How to Reduce Your Anxiety By Simply Breathing
Usually the first thing people tell you when you feel overwhelmed, anxious or panicked is to “take a deep breath”. More often than not, you end up feeling calmer when you take a moment to focus on your breath.
But why?
In yoga, the practices of breathing are called Pranayama. In today’s crazy, chaotic world, my pranayama practice helps keep me grounded, even if I can only practice for 5 minutes a day. That’s the power of it! It’s amazing how just a little bit of breath work can impact my energy and change my mood almost instantly. Each time I practice, I feel more alive. And I want the same for you! Today I’m sharing the foundations of a pranayama practice so you can start using the breath to reduce your anxiety, especially in the moment, so you can feel more grounded and calm.
What Is Pranayama?
The word “Pranayama” combines the Sanskrit word, “prana”, which means air or breath and aliveness, with “ayama” or “yama”. “Ayama” means enhancing or expanding, while “yama” means to restrain or hold back. Think of prana as the energy needed to be alive - to move, think and feel. Prana is everything that is an expression of aliveness.
When you breathe, the movement of muscles in your torso allows the lungs to expand and contract. Your breath is guided by the diaphragm (a large, dome-shaped muscle located beneath your lungs) and the intercostal muscles between your ribs. When your lungs expand, the volume within your thoracic cavity increases, and air is drawn into your lungs - a.k.a. you inhale. The opposite happens as your lungs contract back to their original shape. The volume decreases, which increases the air pressure in the thoracic cavity, causing you to exhale.
Prana, or energy, rides on the breath, which means that you can influence your energy level based on the way you breathe. And the most important thing is that your respiratory system is one of the few biological processes that can occur both consciously or unconsciously. It happens automatically AND you have the ability to influence the way you breathe.
So, all together, the classical translation of Pranayama is “restrain or master the life force.” Or you can also translate it as “restrain or increase the flow of air” or “restrain or increase the flow of aliveness.”
But what does it mean to be more “alive”?
Your physical body is tangible - you can see it, feel it, and therefore rationalize it. But, you are more than just your physical body. Your subtle body is made up of channels called nadis. Just like your physical veins and arteries are channels for your blood, the nadis transport the flow of energy, or prana, in your body. They also carry nerve impulses, thoughts and feelings. When these channels are blocked, the energy doesn’t flow and you end up losing the ability to feel and to connect with others. You can also experience pain physically, emotionally and mentally when Prana is stuck.
Pranayama practices work to remove these blockages and open the nadis, allowing you to feel more alive. You might notice this “aliveness” as an increase in your physical energy, a greater sense of emotional balance, and clearer thoughts.
Where Awareness Goes, Energy Flows
So we just learned that you are a being of energy. And you are also a being of awareness, which is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events - awareness is the state of being conscious of something. And the connection between energy and awareness is that wherever you focus, your energy flows!
Imagine the relationship between two siblings. In most cases, the younger kid always wants to be where the older kid is! If the older one goes into the kitchen, the younger one follows. Energy is a lot like that younger sibling. Wherever the older kid (awareness) goes, the younger kid (energy) will follow.
When you have anxiety, your energy is moving up and out of your body because your awareness is up in your mind, overthinking, processing and focused mostly on external people, objects and situations. You expend your energy on overthinking and stress, and over time your energy empties, leaving you to feel depleted. I know I’m not the only one that feels exhausted after a day of struggling with my anxiety, even if I spent the day sitting on the couch!
Ideally, when you struggle with anxiety, you want to use a pranayama practice to slow down your nervous system and gradually and safely raise and invite energy back toward your central nadi channel, also known as sushumna, so that you can live with more aliveness.
Awareness of Prana
Before you can begin a pranayama practice, you need to be aware of your current energy level in order to know which breath work practices will help you reduce your anxiety balance your energy. Simply take a moment to notice how you feel.
If prana is low, you will feel sluggish, lethargic, and generally blah. Think of it as sloth and torpor. If prana is high, you might feel hyper, indecisive, agitated, spazy, speedy, and distractible. The energy is sloppy and scattered. If prana is balanced, you will feel grounded but alert - it’s a steady energy that feels very even.
In order to balance prana, you want to practice the opposite qualities in your breathwork. If prana is low, you want to practice techniques that will raise your energy up to a balanced state. If prana is high, you want to practice techniques that will lower your energy until you feel balanced.
Since we are specifically talking about how to breathe when you feel anxious, let’s dive into the specific types of breathing practices you can do right now to reduce your anxiety.
Types of Pranayama Practices to Reduce Anxiety
Below are a few pranayama practices you can do when you are feeling anxious. You can also incorporate these into a daily practice in order to maintain a general level of calm throughout your day and to have these techniques become second nature for those anxious times you need them the most.
Letting Go Breath - considered an instant tranquilizer. Inhale deeply through the nose and then exhale with a soft sigh out the mouth. As you exhale, think about releasing the excess stress you have but don’t release too much energy. Let the exhale be a soft sigh. Repeat 3 times and notice how your energy and awareness shift.
Three-Part Breath: Sit up with a tall spine or take a supine position laying on your back. Bring your hands to your belly and soften or close your eyes. As you inhale, let the belly move into your palms so that your diaphragm can drop down and you can breathe into the lowest lobes of your lungs. As you continue to inhale, let the ribs expand and then fill the upper lungs into the chest. As you exhale, release the chest first and then the ribs, and then gently pull the belly back into the lower back to draw the diaphragm up toward the lungs, expelling as much of the exhale as possible. Repeat 5-10 times and notice the effects in your body and mind. As you breathe slowly in and out, you may notice your mind relax and your energy soften or feel more steady.
Ujjayi Breath: This breath is extremely powerful to pull your mind away from thoughts and external situations and bring the awareness inward. While practicing the three-part breath, softly constrict the back of your throat as you inhale and exhale - as if you were fogging up a mirror in front of you on the exhale and a mirror at the back of your throat on the inhale. You’ll hear a low-pitched, hissing sound. Keeping the breath steady and smooth, notice how your mind settles on the sound and how your energy levels responds.
Box Breath: Gently and skillfully count the breath to the count of 4. This technique gives your overthinking mind something to focus on in the present moment as you breathe. You’ll inhale to the count of 4, hold for the count of 4, exhale for the count of 4, and then hold again for the count of 4. Repeat for 4-5 rounds and notice the effects.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding the practice of pranayama. But you now have the exact techniques you need to reduce your anxiety and feel more grounded and calm using your breath as a technique! And if you want to learn additional steps you can do right now to feel less worry and more ease in your life, Download my Essential Guide to Coping with Uncertainty today!