as you breathe in,

And then to 11 as you breathe out.

Just breathing normally right now.

Wherever you are in your breath cycle,

Exhale.

Inhale.

1,

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7.

Exhale.

1,

2,

3,

4,

5,

6,

7,

8,

9,

10,

11.

If you had to speed up the counting in order to get to 7-11,

By the end of the in or the out breath that's fine.

Just allowing yourself to breathe normally now.

How was that?

How did you feel?

What did you notice happening in your body and your mind?

What happened with your breathing?

The 7-11 is a long standing practice which has its roots in counselling and psychotherapy.

It's particularly helpful in these contexts as a way of dealing with panic attacks.

So the shorter inhalation and the longer exhalation.