Anxiety Breathing Exercises for Relaxation and Relief 

Do you feel anxious and worried all the time? Are you looking for breathwork to help calm your anxiety and soothe your nerves? Do you feel extremely fearful of the situation? 

Anxiety is often defined as the sentiments of fear, fright, trepidation, dread, and uneasiness. It is a typical reaction to stress or strenuous situation, which might cause excessive sweating, feelings of restlessness, nervousness, rapid heartbeat, trembling, and breathing rapidly. For example, a person might feel worried when faced with a complicated problem at work, or before making an important choice or decision. In such cases, anxiety may arise.

The good news is that relaxing or breathing techniques often help the anxious person feel better. Plus, if you feel breathless due to worry, practicing these anxiety breathing exercises daily will help you to mitigate the symptoms. 

What is meant by anxiety breathing technique? 

The anxiety breathing technique is defined as a workout that is intended to encourage and promote efficient, fit, and healthy breathing. In addition to this, it also results in effectual breath control. In essence, breathing exercises are one of the most vital and important parts of Yoga. 

The main aim of Yoga is to form a connection between mind, body, and soul. And breathing techniques prove to be very helpful in improving the pulmonary status of a person and also boost the overall endurance of an individual.

Breathing Techniques and Anxiety

These techniques are very helpful in reducing anxiety. Deep breathing and other exercises included in breathing techniques help to mitigate stress. The breathwork signals the nervous system to calm down, and this helps the anxious person to attain relief. 

Anxiety breathing exercises are often accompanied by meditation and yoga. And all of these factors play an important role in soothing the nerves of a worried individual. 

Breathing Exercises help in relieving Anxiety

Some breathing exercises that help in relieving anxiety are described below.

1. Long exhale breathwork 

Lengthening the duration of exhaling can help you beat anxious feelings. This is because deep breathing is linked to the sympathetic nervous system, and this division controls fight or flight response. It controls and influences our body’s ability to relax. For this breathwork; 

• Take a thorough exhale before taking a big deep breath. First, exhale all the air in your lungs out of your body and then simply let the lungs do their work, i.e., inhaling air.
• Then try to spend more time exhaling than you do inhaling; for instance, if your inhalation is for 4 seconds, exhalation must be for 6 seconds.
• Practice it daily for two to five minutes.

You can practice this technique in any posture that is comfortable for you. 

2. Abdomen Breathing

The diaphragm is the muscle that is present just beneath the lungs. Breathing from here actually lessens the overall work the body needs to do for breathing, thus, saving its overall energy. 

Breathing from the diaphragm can be done by: 

•  Adopting a comfortable position 

For this, lie down on the floor or maybe on the bed. Put pillows beneath your knees and head too. The second position a person could adopt is to sit in a comfortable chair with the neck, head, and shoulders in a relaxed state and bent knees.

• Then, put one hand over your heart in a relaxed position and one under your rib cage.
• Breathe in and breathe out through the nose.
• While inhalation and exhalation, notice your stomach and chest movements. 

3. Practice belly breathing

• For this anxiety breathing exercise, adopt the position the same as described above.
• Place one hand on your stomach somewhere above the belly button and one hand on the chest.
• Breathe in via nose and have an observation of your stomach rise. Your chest should remain comparatively motionless and still.
• Purse the lips and try exhaling through the mouth. And try to engage your stomach muscles at the end of the breath to push the air out.

Practice it daily, or for efficient results, three or four times a day for up to 10 minutes. If you haven’t been regularly using the diaphragm to breathe, it will make you feel tired, but it gets easier, and you will get used to it if you practice daily.

4. Breath Focus

For reducing anxiety and relieving stress, focused and slowed deep breathing may be an excellent choice. For this technique, you only need to lie down or sit in a contented, comfortable, and quiet location. Then:

• Observe how it feels when you breathe in and out normally. Psychologically examine your body, and we're sure you will notice the tension in your body!
• Take a slow deep breath through your nose.
• Examine your upper body and belly expanding.
• Exhale the air by sitting in a comfortable position
• Do this for several minutes and pay continuous attention to the rise and fall of your stomach. 
• Then, choose a word to focus on, and during the exhale, verbalize that word. Vocalizing words like “Safe” and “Calm” can be highly effective.
• Inhale by taking a deep breath. 
• Imagine that your negative energies and fearful thoughts are carried away from you. 
• Gently bring your attention back to your breath. Start vocalizing your ‘safe’ words again if you get unfocused or distracted.

For better results,  practice this exercise for up to 20 minutes daily.

5. Resonant Breathing

Hands down, the best breathwork that helps to reduce anxiety! It is also termed coherent breathing and is very effective in calming you down and bringing you back to a relaxed state. For this exercise:

• Lie down, close your eyes, and relax.
• Close your mouth for almost 6 seconds and breathe gently through your nose.
• Don’t rush to fill the lungs with air.
• Allow your breath to leave the body slowly by exhaling for 6 seconds. Don’t force it to move out.
• Continue this for 10 minutes.
• Take some additional minutes, and during this duration, observe how your body feels.

We hope the above anxiety breathing exercises prove to be helpful in calming your anxious feelings. Did you know we also offer anxiety and depression relief retreats and coursesthat can help you transform your life? We invite you to consider our relief offerings and let us know if you have any questions. 🙏🏼