5 Minutes of Breathing for Relaxation at Work

Do you ever wish you could truly relax for just a few minutes at work? Deep breathing for relaxation will give you a method to let go of stress anytime, day or night. If you can get just 5 minutes of breathing for relaxation at work you can completely re-energize your entire body and mind with this technique. You may think that you just don't have time to stop unwind, and relax, but all you need is 5 minutes to restart. Fortunately for us, focused and deep breathing is one of the best techniques for quickly letting go of anxiety and stress.

1. Just sit up straight, or stand up, or lie down. Place both of your hands on your abdomen, down around your belly button.

2. Now breathe in while you are mentally counting to 5. As you breathe in force your stomach out, as much as possible. Feel your stomach protruding out and enlarging. Think of yourself as breathing into your stomach when you practice.

3. Now breathe out for the same count of 5. As you breathe out pull your stomach in, and go to the same extremes you did when you inhaled. Force your stomach in to your backbone and under your rib cage as far as possible, causing a complete exhalation of the air from your lungs. Continue to count to 5 on the inhalation and exhalation, as you feel your hands moving with your stomach. For added stress relief and relaxation try holding your breath for a count of 5 while your lungs are full of air, before slowly and completely exhaling.

When you do this exercise for about 5 minutes, you will feel the tension and stress leave your body as you relax. This technique helps you get enough oxygen into your body, get all of the stale air out of your lungs, and still your mind. As you concentrate on your hands, your body, and your breath your mind naturally becomes centered and brings you back to the present moment. If you are concentrating on these things your mind can't possibly be concerning itself with the past, or fortune telling about the future. When you find yourself in the moment you will realize that there is no worry or no fear. Not in the moment, those are only in the past and the future. You will be amazed at the difference in your day, and your attitude, when you take just a few minutes and use breathing for relaxation.

Breathing for relaxation is just one of many techniques we bring our readers with new articles everyday to deal with stress and anxiety. Go now to Natural Cure For Anxiety.org and get your FREE copy of Stress and Your Health and learn 12 methods to reduce your stress.

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Top Breathing Techniques for Anxiety Revealed

Breathing techniques for anxiety all have a similar goal in mind though the execution may vary. Their aim being to calm you down and reduce or prevent anxiety and panic from welling up inside you.

You may find yourself experiencing the physical symptoms of your anxiety. Breathing techniques for anxiety can be one of your first lines of defence to combat and overcome your anxiety.

Practice is the all important factor. You must practice breathing techniques for anxiety before you need them. This will give you the confidence you need to execute the techniques in the midst of a difficult and anxiety inducing situation without worrying about trying to remember how to carry them out or increase your anxiety if you feel you are not doing them right.

Remember, breathing techniques for anxiety are only as effective as the up front effort you put into them.

One common technique is Deep Breathing.

Deep breathing, otherwise known as diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing and even belly breathing, is a different way of filling your lungs with the all important oxygen to the way most of us breathe on a daily basis. We tend to breathe using the shallow breathing method, also called thoracic breathing or chest breathing.

Deep breathing uses the diaphragm muscle located between the chest cavity and stomach cavity to expand the lungs and is characterised by the expansion of the belly, or abdomen, as air rushes in to fill the lungs. By using the diaphragm to breathe, the air is drawn into the lungs as the lung cavity expands and fills the whole lungs rather than just the top area as characterised by shallow breathing.

Deep Breathing Inhaling:

The most effective and most common inhalation method to aid anxiety relief while using Deep Breathing is through your nose.

You should inhale slowly and deliberately through your nose giving you the necessary control over your breathing and help prevent hyperventilation which would more than likely make your anxiety worse rather than better.

As you inhale, make sure you make every effort to fill up your lungs to maximum capacity. Feel the stretch all the way down to your diaphragm at the bottom of your chest. You should keep going till you can't take any more in. This can be achieved easily when using your diaphragm correctly.

Deep Breathing Exhaling:

Simply put you want to get rid of all the air you have just taken in. However there are different ways to do that but not all will help keep you calm.

Again, prevent hyperventilation by slowly exhaling. If you exhale too fast you ware more likely to enter into a rapid cycle of breathing which will not help your anxiety in the least.

Take your time and exhale through your mouth, not your nose. Your actions should also be deliberate and controlled as before.

