5 Minute Breathing For Anxiety

A quick and easy breathing technique to switch off the 'fight or flight' anxiety and stress response, and switch on the parasympathetic rest and digest response. Breathe in through the nose for 5 and out through pursed lips for 10. Always breathe through the tummy. Practice this breathing exercise regularly and notice the switch in your nervous system. Once you are familiar with the sensations, you will be able to hack into your stress system quickly in your day-to-day life with ease.

Transcript

Welcome and today we're going to learn a really quick and easy technique to calm anxiety.

Anxiety symptoms are caused by our stress response from the autonomic nervous system.

It's called the fight or flight response and it's responsible for high heart rate and other symptoms of anxiety.

But what we're going to do today is we're going to shift that response.

We're going to slow down the body and we're going to switch on the parasympathetic response which slows that heart rate down and stops other symptoms of anxiety through the breath.

Now the way to do this is to sit up nice and straight,

Ground your feet on the floor,

Put your back against the back of the chair,

Spine nice and tall and shoulders back,

Head up straight and we're going to place our hand on our tummy because we want to make sure we're getting a deep breath into the belly,

Not localising our breathing up in the chest.

This makes sure that we get a nice deep,

Big intake of oxygen.

And we're going to breathe in through the nose to cleanse the breath coming in and then we're going to breathe out very slowly through pursed lips to really slow that out breath.

And we're going to make sure that out breath is longer than the in breath and that is the key to switching on the parasympathetic response.

It's that deep breath prolonging the out breath.

Okay,

So we're going to do some deep breaths together.

Take a couple of breaths to get comfortable.

And in through the nose,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

In two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

In two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

In two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

In two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

In two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

In two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Out,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten.

Eyes closed,

Notice how you feel.

Practice this breathing technique regularly and I think awareness is really key.

Notice the shift in the nervous system.

Practice that relaxation response and practice getting that shift.

Reviews

This brought me back from a racing heart rate. Quickly.

Thst was great, I am so looking forward to this course!

This was really helpful. I had been feeling quite stressed, anxious and overwhelmed but, now, I feel calm, relaxed and focused 🪷
Thank you 🙏

calming 💖tysm

Thank you!! Very relaxing. Your instructions were great & you have a lovely voice. Namaste.🕊️

Clear and concise guided breath exercise that really works for anxiety/stress

Thank you for sharing your wisdom and a superb breathing technique.

Lovely voice m ade good use of short time. Thank y

Quick and calming - perfect when you have just a little bit of time. 🙏

For someone who struggles with anxiety, especially socially, this is such a great & quick grounding technique that has helped me so much!! So amazing what just you’re breathe can do🧡 Thank you

Lovely session much appreciated thank you 😊 🙏🏼 💪🏼⭐️💚🌎

Love it. Worked straight away. Would love a longer version.

Quick and easy to follow. Helped me calm the mind after waking up with high anxiety

Namaste

Thank you. What a good technique for slowing down my breathing and calming myself down.

Simple but effective, I will use this.

Thank you for this technique. I do feel more relaxed. I Love it.

Welsh accent is perfect for this process - what a find you are

Great breathing exercise, with very quick results, thank you !!!

Nice & relaxing! Thnx!