Breathing
Breathing in a controlled manner can help relax us.
Using breathing exercises can help ease anxiety, fear, pain, stress and
many other related tense situations.
The way we breathe determines our balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide
in our bodies. It is carbon dioxide which acts as a tranquilliser. When we
breath too fast or too deep our levels of carbon dioxide lower. When we
breathe OUT slowly this conserves the carbon dioxide. Therefore by
breathing OUT slower, we feel a sedative type sensation, which helps to
calm us down.
If you need to gain energy, or feel more alert you could try taking longer
IN breaths. However, if you have too much oxygen in your system, this
makes us feel agitated and anxious.
The following exercises are to help calm and relax us.
In through your nose
Breathing IN through your nose and OUT through you mouth. Using long
deep breaths is a fast, quick and discreet way of calming yourself,
finding balance and courage. Try to make the out breath longer than your
IN breath.
Deep Breathing
Deep breathing is a process of taking very deep breaths and then fully
relaxing your body on the 'out' breath. You needn't follow the in through
your nose and out through your mouth technique. You can do either through
you nose or mouth, But do ensure that you are fully relaxing your body and
your mind on the out breath.
Children
Teaching breathing techniques to your children can have a real effect
on how they start dealing with stressful situations. Whilst it is nice to
believe that our children do NOT feel anything other than shear joy in
life; we know it is not so.
Children have a lot of energy and have real difficulty in sitting still
for very long. But if we can teach them how to use the way that they
breathe to help them stay calm it can have a long and lasting effect on
their lives.
It can help when they are angry at another child or at you, it can help
when they simply are having a tantrum, it can help when they have hurt
themselves.
Do it with them, allow them to copy you and it becomes a calming
process for you both (especially if you are at the end of your tether).
Recommended Reading
