5 Breathing exercises to relax in 10 minutes or less

"Most of us don’t pay much attention to the way we breathe. It wasn’t until I started taking yoga many years ago that I discovered that I was a shallow breather (breathing through the chest rather than lower lungs), breathed through my mouth rather than through my nose, and was prone to breathing quickly when feeling stressed and anxious.

We all have our triggers for stress and anxiety. A few of mine are driving in traffic, feeling disapproved of by some authoritative figure, and sudden loud noises. When these events happen, my body will often go into a “fight or flight” mode: rapid breathing which causes a surge of stress hormones, such as cortisol, that increase blood pressure and pulse rate. I get into a state of high alert and ready to fight for my life. The problem is that I am not out fighting the lions in the jungle, but rather experiencing the frequent stresses of modern life (like being in a Starbucks drive through line that is taking forever)!

This is common and probably happens to most of us. The key is to become more aware of our breathing when we are feeling stress and have some tools handy to prevent our bodies from going into that highly stressed state. What we want to do is to elicit the relaxation response to reduce stress. A focus on our breathing is an excellent way to do this.

Here are 5 of my favorite breathing exercises that you can do in ten minutes or less to relax. ... read more

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