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When you're tense or anxious you'll find yourself sighing a lot or breathing quickly from the upper part of your chest ("hyperventilating").
When you breathe normally, your lungs keep the balance between the oxygen-rich air you breathe in and the carbon dioxide-rich air you breathe out. When you hyperventilate, your shallow, frequent breaths (or sighs) expel too much carbon dioxide and your body’s acid/alkali balance is altered.
This is one of the outcomes of the Fight or Flight anxiety response and the change in your body's chemistry can produce unpleasant symptoms which make you feel ill. You need to stop sighing, slow your breathing down and move it downwards towards your diaphragm. So,
- First, make yourself comfortable while standing, lying down or sitting in a chair which supports your back and head
- Loosen tight clothes around your middle
- Keep your jaw loose, tongue on the floor of your mouth
- Place one hand flat on your upper chest and the other just below your ribs and above your tummy button.
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Which hand moves the most? |
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 Take a slow, normal breath in through your nose. If the hand on your tummy is the one that moves - great! You are breathing using your diaphragm - the muscle under your ribs
If it's the upper one, it shows that your breathing is shallow, because your stomach muscles are too tight to allow your lungs to expand completely
So, sitting or lying comfortably, place your hands fingertip to fingertip on your tummy and breathe in through your nose while counting slowly to five. Watch your fingertips part as your tummy expands, hold the breath for a count of two and then release it slowly through your mouth to a count of five, watching your fingertips come together again as your tummy flattens again.
It is good to start with five of these exercises, but even two will have an immediate effect. Don't do them too often or you will get dizzy!
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