For many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a wave of uncertainty and stress to our daily lives. During this time, it is important to understand that your feelings and emotions are normal and that you’re not in this alone!
This blog is part of a wellness-focused series that provides some tools and strategies used in a range of YW programs and services to help you bettter understand and manage your stress during this unprecedented time.
Breathing sounds pretty basic right? On the one hand, breathing is as about as simple as it gets. You are breathing right now. Here’s what makes breathing kind of simple and kind of complicated at the same time. Because you are breathing all of the time, you probably don’t think about it, in other words, you may not be aware of “how” you are breathing. Your breathing plays an important role in your body functioning and it can give you important information about stress, so awareness is key.
Have you ever noticed that your breathing changes when something significant is happening around you or within you? For example, it’s hard to breath when you are having a panic attack. If you are stressed out or scared, you may notice that you are breathing really fast or can’t catch your breath. Noticing how you are breathing can be source of information. Sometimes our bodies speak to us before our brain does.
Breathing exercises can help you manage strong emotions, focus your attention and organize your behavior. When we are experiencing strong emotions or exposed to a stressful event, it is easy to become overwhelmed and have reactions that don’t fit the situation. Strong emotions open a door to other strong emotions and judgmental thoughts. These strong thoughts and emotions can invite us to start thinking about things that have gone wrong in the past and we start borrowing trouble from the future by speculating about everything that “could” go wrong.
At the end of the day, experiencing hardship is a part of the human experience. What differs is our ability to respond to hardship and move forward in an effective way. Feeling strong emotions from the past, present and future is a lot of work. It’s more manageable to focus on the here and now. Focusing on your breathing is helpful because each breath happens in the current moment. Focusing on each breath brings you in to the present and keeps you there. Focusing on the current moment is essential in getting grounded and preparing for effective action. Breathing is automatic, focusing on your breathing is intentional.
We have shared some breathing exercises below. Before you start using these exercises, please remember:
- It takes practice to become more aware of your breathing. Be patient and kind with yourself as you try these exercises.
- It may feel uncomfortable to breath slowly. That could be about embarrassment, judging the exercise as foolish and in some cases, some people are disconnected from their body so it feels strange to focus on air entering and leaving your body.
Focusing on your breathing will help you feel more connected to the current moment. When we are grounded, it’s easier to organize your thoughts and choose effective behaviors.
Breathing exercises:
Triangle Breathing
- Sit upright with feet flat on the floor
- Eyes closed or lower gaze by 45 degrees and let eyes rest gently on the floor
- Relax hands in lap
- Breathing should be deep and rhythmic
- Inhale through the nose and exhales through the mouth
- Inhale – Pause – Exhale
- In,2,3,4 – Pause, 2, 3, 4 – Out, 2, 3, 4
- Work your way up to a 10 count
Box Breathing
- Sit upright with feet flat on the floor
- Eyes closed or lower gaze by 45 degrees and let eyes rest gently on the floor
- Relax hands in lap
- Breathing should be deep and rhythmic
- Inhale through the nose and exhales through the mouth
- Inhale, 2, 3, 4 – Hold, 2, 3, 4 – Out, 2, 3, 4 – Hold, 2, 3, 4
- Notice how the body feels when air is coming in
- Notice how the body feels when air is going out
Breathing for Peace
- Sit comfortably
- Relax hands in the lap
- Take a few slow breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth
- Take 5 breaths to get started
- As you breathe in silently say “I am”
- When you breathe out silently say “At peace” or “Okay”
- Do this for 10 breaths (work up to doing this for five minutes)
We wish you many deep and full breaths in the future, or should we say, in the present!
