Ways to "take a breath."

We've all been there: feeling overwhelmed or overstimulated and someone tells us to "take a breath." But what does that really look like? Obviously we're pros at breathing because we do it every day! But breathing to exist is different than breathing to calm our nervous system.

Most of us breath into our chest, which is actually quite a shallow breath. This is fine for regular breathing, but when you want to get extra oxygen and trigger your nervous system to chill out, you gotta breathe deep into your belly. Sounds weird, I know, but hear me out..

Experiment time!!

You can do this sitting or standing, but if you have the space, would you lay down for me? It will only take a second, I promise! Put one hand on your chest to keep it from lifting too much, one hand on your stomach, and try to imagine filling your belly like a balloon. See your hand moving out (or up, if you did lay down)? That's because you just took a diaphragmatic breath. When you breathe this way, your diaphragm and adominal muscle are engaging and make space for your lungs to take in more air, which also means more oxygen into your blood stream! Inhaling slowly through your nose and exhaling through your mouth signals to your nervous system that it is safe, which can then cause decreased heart rate and blood pressure as well as help the brain to gain focus, objectivity, and composure again.

It will likely feel weird at first, but with practice it will become more comfortable. I have been breathing this way for at least 20 years (I was a vocal major for almost a decade and now being a music threrapist, its REALLY hard for me to breath into my chest now! Check out this video as evidence.. it took so many takes to try to show I was breathing haha)

So what kind of breath exercises are good? There are lots of different ways to practice belly breaths. Sleep tip - These can be super helpful at night when you're trying to fall asleep. Focusing on your breath can let your mind shut off a bit and be in the moment.

Here are a few ways to "take a breath."

1) Diaphragmatic Breathing - The experiment example we did above is a great option because it's easy and quick to do, and you don't need much prep or imagry. This is a food one for deep focus, which is why it'b bomb for helping fall alseep!

2) Box Breathing/4 Way Breathing - This one is pretty standard for focus and calming. Breathe in for four seconds, hold for four, exhale for four, pause for four. Repeat until you feel less overwhelm or able to continue what you were doing befoer you needed a minute.

3) 4-7-8 Breaths - For a nervous system rest, try this one. You breathe in through your nose for four seconds, hold for seven, and then breath out through your mouth for eight.

4) Exhale Focused Breaths - This one is great for racing thoughts. breathe in for a few seconds and then double for the exhale (3 in 6 out, etc.). When you have such a long exhale, it helps to reduce heart rate and stops spiraling thoughts.

5) Alternate Nostril Breaths - This is one for when you're feeling overwhelmed. They say that alternating between the nostrils helps to balance the rigt and left brain hemispheres, which can promote a sense of calm. The act of physically blocking one and then switching to the other can also give you something to focus on other than your thoughts, environmental stimulation, etc. For this one, block your left nostril with your left thumb and take a deep breath, then switch to blocking your right nostil with your index finger and exhale. Keep the right nostril blocked and take a breath, switch to blocking the left nostil and exhale. Make sense? Breathe - switch -exhale/breathe -switch - exhale/breathe etc. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter if you get lost in the pattern, just keep focusing on taking deep breaths and switching around every so often!

6) Barrel Breaths - This is something I learned from my classical voice teacher in my undergrad. It was essentially to help me practice diaphragmatic breathing and create more space for singing longer passages, but it has been super useful as an exercise for my therapy clients! This happens in four steps where you imagine your chest and belly are a barrel that is expanding as you are breathing. In the first breath, you imagine your sides are gently expanding. Second breath, your back and front "walls" are stretching as they fill with air. Third, the top and bottom of your barrel are expanding to make room for the air. In the fourth breath, the entire barrel is expanding and contracting with the inhale and exhale. This one can be a bit confusing until you try it out, so here is an infographic I made a few years ago to help people remember :)

So there you go! Let me know if you try any of these and then work for you! Do you have any "go to" breathing tricks that you wanna share! Drop them in the comments!!

Remember - you're worth the time it takes to be comfy in your own skin <3

~Alexina :)

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