Learning to Breath in the Holiday Chaos

December 19th, 2017 | Blog

It’s amazing that something as simple as breathing can calm you down and ease your worries. But it’s true: Regular, mindful breathing can help reduce stress and paradoxically give you energy. Here’s one breathing technique that you can use twice a day, or even just when you find your mind swelling on upsetting thoughts. Sit in a comfortable chair. Place your right hand on your chest and your left hand on your abdomen. Take a deep breath in through your nose. You should notice that your hand on your abdomen is rising higher than your hand on your chest. Slowly exhale through your mouth. Next, take a slow, deep breath in through your nose. Hold it for a count of seven. Slowly exhale through your mouth for a count of eight.

Gently contract your ab muscles to completely get all of the air out of your lungs. This is the key to exercise: Exhaling all of the air out of your body. Repeat the cycle four more times. Once you have this pattern down, you might want to add words to make it work even better. For example, when you inhale, you could say to yourself the feeling that you want to have, such as “relaxation,” and when you exhale, you could say to yourself the feeling that you want to get rid of, such as “stress.”

This was reprinted from The Mommy MD Guide to Surviving Morning Sickness on page 25.