Breathing exercises to relieve stress and anxiety. An exercise to control emotions and relax. Exercise "Double exhalation"

Reflect and honestly tell yourself how stressed you are and how well you cope with it? The identification of such symptoms as fatigue at the beginning of the working day, irritation, impatience, insomnia, anxiety over any trifles, anxiety in general will help clarify the answer. How often do you hear from friends and relatives the phrase: "It's time for you to relax and unwind", but do not react to such remarks in any way? If you easily recognize yourself in the previous sentences, it's time to learn how to relieve tension through relaxation exercises.

And if this topic seems interesting to you, and you want to develop even more in it, we recommend that you learn real practical techniques for self-motivation, dealing with stress and social adaptation in order to always control your emotional and mental state.

Getting Started different techniques relaxation, remember the following. Learning the basics of relaxation techniques is not difficult, but it takes time and effort. Most experts recommend exercising at least 10-20 minutes a day. Those attending special stress relief sessions take 30-60 minutes. Start small and individual elements exercises can be performed right at your desk, in transport, at a bus stop.

Top 3 Ways to Relieve Stress:

Complex 1. Breathing exercises

Deep breathing allows you to relax, regardless of the thoughts that overcome a person. It is not for nothing that in the films, the policemen or doctors who arrived at the scene of the action advise the victims, first of all, to breathe deeply and evenly. In stressful situations, breathing quickens and the body lacks oxygen. Deep breathing promotes the supply of this vital gas to the brain and to all cells in the right volumes.

Exercises:

• Inhale and exhale slowly and deeply through the nose, counting from 1 to 4 as you inhale and exhale. This exercise is very easy to do, and it is especially effective if you cannot sleep.
• Try to relax your shoulders and upper chest muscles as you breathe. Do this consciously with each exhalation. The fact is that in stressful situations, when a person is tense, the muscles of the diaphragm are not used for breathing. Their purpose is to lower the lungs down, thereby expanding Airways. When we are excited, the muscles of the upper chest and shoulders are used more often, which do not contribute to the full work of breathing.
• Nadi Shodhana. Yoga exercise that helps to activate and focus; acts, according to experts, like a cup of coffee. thumb right hand you need to close the right nostril and inhale deeply through the left (for women, on the contrary - close the left nostril with your left hand and inhale through the right). At the peak of inhalation, you need to close the left (right for women) nostril ring finger and exhale.
• Sit up straight or lie on your back. Place one hand on your stomach, the other on your chest. Inhale the air deeply through the nose, while the hand on the stomach should rise, and on the chest move only slightly. Exhale through your mouth, while again the hand on the stomach falls, and on the chest practically does not move. In this case, breathing will occur with the help of the diaphragm.

Complex 2. Muscle relaxation

The progressive muscle relaxation technique has been developed American doctor E. Jacobson in the 1920s. It is based on a simple physiological fact: after the tension of any muscle, a period of automatic relaxation begins. With this in mind, a technique was developed according to which, in order to achieve deep relaxation of the body, you must first tense the muscles strongly for 10-15 seconds, and then concentrate on the feeling of relaxation that has arisen in them for 15-20 seconds.

Exercises:

• Start by focusing on your breathing for a few minutes. Breathe slowly and calmly, think of something pleasant. After that, you can start muscle exercises, working on various groups muscles.
• Hands. Squeeze your hand as tightly and strongly as possible. You should feel tension in your hand and forearm. Relax your hand as you exhale, concentrating on the emerging feeling of relief. Repeat the same for the other hand. If you are right-handed, you should start with the right hand, if you are left-handed - with the left.
• Neck. Tilt your head back, slowly turn it from side to side, then relax. Pull the shoulder joints high to the ears and in this position tilt the chin to the chest.
• Face. Raise your eyebrows as high as possible, open your mouth wide (as if feigning a feeling of great surprise). Close your eyes tightly, frown and wrinkle your nose. Clench your jaw tightly and pull the corners of your mouth back.
• Breast. Do deep breath and hold your breath for a few seconds, then relax and return to normal breathing.
• Back and belly. Tighten your abdominal muscles, pull your shoulder blades together, and arch your back.
• Legs. Tighten the front and back muscles of the thigh, keeping the knee in a tense half-bent position. Pull your foot as far as you can and straighten your toes. Stretch your ankle joint and squeeze your toes.

