Can breathing techniques help manage stress?

Breathing, the most effective way to keep you calm.

When we are stressed our breathing pattern shortens, we take shallower breaths and spend less time breathing out. Therefore we deprive our bodies of oxygen, inspiration and life force on the in-breath, and affect the release of carbon dioxide and toxins created by stress on the out-breath. We may even forget to breathe at all and the cumulative effect on our body is an additional load of stress on top of the original stress!

Sound too simple to have a big effect? Jason Selk, the best-selling author of 10-Minute Toughness works with top athletes and sports professionals, and the results he gets prove that the opposite is true. Selk's work shows that the way we breathe can have an amazingly beneficial effect on the way we feel and on our ability to handle stress. A technique that Jason has developed is called the 6-2-7 breath.

Before following the steps below, give yourself a rating out of 10 for how stressed you feel right now (10 is very stressed and 0 is very relaxed).

Step 1 Breathe into your stomach taking a deep breath-in whilst you count to 6 seconds.

Step 2 Hold your breath for a count of 2 seconds.

Step 3 Breathe-out over a count of 7 seconds.

Repeat this process a couple of times and assess, with another rating out of 10, how much calmer you feel. If you would like to know more about how to manage your stress, please get in touch. Remember you can book a FREE twenty minute consultation with us at any time by calling 01823 272227.