The holiday season that just passed often fuels stress in many of us, even without pandemic concerns of being in crowds and viral contagion. Add to that, the long, dark days of winter, which can lead to fatigue, depression, social withdrawal and feelings of hopelessness. With those factors in mind, MedShadow went on a search for tools to help you relieve stress any day of the year. We collected some of our favorite breathing exercises from Instagram.
Controlled breathing exercises don’t just zap stress, they can also help lower blood pressure. Choose your favorites from the videos below and use them daily to help you stay grounded, both nightly for restful snoozing or to quiet your mind in a moment of acute stress.
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1. Breathe in Circles
Use the expanding and contracting circle to help steady your breathing. Inhale and the circle grows, exhale and it shrinks. Neat spin, right?
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2. Be a Square
“Draw” a box with your breath, and, in your mind, trap stress inside it. According to some articles, the technique is a popular stress reducer for Navy SEALS. Now that’s an endorsement we can all get behind.
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3. Feel Your Breath
Place your hands on your ribs and feel your lungs expand as the breath moves through your body.
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4. Lift Those Lungs
Do some weightlifting for your lungs and strengthen your diaphragm by forcefully expelling your exhales through your nose.
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5. Want to Be King of the Jungle?
Inhale deeply through your nose, then stick out your tongue and let loose a powerful, lionlike roar as you exhale. How’s that for a wild breathing stretch?
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6. Busy as a Bumblebee
Feel the tickle in your lips as you buzz away anxiety and stress. Cover your eyes and ears, breath in through your nose and hum like a happy bee as you gently let the air out.
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7. Here’s One Long Exhale
Blow away anxiety with exhales that last twice as long as your inhales.
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8. Remember Yoga Class Breathing?
In alternate nostril breathing, or nadi shodhana pranayama, meaning energy-clearing breathing technique in Sanskrit, press your finger or thumb on the side of your nose to close one nostril at a time as you inhale and exhale.
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