Do 3-4 repetitions of the complex. Every time you rest a muscle that has just been tense, notice how nice it is and how good it feels to be relaxed. For many people, it helps to cope with stress and anxiety.

Complex 3. Meditation

Most general definition the concept of "meditation" in psychological dictionaries sounds like this: "a method of mental training, in which there is an intense, penetrating reflection, immersion in an object, an idea, which is achieved by focusing on one object." The recommendations collected in this block relate to how to conduct a visual meditation session on your own. Visual meditation is a variation of traditional meditation, which is based on the use of not only visual meanings, but also the senses: taste, touch, smell and sound. When used as a relaxation technique, visualization involves imagining a scene in which you feel free from tension and anxiety.

A set of exercises:

1. Choose a quiet and secluded place, nothing should distract you. Borrow comfortable position. It is not recommended to lie down, it is better to sit on the floor, in a chair or try to sit in the lotus position.
2. Choose a focus point. It can be internal - an imaginary scene, or external - a candle flame. Therefore, the eyes can be open or closed. At the beginning, it is very difficult to concentrate and avoid distracting thoughts, so the focus point must be strong, clear and precise, so that you can return to it at any time.
3. The focal point should definitely be something soothing to you. It could be a tropical beach at sunset Forest Glade or an orchard in the village next to your grandparents' house, where you used to visit as a child. Visual meditation can be done in silence, or you can turn on relaxing music or an audio recording with meditation tips.
4. Try to use all your senses as much as possible. For example, your focal point is the forest. Imagine that you are walking through a clearing, and cold dew falls on your feet, you hear the singing of many birds, you smell pine trees, you breathe clean air full chest. The picture should be as lively as possible. Meditate for 15-20 minutes.

Remember, relaxation will not save you from problems, but it will help you relax and get distracted from unimportant details, so that later with new force take on a decision.

If work drives you into a corner, and the feeling that you do not have time accumulates, it means that you have quietly become a victim of chronic office stress. You need get rid of stress. And not necessarily we are talking about the need to open a window or go for a walk (although this is also important and should be done). It is also important to properly restore the balance of power and remove negative factors through proper breathing.

Breathing exercises throughout the day should be alternated and used as a way to quickly move from intense tension in the "working mode" to a state of rest and temporary detachment from problems and stress.

1. Morning type of breathing: To get started, set your alarm clock 10 minutes before you need to wake up in the morning. After waking up, sit comfortably in bed and close your eyes. Open your mouth. Exhale and inhale loudly three times, so that you feel the contraction of the abdominal muscles (the breathing pattern is similar to what you have when you breathe on a mirror to make it fog up).

It will sound like Darth Vader breathing from the outside :) Then close your mouth and continue to rhythmically inhale and exhale through your nose for several minutes. Then open your eyes and breathe without sound in your usual manner.

2. Breathing at the moment of concentration: When you are walking or driving for a long time, when you are working at home at your desk, pay attention to how you breathe at this moment. When maneuvering in city traffic and when you are late for the children to school / kindergarten, pay attention to your breathing again.

It becomes superficial and discontinuous. To overcome stress, inhale through your nose for a count of three, hold your breath for a few moments, and then exhale again for a count of three. In the process of breathing, you can repeat to yourself “Breathing in, I am in harmony with myself, Exhaling, I am also in harmony with myself.”

3. Anchor Breathing: Before the start of the working day, it does not hurt to set the correct working mood and condition. Sit comfortably in the chair with your back straight and toned, your shoulders relaxed, your head straight and your chin parallel to the floor.

Inhale deeply, all the way to your belly, breathe with your diaphragm and feel how the inhaled air fills your belly (so that you look like a Buddha statue). Inhale and exhale so that your sides and back “walk” from your breath.

4. Breathing to restore balance in the middle of the day: By the middle of the day, the body is somewhat "stagnant." It takes a few breathing exercises to wake him up. Sit upright in a chair with your back straight. Open your mouth and inhale with a sound, the sound should go both when you inhale and when you exhale, so that the sound is somewhat "barking."

