Breathing to relax can also be called breathwork.
Breathwork is the practice of changing your breathing pattern to change your mental, emotional and physical state.
Why change my breathing pattern?
Have you ever noticed how your breathing pattern can change? Take some time to catch yourself breathing or more importantly, how you are breathing during times of stress. Perhaps when you are about to have a port accessed, you breath more shallowly, breath faster, or even hold your breath. Do you change your breathing when you are in pain? Nauseous? Expecting bad news?
We all breathe!
It is possible to use breathing as a coping tool. Conscious, controlled breathing is one of the easiest and most immediate ways to relax the nervous system. Simply put, consciously focusing on the timing and pace of how you breath can have positive effects on your body and mind. There are many, many types of breathing exercises or techniques. People often learn conscious breathing techniques to help improve mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. During breathwork you intentionally change your breathing pattern. When you learn to use breathing as a tool, you can literally use it anywhere, at anytime!
Breathing to Cope.
When a person is stressed, feeling anxious, scared, or threatened, our breathing speeds up in order to get our body ready for what danger may be coming our way. Sometimes, we don’t even notice that our breathing may have changed, as it is such a natural response. It is possible through relaxed breathing and being aware of how we breathe, to signal our body that it is safe to relax; that we are not in danger.
Here is the trick.
The best time to practice breathing to relax is actually NOT when you are stressed! People tend to get better at using a new tool if they practice before they really need it! Imagine that you got your driver’s license and then got behind a wheel to learn how to drive? YIKES, right? Below are a few introductions to breathing to relax that you can practice and then be ready to apply the techniques in a moment of difficulty.