There is a fine line between taking too long to breathe using these breathing techniques for anxiety, and getting it just right. Taking too long will leave you breathless after a short time and gasping for air. Breathe too quickly and you may get light headed and more anxious.

Deep Breathing Technique:

Your aim is to breathe in such a way that you begin to feel calm and relaxed. A good rule of thumb is to count to ten as you inhale, hold for five and then count to ten as you exhale. However you may need to modify this slightly to suit yourself.

To tell if you are breathing correctly, put one hand on your chest and one on your stomach. As you breathe, shallow breathing will cause your chest to rise first and farthest, however deep breathing has the opposite effect in that your stomach area will expand first and higher than your chest.

With practice you will learn how to control this technique and put it to good use. There are many breathing techniques for anxiety though this is one of the most popular. Maybe in your own search you will discover other great breathing techniques for anxiety.

Find out more about curing your panic and anxiety by taking a look at these instantly available solutions right now and start down the road to recovery and freedom immediately.
Also, visit http://www.socialanxietydisorderguide.com/ to find out more about dealing with anxiety.

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The Connection Between Anxiety And Breathing

As I have traveled through the last ten years I have had the chance to experience so much of life it amazes me. Not just soft and fuzzy things, hard and heart breaking things. Just ten years ago my husband and I owned our manufacturing company and it was growing from a small business to nearly a medium size with 70 employees. We were growing so fast we bought more machinery borrowed working capital with the mortgages and guarantees involved. We felt if we took care of the business it would take care of us. Last year everything was foreclosed and we had to file Bankruptcy. At time I was a real mess. I could not breathe, all I wanted to do was sleep. I had lost weight, I had panic attacks, a phobia or two, no job, no insurance and no money. I did have a husband that loves me and we both filed for Social Security. I am now on oxygen 24/7. I have been looking for answers on how I can get the C P O D, anxiety and panic attacks under control.

Six years ago my husband became unwell. It turned out he was Stage 4 Lymphoma. That began the first of the anxiety. I was so afraid I couldn't breathe. Yes that is a literal statement. I had rather mild Asthma until that point. It got much worse. I required several medications to keep it in check. It became worse as additional negative experiences occurred.

I have observed that when one partner in a marriage has a life threatening health problem often their mate develops C P O D. I have seen this numerous times in Pulmonary Rehabilitation. Most recently two couples have joined Rehab. In one case the wife had a heart attack in the other the husband. Both of their mates are in Pulmonary Rehab. Both experience extreme anxiety and have had panic attacks. They are not the only ones. Since I first observed this I find more and more couples that follow this trait. They are simply diagnosed as having C P O D.

I have talked to many people which have been in auto accidents that have begun experiencing breathing problems after their accidents. In some cases their fear and anxiety even brings on panic attacks when risky situations happen while in a car. The unlucky ones begin to experience breathlessness all of the time.

Because I am on oxygen I have become more aware of others also using oxygen. There are more than I ever before thought there would be. The ones I have been able to talk with usually had something in their background that could create anxiety even though they did not recognize it as such.

My Pulmonary Doctor can tell me what C P O D is. It is chronic inflammation of the airways due to Bronchitis or some similar illness. He can prescribe medications and oxygen. He tells me it could be because I smoked at one time. What he can't tell me is why there are so many people that have never smoked or been exposed to "bad air" that have C P O D. I believe the answer is to get rid of the anxiety and fears. I have found when I can achieve this even for a short period of time I do breathe easier.

Until the medical community makes this connection you and I have no choice but to experiment and find our own answers. Eliminate the anxiety and that will stop the panic attacks. Use every tool available to you. I found everything I have tried has provided some change.

I'm Carol and I have had a rich full life. Today I suffer from C P O D and am on oxygen 24/7. In the 64 years I have lived I have explored many forms of alternative medicine. I have shelves full of excellent books. They range from Aroma Therapy to Reflexology. I feel they all have value. None of them has made a noticeable change in my C P O D. I believe it is because the true problem is anxiety. That is the new area I am exploring and I believe I see light at the end of this tunnel. Join me in this search and report all positive changes to your medical Doctor. Your first steps in getting rid of the anxiety and panic attacks can begin where mine did. http://www.lifefreeofanxietyandpanicattacks.com/

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