Are You Still Trying To Relax?
I hope you do so. To relax means to provide help in any challenging situation in life, be it an anxiety or panic attack, be it bad news for any reason, be it stress or depression.
I would like to share with you another very valuable means which we mostly overlook, although it is vital: breathing. The way we breathe in general is very shallow, very superficial. In fact, while we are under stress, or while we are suffering an anxiety or panic attack, our breathing is rapid. It is too rapid and too superficial.
The relaxation methods which give the best results have been used for thousands of years. These methods are based on breathing. They have been developed in India with Yoga and in China with QiGong. These methods have partly been adapted to the Western World. However, the way of breathing has remained the same. It is important to breath less. In order to relax, breaths are less but longer: the intake of air is slow, then you keep the air in your lungs before you exhale. Then you exhale completely. The secret to relaxation is the complete exchange of the air in your lungs.
Actually, the way we are used to breathing, shows us that a big amount of air remains always in our lungs. That means that there is no complete exchange of air. Waste air does not help the body. And it does not help the mind. It doesn’t help in any way. Therefore, the first command is to inhale completely, to keep the breath for a few seconds before you let it go. Let it then go completely. When you let it go completely, you feel how your body relaxes. Filling your lungs with fresh oxygen, is filling your body with life. But not only your body. Your mind and your soul also profit from fresh air. Fresh air and deep slow breathing have a strong effect on your whole being.
Try to focus on your breathing. Your whole attention is focused on your breathing. Inhale, keep the breath and exhale. Try to do it as slowly as possible. Actually, the best is to take as little as ten breaths in a minute. If you do this exercise every day for 15 minutes, not only do you relax every muscle completely, but you improve your health in every one of its aspects. However, do not exaggerate: at the beginning, 15 minutes might be too many. Start by doing this exercise for 3 minutes only and increase the duration in the course of a week or so until you reach 15 minutes. You then can do the exercise various times in the course of the day.
Elisabetta Reist
http://www.kissanxietygoodbye.com
e.reist@reistlingue.ch