Hi,
I'm Audra from the Wellmind Collective.
How many teenagers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
The answer is just one,
But they'll be texting,
Studying,
And panicking all at the same time.
Does this sound like you?
Probably,
Right?
So I'm here to talk about stress.
So what does stress do to you?
Well the first thing you can think of is how does it affect your body?
In fact,
You're going to notice that you're in a stressful situation by the feelings you have in your body before your mind ever clicks in that you're stressed out.
So what we're going to do is we're going to mimic ourselves getting into a stressful situation.
So what I want you to do is I want you to breathe very quickly into your chest.
We'll do it like five or six times,
But basically it looks like this.
So join me.
Let's breathe really fast and quick.
What does that do to your body?
How do you feel?
Should be rubbing up your body making you feel all warm and it also automatically makes you feel a little bit more.
I can feel it in my chest,
My shoulders,
And I get a little,
I just get a little bit heated right here and I can instantly tell when I'm stressed by that.
So now my mind clicks into that way faster than I realize that I am in a stressful situation.
So being aware is really important because when you're aware you can make good decisions about how to handle your stress.
So I'm going to talk today about breathing techniques and what you can do if once you notice that you're feeling really stressed.
So we'll start first.
The first key is really do some switch from that chest breathing to some deep belly breathing.
So we're going to just practice some belly breathing.
So what I would like you to do is just breathe in extremely deep into your belly and your belly will rise.
You can put your hands on your belly and then you can it can rise when you when you breathe in and then you want to take your time with the exhale as well.
You just want to slow everything down.
So let's do some deep belly breathing.
Let's do three deep belly breaths.
Ready?
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
How does that make you feel?
Well it takes definitely slows you down right?
It takes you to a different level of of the heat that you were feeling before.
Now you should feel almost an instant sense of calm even after three breaths.
You can take just if you can't remember anything else you can do that deep belly breathing for like 10 cycles and it will do amazing things for you.
I have done it when I had to walk out on a stage with 300 people looking to me.
I did 10 deep belly breathe breaths and I was able to walk out there and feel calm instead of a nervous panic stressed out self.
So another technique I want to show you is what we call box breathing.
Which basically if you think about a box it looks like a box.
So you breathe in for four counts.
You hold it for four up at the top.
You breathe out for four and then you hold it again for four.
And we're going to do this for four cycles just to get a practice in so you can know exactly how it looks and how it feels.
So the best way to do this is with your eyes closed but I know how awkward that can be in a you know in a public place.
So whichever you want to do.
So let's I'm going to close my eyes.
So we're going to breathe in for four.
Breathe in.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Hold for two.
Three.
Four.
Breathe out for three.
Two.
One.
And we're gonna hold for two.
Three.
Four.
Breathe in for two.
Three.
Four.
Breathe.
Hold for two.
Three.
Four.
Breathe out for three.
Two.
One.
Hold for two.
Three.
Four.
Breathe in for two.
Three.
Four.
Hold for two.
Three.
Four.
Breathe out for three.
Two.
One.
Hold for two.
Three.
Four.
Breathe in for two.
Three.
Four.
Hold for two.
Three.
Four.
Breathe out for three.
Two.
One.
You can go back to your normal breathing.
So how does how do you feel after doing that?
Of course.
It's scientifically proven that this type of breathing really slows down your nervous system.
So when we were doing that chest breathing we were firing up our fight or flight response.
Our sympathetic nervous system.
And when you do the deep belly breathing or the the box breathing it actually slows down your nervous system.
Puts you in a in a restorative state.
Calm.
You can make good decisions in that state.
So if you're all stressed out do you generally make the best decisions?
No.
Are you going to make the best choices when you walk into a test?
If you don't have a calm sense about yourself.
And confidence as well.
Knowing that you studied and you're ready to go.
I think even as per as much as you can prepare you you do have to get prepared.
But you also just need to have the right state of mind.
So I hope today helped you figure out how to handle.
When to recognize when you're in a stressful situation.
And then two.
How to do some quick breathing.
Belly breathing if you don't remember anything else.
To calm your nervous system down.
So that you can go take care of what you need to take care of.
Have a great day.
Thank you.
