Reduce Stress with this Breathing Practice

December can be a stressful time of year. For some there are several holiday's, for others it's the end of the final quarter of the year and work can be very hectic. No matter how you slice it, December is full and it can be stressful.

To help ease some of this stress try this diaphragmatic breathing exercise below.

Before I dive right into the how-to, let's talk about the benefits of having a breathing practice. First, practicing taking slower deeper breaths has some amazing health side effects beyond just stress reduction.

When we practice diaphragmatic breathing, or deep belly breathing as it is sometimes called, we tap into our parasympathetic nervous system. This is our ‘rest and digest’, or chilled out part of our nervous system. The other being the ‘fight or flight’, or stressed part of our nervous system.

When we tap into that parasympathetic nervous system we can really shift how our whole body is holding stress. Through the breathing exercises our rate on inspiration and expiration slows, feelings of stress lessen, our heart rate slows down and we can see an improvement in the quality of our sleep.

What’s the difference between diaphragmatic breathing and the breathing we generally do throughout our day?

The difference is how much the diaphragm is getting involved.

Generally in our day we tend to have our breathing be a little bit more in our chest. The chest expands and lifts, the shoulders rise up and the breath isn’t as deep. This type of breathing can signal the body to feel a little stressed, even if we don’t recognize it. This type of breathing can also cause head, neck and shoulder pain from the rising and falling of our shoulders. So taking some time to do some deeper belly breaths can go along way in calming our nerves.

Check out this video on YouTube where you can follow along on some deep diaphragmatic breathing. (Video is not me, but has a really great description and calming effect)

I would recommend sitting comfortably. Try not to be slouching, as this makes it harder to breathe into your belly and have both feet flat on the floor. You can also do this lying down.

With practice you’ll become more and more comfortable with doing this breathing. I know when I first started it was a bit uncomfortable and weird, but over time, it got easier.