Next, close your mouth and continue to breathe in jerks so that the air passes through the back of your throat and freely exits / enters through your nose. Breathing exercises should be done for 10 seconds, then pause and repeat again. If you feel that your head is spinning, you must immediately stop the exercise.

5. Breathing exercise at the end of the working day: At the end of the working day, sit up straight in a chair, your back is straight again. Close your eyes and focus on the base of the spine. Imagine that you are in a pool of hot, very warm material, similar to volcanic lava.

Inhale and exhale rhythmically, breathing from the belly and diaphragm. With each full exhalation and inhalation, the imaginary "lava" rises higher, just imagine it. Imagine how the heat spreads through the body, around the stomach, then rises along the stomach, along the lungs, to the throat, to the face, between the eyebrows, to the head, and finally forms a kind of "crown" above your head - and then retreats back down. Repeat the exercise for several cycles.

Proper breathing helps to relax, calm down and relieve stress, clears the head of stupid and negative thoughts. Instead of responding rudeness to rudeness or stupidity to stupidity (or yelling at naughty child), it is better to stop, take a deep breath, count to yourself to 10 and ... remain silent.

Sama vritti or Equal Breathing

How to perform? Sit in comfortable posture, the back should be straight. Begin to inhale for four counts and exhale also for four. To increase the natural resistance to breathing, do it through the nose. More advanced ones can switch to 6-8 counts, which increases attention, calms nervous system and reduces stress.

You can practice this breathing anywhere and at any time, but it is best to do it before going to bed. Something like a kind of counting sheep, helping about work or problems that haunted during the day.

Difficulty level: for beginners.

Abdominal breathing technique

How to perform? As you take a deep breath through your nose, the expansion of the diaphragm (not the chest) gives the necessary air pressure to stretch the lungs. If you want to feel a tangible drop blood pressure and reducing the heart rate, you need to take 6 to 10 deep breaths for 10 minutes every day. Hold on for at least 6 weeks, and you will feel for a long time positive consequences this technique.

When is the best time to do it? Before an exam or any stressful situation. The only but. In such situations, a person has very poor control over breathing, so you have to practice a little.

Difficulty level: for beginners.

Nadi Shodhana or Alternate Nostril Breathing

How to perform? This technique gives a sense of balance and. Sit in a comfortable meditative position, thumb with your right hand, press the right nostril and inhale deeply through the left. At the peak of inhalation, close the left nostril with the ring finger and exhale through the right. Then do the same in reverse, inhaling through the right nostril and exhaling through the left nostril.

When there is little time or you need to quickly focus. Just don't try to do it before bed because this technique works like a cup of coffee.

Difficulty level: average.

Kapalabhati or "Shining Skull Breath"

How to perform? Ready to light up your day? Then try kapalabhati. Take one long and long breath and exhale sharply and powerfully. In this exhalation, you need to involve the lower abdomen. That is, you sharply contract the muscles of the lower abdomen and thereby exhale sharply. Perform 10 breaths at a pace that is comfortable for you: inhale-exhale for 1-2 seconds. Inhalation is done exclusively through the nose.

What does it work best for? This technique is great for helping you wake up and uplifting your mood. A kind of espresso. Since the abdominal part of the abdomen is involved in kapalabhati, the body is warmed up and the brain is activated.

Difficulty level: high.

progressive relaxation

How to perform? To release tension from head to toe, close your eyes and focus on tensing and relaxing each muscle group in your body for 1-3 seconds. Start at the toes and move up through the knees, hips, back, chest, arms, neck, jaw and eyes. During this, you should breathe slowly and deeply. Inhale through your nose, hold your breath for 5 counts, and contract your muscles as you do so. Then exhale through your mouth and relax.

When does it work best? It is best to do this in a place where you can lie down comfortably. If holding your breath causes you to, hold not 5 accounts, but 2-3.

Difficulty level: for beginners.

Guided Rendering

How to perform? This technique should be done with a trainer or therapist. Well, or at least to the melody, which will become your guide. You begin to breathe deeply, focusing on pleasant sensations and images to drive out negative thoughts. Mentally send yourself to a place where you are pleased and calm.

When does it work best? You can practice this breathing technique wherever you can safely close your eyes and not fear for your life, health and work.

Difficulty level: average.

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