Stress Management Training--The First Step in Managing Stress
Posted: Saturday, August 29, 2009
by Richard Kuhns
Stress Management Institute
The first step to manage unhealthy stress that you learn in Stress Management training is not Tylenol, Motrin..., but instead deep breathing. Caution, if you suffer from agoraphobia and or anxiety/panic, this technique is not recommended until after the symptoms are history. Why? Because internal focusing is required for breathing techniques--not recommended for any type of anxiety reaction. For them external relaxation techniques are recommended--see the resource box.
We generally make a couple basic mistakes in breathing:
Often times we lift our shoulders when we take a deep breadth. This is clavicle breathing and it contributes to neck and headache. with our appearance that we learn to hold in our stomachs which greatly limits our breathing to the upper chest.
When we take a deep breadth, we force our lungs to expand against our chest putting chest muscles in spasm. This can create chest and back pain.
Life is about stress and as we adapt to higher and higher levels of stress from one year to the next, our normal breathing becomes tense. Even as we sleep, we may breathe in a tense manner. The tense breathing also affects our posture, starves the body of much needed oxygen, and blocks our Chakras--the natural flow of energy through our bodies.
No matter what the physical health problem--neckaches, headaches, muscle pain... (all direct effects of stress), or disease such as heart disease, cancer... it's important to address breathing (except for anxiety sufferers as previously noted). The problem is that there are no profits to be made from deep breathing. No drugs are required so you will not hear an announcement on the radio, "Did you remember to do your deep breathing stress reduction exercise today?"
Look for times during the day when you are feeling in a rush, defensive, stressed, under pressure... It's during these times that instead of tensing as you normally would, that you instead remember to do your stress relief deep breathing.
All you need do is to consciously become aware of your breathing--catch yourself with an upper chest breadth and then engage your first defense against stress. That is to simply shift from your upper chest tense breathing consciously to an abdominal breath.
How to take an abdominal breadth-the first defense against stress:
Let your stomach and abdomen relax.
Breathe down through your chest into your stomach.
Let your stomach expand outward.
Let your chest expand slightly at the end of the breadth.
As you exhale:
Pull your stomach inward.
Expel all the air up through your chest.
If you can hear yourself breathe, you are breathing too fast. Ten to twelve breaths per minute is fine. If you feel your shoulders lifting as you inhale, it is a tense breadth. Just let your shoulders be loose and limp as you inhale and exhale. Let your arms hang from your shoulder like rope.
Yoga is a great discipline to learn deep breathing. Yoga will also provide many other healthful benefits.
When to do your deep breathing: Make a list of times during the day when it would be appropriate to take advantage of the deep breathing stress management technique such as:
Before answering the phone or making a phone call.
Whenever you're at a red light.
As you're waiting for your computer to load a program or shut down.
Before eating or drinking.
Before entering a building or an office.
Whenever you notice yourself feeling stressed.
Whenever you can remember to take a deep breadth.
As you listen to someone conversing with you.
Remember, no one makes money on deep breathing so you will not hear a radio or TV message telling you to remember your deep breathing stress management exercise.
Several deep breathing exercises are available one one inexpensive cd to live longer, manage stress, and even eliminate hyperventilation. Practicing the exercises produces real results.
by Richard Kuhns B.S.Ch.E., NGH certified is an expert in the field of stress management. His best selling cds for managing stress are at http://www.DStressDoc.com and http://www.PanicBusters.com He aims to raise awareness as to how using basic stress management skills can be used to promote health. To find out more please visit http://www.dstressdoc.com/stressSeries.htm
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)How to breathe for maximum body oxygenation? Less than 3% of people know the correct answer: the less (smaller and slower) you breathe, the more oxygen in cells one gets. During normal breathing (tiny, but diaphragmatic breathing) our blood is 98% saturated with oxygen. Hence, overbreathing or deep breathing cannot increase blood oxygenation. The only effect is CO2 loss meaning less cell oxygenation since CO2 is a vsodilator and crucial for O2 release in cells (the Bohr effect).
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> Whenever you can remember to take a deep breadth.And you will surely kill you sooner since chronic hyperventilation deprives brain, heart and all vital organs from oxygen.> Yoga is a great discipline to learn deep breathing.
If you read Hatha Yoga Pradipika and other ancient manuscrptis, it is exactly opposite.
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