Breathe With Me

Today I just want you to breathe with me for a while. Find a place that you can be uninterrupted for about 5 minutes. If you are at home, make this a zen moment. Fix a cup of tea. Light some candles. Turn all distracting noises off and turn a fan or other white noise on. 

Relax

Inhale deeply through your nose for a 4 count
1 2 3 4

Hold that breath for a 7 count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Exhale through your mouth for an 8 count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Feel a bit clearer headed?

Let's do this again. Repeat the above steps beginning with relax. Repeat until you have some mental clarity and control of your thoughts.

I have found myself doing this up to four or five times til my brain is focusing on my breathing only and not on anything else around me. At this point, I am clear headed and ready to move on to spending some time in my "Happy Place," doing guided imagery exercises (which I have only done twice now), or commencing whatever task I was preparing myself for. In today's case, it was my blogging. I have found that doing these controlled breathing exercises in the morning with my tea helps me wake up faster and be more alert. This technique was taught to me by my therapist as one way to cope when dealing with anxieties. When you start to get anxious, do these breathing exercises and take control of your brain and thinking processes before your anxieties do. The process of keeping track of the breathing and the counts allows you to have control of the thinking. The deep breaths allows nice full loads of oxygen to get to your brain for better mental clarity.