We're often told to breathe to reduce stress but did you know?…

How you breathe can either help or hinder your progress. The nervous system is soothed by one type of breath - a breath that is low and slow - and agitated by a different type of breath - breath that is fast, shallow and high in the ribcage.

When you feel anxious the breath naturally speeds up and it typically rises up in the chest. Prolonged anxiety can create a physical pattern of tightness in the ribcage as the body repeats this shallow breathing. Shallow anxiety breath becomes the norm. And as shallow breathing increases so does the anxiety.

It’s a chicken and egg scenario:
You feel anxious and therefore the breath is shallow OR
the breath is shallow and therefore you feel anxious.

In either case, shallow breathing does not help.

To reduce anxiety in the short term and for instant stress relief, breathe slowly and lower in your abdomen. You can use a simple 4-count breath or just practice exhaling for longer than you normally would.

To take this a step further, deliberately pay attention to the weight of your body on your chair. Allow yourself to relax more into your chair as you breathe. You can use gravity and the sensation of relaxing down as a practice whenever you notice self-doubt or the inner critic popping up. Since the breath moves upward with anxiety, consciously drawing your attention downward helps counter the pattern.

For immediate and short-term relief for anxiety, remember: breathe low and slow.

If you find yourself feeling continually anxious for no apparent reason or if you find that your anxiety level does not match the severity of the incident that triggered it, you’ll greatly benefit from a more permanent and long-term solution. To gain long-term relief you need to change the mechanics of how you breathe and you do this by undoing the pattern of contraction in the body.

The body is pliable. Our life experiences shape us. When we brace ourselves for conflict or a challenging event our body is doing something. It is tightening or bracing. If a pattern repeats itself long enough, we become hard wired. This happens with our neurons and it happens with the fabric of our body.

Different healing modalities work with the body and can release these reactive patterns that have hardened the body over time. Working with a somatic (body) based practitioner can help.

In the case of anxiety, Chi Nei Tsang is a modality that can be especially powerful. Chi Nei Tsang helps undo the pattern of tension that is held in the belly and rib cage. Over the course of several years of receiving Chi Nei Tsang the tight anxiety breath pattern can unravel. When the rib cage is no longer restricted the diaphragm can move more freely and expansively. With more room to move, the breath can flow lower in the abdomen and it expands the ribcage in all directions (front, back, and both sides). With this type of breathing the body is telling the brain "you are safe” and “all is well.”