Abby Quillen
Writer | Mom
The world can offer plenty of stress—all the time and in all sorts of ways. Some worries are part of every day life, such as those about jobs and school and schedules and kids, as well as health and well being. Some worries are about things you can control that may stress you out (what’s for dinner), and others are about things you can’t control (what bad thing might happen in the world). Thrown together and tossed into the routines of our daily lives, events both real and imagined can create what feels like unmanageable stress. And that’s not good.
Too much stress can manifest itself in really dark and harmful ways. You might find yourself not sleeping well, or not eating enough, or eating too much. Your mood might get darker, or you might have trouble concentrating. Or if you’re like many people, you might not be able to breathe.
Anxiety, in fact, often manifests itself as a condition that quite literally feels as if it’s taking away our breath. Stress takes what for many of us is a completely natural occurrence that begins at birth—the breath—and disrupts it. Your breath might become scattered or too shallow, for example, or you might feel as if you are holding your breath in.
But don’t despair: There are actually some easy-to-learn techniques, based on ancient learnings, that can release some of that agitation and help you get your breath and your anxiety under control. For example, simply using a repetitive breathing practice that focuses you to concentrate, to count, and to focus on where you are breathing from can quickly help you get your breath back. Other techniques use visualization or even other parts of the mouth.
So, what can you do to control your breath and your anxiety? The graphic below contains some helpful tips:
Image Source: https://www.northwestpharmacy.com/healthperch/breathing-techniques-for-anxiety
About Abby Quillen
Abby writes about sustainability, green living, health, business, and other topics. Her work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, YES! Magazine, and dozens of other publications. She lives in Eugene, Oregon with her family.
View all posts by Abby Quillen here.
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28 Comments on “Breathing Techniques to Quickly Ease Anxiety”
Thanks for this
These techniques work so well!
These are great and they really work well!
Excellent advise. Thanks!
Awesome tips for a very stressful month thank you.
Glad we could help Brenda!
I have practices many breathing techniques and this is a few more learned. Thank you
Glad they helped you!
Having anxiety as a parent is rough, so rough. These breathing techniques will be on my list to try for when i’m at witts end and I feel like I can’t control my anger/anxiety/stress any longer. It’ll help me calm down and focus, and also “take a breather” before I say something i’ll regret by accident :( Thank you for this article.
Thank you for sharing Rachael and we hope these help!
I learned controlled breathing in a class I took, it really works!
Glad to hear these work for you! Thank you for sharing.
I will definitely be giving this a try! I have suffered from anxiety and depression. I would love to be able to be medication free soon! I want to gain control over this ! Thank you for your suggestions!
Thank you for sharing and we hope these help!
My 14 year old son and I both suffer from anxiety. Thank you so much for sharing these techniques we will be sure to use them. It’s nice to see someone sharing helpful things instead of negativity. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing, Katherine and we are glad this was of help to you and your son.
LOVE THIS INFORMATIVE DETAILS ON BREATHING TECHNIQUES TO EASE ANXIETY, THIS IS SOMETHING I CAN PASS ALONG TO OTHERS…
Glad you found this helpful!
Great tips! I’m going to share these with my sis-in-law bc she has anxiety bad.
Glad we could help!
This actually helps. When I get anxiety, I get lightheaded and this helps to breathe again.
Glad to hear that!
I need to get my husband to practice some of these breathing exercises! He tends to suffer form stress sometimes and keeps his blood pressure up
Let us know how they work
Thanks for the post i didn’t think i had anxiety,but after reading this post i believe i do!
I think we all do to some extent.
Both my son and I suffer from anxiety! Very helpful breathing techniques! Thank you for posting!
Glad we were able to help!