Relax the Mind Through Breathing: Stress Awareness Month Guide

Do you struggle with a racing mind? Then read on to find out how to relax the mind through breathing, encouraging the body’s natural stress response and releasing feelings of overwhelm.

As April is Stress Awareness Month I’m taking some time to look at how stress can impact our wellbeing, and what we can do about it. Last week I offered some ideas about how stress impacts our physical body, and suggested a yoga pose to help slow things down a little. This week it’s all about how we can alleviate symptoms of stress and calm the mind through breathing.

Stress impacts our life on 3 levels – physically (body,) mentally (mind,) socially (behaviour.)

Stress Response – a necessary reflex

The stress response is the body’s way of protecting itself from a perceived life-threatening event. This is useful if we are faced with a sabre-toothed tiger and our life is actually on the line. Having an automatic response kick in takes the decision making out of a scenario where milliseconds count – should we stay and fight the tiger; should we run away from it; or should we freeze and allow fear to paralyse us hoping the tiger won’t notice us.

But the problem with ongoing stress is that the body reacts the same way to a sabre-toothed tiger as it does to an email from your boss asking for a meeting. We know (or hope) that the meeting with our supervisor will not be a life-threatening moment, but the primitive part of our brain which controls the stress response doesn’t know this. So, we get ready to fight our boss, our muscles tense, pupils dilate, and blood is diverted away from the skin to the brain, legs and arms ready for the fight. Our body’s blood clotting ability increases in preparation for the potential loss of blood. In short, we are on high alert and all because our boss asked to speak with us.

Having this reaction once or twice might be ok, but an ongoing stress response at this level may leave you feeling overwhelmed. The mental implications of ongoing stress can be irritability, feeling out of control, fatigue, insomnia and difficulty concentrating. Over a longer period of time, stress may lead to anxiety and depression, which brings a whole new need to manage the stress response within our daily lives. This when it becomes invaluable to know how to relax the mind through breathing.

Simple Stress Solutions

Our yoga practice may offer a solution toward dealing with stress and it’s mental implications. We all know that yoga is great for the body, improving mobility, flexibility, strength and stamina. But yoga is also wonderful for the mind, as it offers more than a physical practice of postures.

Yogic practices of pranayama and meditation offer a simple stress management solution. Try Box or Square breathing technique to relax the mind and bring about a feeling of balance within.

Relax the Mind Through Breathing

Meditation is another fantastic method for managing daily stress, and the more often you meditate the greater the benefits. Carve out some time in your day to sit and observe the breath, start with 5-minutes and then build up. Start your day in a positive way, hit your snooze button and use the time to focus on the breath.

Alternatively, yoga could try some Yoga Nidra, which means yogic sleep. This is a deep form of guided meditation which produces a relaxing and soothing response in the Central Nervous System.

Whatever approach you take, prevention is better than cure. It’s worthwhile to cultivate a daily practice to manage your stress levels rather than waiting until things build up. And if you are feeling overwhelmed by stress, there’s no time like the present to get meditating. Check out this video for a guided breathpractice to help you get started.