Take a Deep Breath

Take a Deep Breath
Anytime, anywhere

Blowing a dandelion

Too much to do and not enough time? Need to pay your bills but can't seem to get the cash together? Want the perfect relationship and don't think you have it? Want a parking space and can't find one?These are some reasons we get stressed......

"Stress can be caused by wanting the present moment to be different than it is," says Eckhart Tolle author of The Power of Now. Dr. David Simon, co-director of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in Southern California, agrees saying that stress is caused by anything getting in the way of our desires.

Stress is something we can't really escape, but we can either prevent some of it, or meet it differently everyday. One antidote to the effects of stress is to practice meditation, but it isn't always convenient. You might be stressed at a meeting, or while driving..... So what to do?

Stress activates our sympathetic nervous system - the flight or flight psycho-physiological response. This response increases our heart rate, raises our blood pressure, we can start to sweat and our breathing changes. One way to take control of the effects of the stress response is to physically change our breath.

People tend to take rapid shallow breaths or even forget to breathe at all when faced with a stressful situation. There's something we can do once we realize the breath has changed in this way, we can literally shift the stress response by taking some slow deep breaths. The deep breath, of course, replenishes the oxygen just in case you were holding your breath due to a stressful situation.

Deep breaths also send a signal to your mind and body that it is time to relax. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, and slows you way down. And it can help to reduce the anxiety we can feel when we're stressed. Researchers and physicians at Boston University's Center for Anxiety Related Disorder found slow, deep, diaphragmatic breathing proved just as effective in reducing anxiety as the antidepressant drug imipramine!

With your awareness on your body you might notice other areas where stress is creating a physical response, and then you can put your attention on those. Maybe your jaw is clenched, you are scowling, or your shoulders are up around your ears. When you're busy reacting to stress, you tend to be unaware of your body and its needs.

And there's more. When you stop putting your attention on the stressful stimulus in the outside world, and redirect your attention to your body, it also helps you to bring your focus to the present moment. When you are in the present moment, you can respond more mindfully to whatever the stressful situation is instead of worrying about the future or agonizing over the past.

There is an aspect of yoga, a practice using the breath, known as pranayama. It's based on the idea that prana (life force energy) and the mind exert an influence on each other. By controlling the breath through the practice of pranayama, the restlessness of the mind is automatically controlled. There are a variety of practices in the yoga of breath. Many are perfect to prepare you for meditation. These days I prefer the slow and steady breath through my nose.

I encourage you to try to this practice now, eyes open or closed, and don't hold in your tummy. Give yourself a deep, slow breath in through your nose, feel it fill your lungs and your diaphragm, letting your belly expand.........and then let it out just as slowly, then, do it again. You can do it three or four times. And you can do this anywhere and anytime.

Giving yourself some deep breaths is the perfect way to get more balanced, especially when driving or sitting in front of a computer. There is a great chime timer that you can download for free onto your computer that you can set to go off every once in a while - reminding you to stop, take a break, and take a deep breath...

There's an old Swedish proverb that we could all take to heart: Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours.

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