Therapeutically, that 20-minute walk is all it takes to reduce anxiety. If you want to try another strategy, breathwork could also help. Opposite of sitting meditation, which focuses on the natural pace of the breath, breathwork requires you to actively change the natural breath. Here are a couple of breathwork techniques I recommend:
Diaphragmatic breathing:
- Place both hands on the belly.
- Close your eyes.
- Take a deep inhale through your nose, letting your belly rise.
- Exhale with pursed lips through your mouth.
Why it's helpful: When we feel anxious, we take shallow, fast breaths through our chest, known as thoracic breathing. By engaging in diaphragmatic breathing, we stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which gets us out of the fight-or-flight mode.
Heart-centered breathing:
- Put one hand on your heart and the other hand on your belly.
- Close your eyes.
- Inhale for four counts through your nose.
- Exhale for seven counts through your mouth.
Why it's helpful: The breath is the only bodily function that is under voluntary and involuntary control. Since feelings or moments of anxiousness feel so out of control, this practice helps get to the root of that.
Source:www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/practices-to-try-if-meditation-makes-you-anxious
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