Conscious Breathing for

Creating Calm and Relaxation

Stress Management Tip!

Conscious Breathing Practices

Slow, Deep, breathing is a real easy stress reducer! Deep Breathing is an automatic trigger to your body telling it to relax! There are many wonderful benefits for the body and the mind when you take the time to consciously deep breath. Our breath will oxygenate the blood waking up our brain, it will help to release tension by relaxing all your muscles and it will help to calm and quiet your mind. Conscious Breathing exercises are easy to do and almost effortless. You can take a moment to do them anywhere. (I always practice conscious breathing when I am driving. Getting in my car is a trigger for me to begin increasing awareness of my breath.)

Conscious Breathing is one great method to relieve stress! It is natural, quick, very simple an easy, free, and can be performed by just about anyone, anywhere at just about anytime!

To practice conscious breathing:

Sit or stand in a relaxed and comfortable position.
Draw in a slow, deep breath. Breathe through your nose. As you do, mentally count from one to five.
Release and allow to escape through your nose. And, mentally count this time...from one to eight.....releasing your breath slowly and steadily

Repeat this process a minimum of three times. Three times is the automatic signal that the brain sends to the muscles and body to relax. Wow! That is all there is to it!

To be aware of:

As you breathe, notice and allow your abdomen to fill with air and expand outward, rather than raising your shoulders. We have a tendency to hold in our stomachs as we have "learned" this incorrectly. When you allow your belly to expand, this is actually the way we were intended to breath. It is natural, allows the heart to be massaged by the movement and can allow "old stale and toxic" air to be released from the lower parts of your lungs. The more you can bring in fresh air and remove stagnant carbon monoxide the likely it is you will feel better!

(We breathed like this when we were babies, from the stomach, but “unlearned” it as we grew up and developed what is call "chronic stress response" breathing. This is an automatic process, than conscious breathing, over time can replace.)

Try to do this about 7-8 times to easily relax and release tension, or for longer periods of time as a beginning or basic form of meditation. This will also help to relax and quiet a busy mind.

Tools needed for Conscious Breathing:

· Just a few seconds or minutes.

· Your conscious attention

Now, try it! Be conscious of your breathing and take 3 deep breaths! And Relax!