The fastest way to reduce stress

Unless you’re living in a monastery in the Himalayas, I know that at some point in your day or week you’ll experience a degree of stress.  In fact, stress is an expected part of life and your body is actually well equipped to deal with it. 

The trouble is, most of us are dealing with chronic levels of stress caused by a wide range of factors, and it can be relentless and never-ending. Today I want to share with you a super-simple tip to help you feel more calm, quickly.

It’s the simple practice of belly breathing.

If you get the chance to watch a baby or an animal breathe, you’ll notice that their belly rises and falls with each breath.  That’s our natural breathing pattern, but over the years most of us stop breathing in this way and instead we tend to take shallow breaths in our chest.

Unfortunately, shallow chest breathing signals to your brain that you’re in danger, which triggers the production of stress hormones.

Deeper, slower diaphragmatic breathing communicates to your body that you are safe, which lowers stress hormones.

Lowering your stress hormones doesn’t just have an impact on whether you ‘feel’ stressed. For example, elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol are likely to slow down your metabolism and tell your body to hold on to fat stores, making it difficult to lose weight.

How to practice belly breathing.

To get started with belly breathing, sit or lie down and place your hands on your lower abdomen.  As you breathe in through your nose, expand your lower abdomen and notice your hands moving up and away as your belly inflates.  Pause gently before slowly exhaling through your nose and notice your abdomen falling and lowering back down towards your spine.

Using your hands is a useful guide to see that your breath is centred in your belly.

To make it even easier to naturally fall into belly breathing, you can try the ‘legs up the wall’ position.  Lie on your back with your bottom close to the wall and your legs in the air, against the wall.  Your breath is likely to effortlessly drop into your belly in this position, and you can place your hand on your tummy as above to help focus your breath in this area.

Incorporating belly breathing every day

Belly breathing is a wonderful practice to incorporate into your daily routine to tell your body you’re safe and well, therefore reducing stress hormones.  Try 20 belly breaths to start or end the day, or take a few conscious belly-breaths at any time throughout your day (in the car, in a meeting, when you’re standing in a queue, for example). 

Do this as a matter of routine to support your well-being, and if you find yourself feeling stressed then switch to belly breathing for a few moments and notice what happens.

I’d love to hear how you progress with this so please let me know how things go!

With love,

Ruth