The power of breathing

I stumbled upon this: it can make you realize what breathing can do for you. It has a huge effect on one's mental state: it almost instantly calms you down.

Try breathing in sync with this (just for fun):

i.imgur.com/Huou7Gh.gif



These are a few breathing techniques that work really well:

... When you feel anxious
Slowly breath in through your nose
Hold your breath for a few seconds
Breath out even more slowly through your mouthh. Try to make your exhalation take longer than your inhalation. You may structure your breathing if you'd like, by counting to 4 as you breathe in, to 2 as you hold the breath, and to 7 as you breathe out.

... When you feel sluggish (be careful if you hyperventilate easily)
Breath in and out as fast as you can.
Make your inbreath and outbreathof equal length.
At first, do this for 15-20 seconds. You can progress up to 1min.
Make it shorter if you experience light headedness.

I understand how you feel DazedPete...

I can do these excersizes, but they are more difficult when the air hunger strikes...

I learned the art of deep breathing when I was strung out on Lyme anxiety. I really believe it's helped me get well and I still use it today to help me fall asleep or get thru a rough day.