Calm Anxiety Using Controlled Breathing

When you experience high anxiety, your breathing becomes faster. With controlled breathing, you will be able to slow your breathing down thus bringing your anxiety down as well.

Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Take the phone off the hook, and put up a Do Not Disturb sign. I’m not sure if I actually did that for my kids or for my husband, but it worked… most of the time.

This is how I was taught controlled breathing:

• Breathe slowly in through your nose, pause for a second or two and then push the air out through your mouth.
• Breathe with your abdomen, not your chest. Put a book or your hand on your abdomen and make sure it rises and falls.
• Practice a couple of times a day for 10 to 15 minutes each time.

Important: See your doctor first if you have any breathing problems such as asthma.

To monitor your progress, rate your anxiety level before you begin your breathing session and once again at the end. Have patience! It takes time to learn new things, and it is no different for controlled breathing, so don’t give up too soon.