Feeling anxious? Nervous maybe…or just stressed?

Frustrated, aggravated, angry, or afraid?

Feeling states within your body affect the way you breath, and the way you breath can immediately affect the way you feel, creating a closed loop of stress causing stressed breathing, which creates more stress, until you are inordinately, and most completely, stressed.

Since you are always re-programming your brain and body through the actions you choose to repeat, as described in the post shown here: The Prime Enabler, then something that is repeated as often as your breathing has the potential to create not only an immediate effect, but also a long-term ‘state of mind’.

Martial artists, actors, singers, spies, and people who find themselves in high stress situations are taught a simple breathing technique to help them stay calm. It is the identical technique that is used in advanced meditation practice, when calming the body/mind becomes a pre-requisite for development.

The main issue with breath control and other body oriented techniques is that they work at a different pace than the mind oriented speed of normal life in the modern world. The most common mistake people make when approaching techniques and practices that are meant to create physical changes is that they  ‘try it a few times, then move on’. Physical practices do not move at the ‘digital’ speed we have become accustomed to in our modern world.

They move more at the speed of the sun, moon, and seasons, continuous and unhurried.

Our human species also used to move at this speed, and our bodies developed their present forms and abilities in relation to that rhythm.To the modern human this calls for unusual patience, like waiting for an Internet connection on Dial-up. The important point being, you ‘get’ the physical changes at a speed that feels very slow, more like the changing of the tides than the turning on of a light.

Sit on the edge of a chair so that your spine is straight; place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. When you take a deep breath in, the hand on your abdomen should rise higher than the one on your chest. This insures that the diaphragm is pulling air into the base of the lungs.

1. After exhaling through the nose, take a slow deep breath in through your nose for a count of 3 (or as long as you are able, not exceeding 3)

2. Slowly exhale through your nose for a count of 5. As all the air is released with relaxation, gently contract your abdominal muscles to completely push the remaining air from the lungs. It is important to remember that you deepen respiration not by inhaling more air but by completely exhaling it.

3. Repeat the cycle eight more times for a total of 9 deep breaths.

In general, exhalation should be longer than the inhalation. The use of the hands on the chest and abdomen are only needed to help you train your breathing. Once you feel comfortable with your ability to breathe into the abdomen, they are no longer needed.

Here is a video showing the technique, in this case the person demonstrating is sitting on the floor, we recommend sitting on the edge of a chair.

There are a million videos out there showing variations on this technique, most of them containing psycho-spiritual mumbo-jumbo and overly complicated instruction. The rule here is: Keep it Simple. Impose a simple demand on your body without a lot of mental links and it will make a simple, and in this case, an extremely worthwhile adaptation.

Once you have the basics to abdominal breathing to such a degree that you don’t have to use your hands on your torso for guidance, but can just feel whether you belly is moving in concert with your breath, it is time to ‘use it’ for effect in your life.

The next time you are in a stressful, frustrating, or boring situation, take a moment to focus your attention to your breathing. Chances are you will be ‘chest breathing’. Change your breathing to abdominal breathing by focusing on it for a minute or so. The change in your breathing will have a calming and centering effect on your body, and consequently, your emotions.  This may sound too simple for belief, but this lowering of the breath from the upper chest to the lower abdomen is the primary technique for almost all ‘personal development’ methods. With a little practice, when it becomes your normal method of breathing, you will have a tool that is unused by most of the adult world.