Tips for Practicing Mindful Breathing

Stress is one of those buggy things that try to enter everyone's life at one point or 
another. It will try to grab hold of you in regards to your work, bills, relationship, family 
life and so on. Breathing techniques have been a great way to rid the body of stress 
since the beginning of time. You can learn how to do them the right way so that they 
eliminate your stress each and every time. Here is some information on why and how:

Why Breathing Works to Relieve Stress

The mechanics of breathing for stress relief are really quite simple. Whenever you take 
a deep breath, you cause changes to occur in your brain and in your body. One thing 
that deep breathing does is bring oxygen into your system. That oxygen then feeds your 
brain all the nourishment it needs to operate properly. A deprived brain causes stress, 
but a nourished brain can make you feel good. Another thing that deep breathing does 
is activate your hypothalamus, which triggers a release of relaxing hormones. Breathing 
can potentially relieve stress every time. You just have to get a handle on doing it so 
that you can maximize its effects.

How to Practice Breathing

If you want to get a little bit of instruction, you could talk to someone else who has been 
doing breathing exercises. That person can explain the process to you. You could also 
watch instructional videos and see how someone else does it. Once you have a good 
idea of how it's done, go into a quiet room and try it. What you want to do is get as much 
air as you can into your lungs, savor it for a minute, and then release it slowly. Repeat 
the process several times until you start feeling the stress bounce right off of you and 
back into the air. It will work, and the more you do it, the better you will get at it. 

When to Start Breathing

You have to use mindfulness when you want to control your stress levels. In other 
words, you have to get to know your body so that you know when your temperature is 
rising and so forth. As soon as you start feeling yourself being overtaken by something 
negative, you'll want to counteract it with the breathing exercises. That's how you can 
get control of such things. Once you master the art of breathing, you'll be able to 
eliminate your stress within seconds. 

Now that you have some information on breathing, you will hopefully do so whenever 
stress starts trying to get at you. Keep your head up and your breath in and out.

