One of our body functions that we can control, to some extent, is breathing. We can calm down or agitate ourselves with our breathing. If you feel anxious about speaking to a large group, you can calm yourself down by slowing down your breathing. Your body will speed up your breathing when necessary. I suspect that we breath more deeply and more quickly than we need to. When at rest we can slow down considerably.
Try this exercise.
Breath in slowly to the count of 4
Hold the breath to the count of 4
Breathe out slowly to the count of 4
Wait to the count of 4 before starting the cycle again.
If you feel that you need to breath more deeply or quickly to catch, you probably don’t.
This process will calm you down before going to sleep or before an activity or situation that is likely to cause stress.
Try it even for a few minutes each day or just before going to sleep.
