Breathing Exercises
Breathing exercises are useful in reducing generalized anxiety disorders, panic attacks, agoraphobia, depression, irritability, muscle tension, headaches, and fatigue. They are successfully implemented in the treatment and prevention of breath holding, hyperventilation, shallow breathing, and cold hands and feet.
We will tackle the subject of breathing with the following three categories:
1. Breathing for Awareness and Relaxation
2. Breathing to Release Tension
3. Breathing for Symptom Control and Release
Breathing exercises can be learned in a matter of minutes, with benefits available almost immediately. The full range of the effectiveness of breathing exercises might not be experienced until several months down the road and with continuos practice. When you find the breathing exercises right for you, it is pertinent for you to develop your own breathing program and follow the exercises regularly. Lets start with breathing exercises for awareness and relaxation.
The first step is increasing your awareness of your breathing and to grasp how to use respiration as a relaxation skill.
1. Breathing for Awareness and Relaxation (1)
1. Lay with your back on a flat surface. Start with closing your eyes. Put your right hand on your abdomen, put your left hand in the middle of your chest.
2. Do not consciously change your breathing, just notice your breathing process. Observe your hands and recognize which hand lifts the most as you inhale. Your left hand on the chest, or your right hand on the belly?
If the hand on your stomach rises, you are breathing from the diaphragm. If the hand on your chest moves more than the hand on your stomach, you are breathing from your chest. Good, now you how which type of breathing you use. Apply this little maneuver to change from chest breathing to abdominal breathing. Make several deep inhalations that force the air out from the bottom of your lungs. This will create a void which will allow you to draw a deep abdominal breath with the next inhalation.
Next we continue with Abdominal Breathing and Deep Breathing.
Beste Gesundheit,
Werner
1. adapted from Davis M., Eshelman E., and McKay M. "The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook" New Harbinger Publications, Oakland, CA. (2000) pp. 21-34
