Tip #3 Breathing Technique (Stress Management Series)

 Hello! Welcome back to this free series on stress management. I have you in my closet with me today because I’d like to share a little space I meditate in every day. That’s not the first tool and technique that I wanted to share with you but I do think it’s very important and valuable to our bodies to spend 20 minutes of quiet still time. There’s so many different CDs and ways you can meditate that I don’t want to get into that really right now but I do want to share with you one particular breathing technique that your body really responds to, that really brings you down into a calm level and you can use this technique when you’re about to go into a meeting, when your body maybe is getting. You can use this when you go pick up your kids, before you go home, before your transition throughout your day. But there are a couple of things I want to share with you. It’s recommended that you do not any more than 4 breaths while you’re starting that’s why it’s so quick and I will show you how to do that. It only takes a few seconds and that you would do it at least twice a day. So I do it in the morning and I do it before I go to sleep at night. It’s highly recommended for people who are having trouble with sleeping. So you wake up in the middle of the night and you do this breathing technique you might find it much easier to go back to sleep. I will also tell you that it takes about 4 weeks for your body to really start to benefit from this technique. That’s why it’s very important to have this accumulative behavior, these positive practices that you do every day.

This is the first one that I really want you to implement. So this is how it goes. The whole time you do the breathing, you’re going to hold your tongue on the back of your top teeth right where the gum meets the teeth. If you’re involved with yoga you might be involved with this. You’re going to inhale for the count of four, you hold your breath for the count of seven, and then you’re going to exhale and you can make noise when you exhale for the count of eight. You’re going to do that for four rounds. So let’s do it together. We’re going to exhale out all of our breath and get ready so we’re just going to have a big exhale. Now that’s it, you might feel a little lightheaded like I do. I actually have a very calming feeling for my body; my body is used to this. Let’s say alright, I’m ready to go I’m ready to relax! So it’s kind of hard to keep on talking with you right now because I just want to sing back in my chair to allow my body to fully relax. I encourage you to do this twice a day, please don’t do this while you’re driving  but you can certainly do it when you stop your car before you go to work, you can do it then. I highly recommend you do it before you leave your house before you to work if you have the opportunity. But pick a time that you can do it regularly in the morning and regularly at night. You can do this laying down; you can do it sitting up. I suggest you do it straight up when you first get going, top good posture and breathing technique. So remember you’re going to do four rounds, hold your tongue on the back of your teeth right there in the gum line and after you’re gotten used to this for about a month of 6-8 weeks you can increase the number of breaths up to 8. But it’s recommended that you don’t do any more than 8. So, the rules are two times a day, four breaths, hold your tongue, and buy the way the breathing technique is called 478. Inhale for 4, hold for 7 and exhale for 8.

I would love to hear your feedback from this if you’ve practiced this before it’s been beneficial for you and definitely let me know after you’ve done it how you feel. I look forward to sharing the next technique and tip for decreasing the stress in your life on the next video. Here’s to positive practices, calm bodies and healthy living. I’ll see you in the next video.