Breathing to calm the mind

When you’re feeling stressed or anxious and especially if you’re feeling stuck in that state, it can be really helpful to have some tools that you can use, to move out of it, into your calm, rational mind.

Autonomic nervous system

Your autonomic nervous system has 2 modes: sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight), and parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). Don’t worry too much about the names of these 2 modes, they were given hundreds of years ago and the original theories around what they did, turned out to be untrue.

Long term balance

To balance your autonomic nervous system in the long term, you want to make sure your life includes activities that you find fun or relaxing: exercise, time in nature, and time with friends (especially if that includes a good laugh).

Balance in the moment

In the short term, breathing exercises can be an amazing way to calm your mind. Every health guru will have their special breathing technique, but the basic formula is the same: breathe out for longer than you breathe in. They must be done through the nose and without taking in more air than you normally would, sometimes they include holding your breath.

For me, I’m someone who has had asthma, and still do from time to time, so I find breath holds more difficult. But what I do find is that breathing exercises not only calm my mind but improve my asthma. If you want breathing exercises specifically for asthma, looking into the ‘Buteyko breathing technique’.

Breathing exercises

Ideally, these exercises would be done for around 15 minutes twice a day, in a place with no distractions or conversation. You need to be straight, so that your diaphragm and whole lungs are used: sitting, standing or lying down. I often use them when I’m lying in bed and can’t relax to fall asleep, I rarely get to the 15 minutes before I’ve drifted off.

The way I like to do it is to breathe in for 4 counts, then out for 5 counts, the length of the counts should be just a little slower than your normal breath in. It shouldn’t  feel difficult, but an easy flow to get into. I sometimes find it a little difficult to get into the rhythm at first, especially if I haven’t done it for a while, or if I’m particularly stressed. Some signs that you’re doing this correctly are: increased salvia in your mouth (after all, it is called rest and digest), and increased blood flow – if you’re someone with cold feet, you will find that the increased blood flow should warm your extremities. For me once I’ve been breathing like this for 5 minutes, my mind starts to feel amazing. I would describe it as a calm with joy.

If you need any further support to calm your mind, I have many natural products that can make a massive difference with this.