Simple breathing exercise to calm your mind and your body

It is shown that the practice of yoga reduces stress. And one of the main reasons is taught to breathe properly .

Yes, it seems obvious, but not all are equal breaths. Today I want to show you one breathing technique that will be very useful to calm your mind and body.

A very good breathing exercise to calm both the nervous system and mind full of thoughts, is a timed breath where exhaling is longer than inhalation.

Why does this breathing technique to reduce stress?

When you exhale is a few seconds longer than your inhalation, the vagus nerve sends a signal to the brain to activate your parasympathetic nervous system and decrease the activity of the sympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic sends a command to the body, which responds to stress through a fight or flight response. Your heart rate and your breathing rate increase, starting to release stress hormones such as cortisol, preparing your body to deal with a threat. If this threat is “a lion chasing me and I have to run!”, The release of this hormone is useful because it allows us to be alert and act at a faster rate. But if the threat is “I’m late for work” or “I am very angry with my mother,” is not particularly useful, and indeed, it can be harmful. When cortisol rises too long or too frequently all hormonal systems in the body are disturbed, risking to suffer an anxiety attack.

Moreover, the parasympathetic nervous system controls your rest and relaxation, making your body generates calm and inner balance. When the parasympathetic system dominates, your breathing is calm, low your heart rate, your blood pressure decreases as the blood vessels relax, and body returns to a state of calm and relaxation.

Getting your body is a parasympathetic state is easy with this breathing exercise . Choose how many seconds will your inhalation and exhalation is the longest few seconds. You can start inhaling 2 seconds and exhaling 4, with a pause at the end of inhalation, and another pause at the end of exhalation.

Step by step instructions for this simple breathing exercise

– To begin, sit quietly in a place where you’re comfortable. Close your eyes and start breathing through the nose.

– Now you can start: Inhale for 2 seconds … hold your breath for a second … exhale for 4 seconds … and ends bated breath for one second. Keep breathing smooth and uniform.

– If the count of 2 and 4 seconds you is short, you can go elongating. Test 4 and exhaling inhaling 8, and so sees increasing it as you feel comfortable. If long breaths you create some anxiety decreases over time. The most important thing is that the exhalation is longer than inhalation, not the duration of breathing.

– Practice this breathing exercise for at least 5 minutes. You’re going to see a big difference in your mood!

I hope you have been useful this simple breathing technique . I suggest that you practice and ask you to comment me your experience.

To end

Yoga practice generally reduces levels of cortisol. Most Yoga classes proposed at the end of the class performing Savasana, a posture of relaxation during which you can also practice this breathing exercise . This combination undoubtedly will make you relax and reduce stress .

Heart, if you think this article will be helpful to others, please send it. And if it has been helpful to you, please leave us a comment. It is enriching receive feedback from others who have practiced this breathing exercise.

namaste

naylin