Breathing Techniques

When you’re feeling really stressed, your breathing often becomes fast and shallow and your body is flooded with fight or flight physical responses. It’s a vicious cycle. The physical feelings make you feel more anxious which in turn makes things like shallow, panicky breathing more difficult to shift. It can feel impossible to calm down and think straight. To perform at your best you need to be calm and rational. Weirdly, slowing your breathing is the fastest way to calm you down.

You can do this exercise anywhere – in waiting rooms, on public transport, your bathroom floor – and no-one can see it. You can follow along with the exercise to get you used to the technique but the basic rule is this: breathe in slowly and deeply for a count of 7 and then breathe out for a count of 11. Or try in for 5 and out for 8. Just breathe out for longer than you breathe in. As your breathing slows down, your heart rate decreases, and your mood begins to settle. If panic begins to rise, begin the steady breaths again.