Relaxation Breathing Exercises

Easy Way to Interrupt Stress

Breathing exercises are a proven way to interrupt stress and reduce anxiety. They are quick and easy to do and recommended by professional health care providers such as NHS and Mayo Clinic and charities such as Anxiety UK and Mind.

Why It Works.

Our everyday breathing is often quite short and shallow. That’s similar to our breathing when we are anxious or under stress. Therefore, to our bodies and brains, it feels like we’re under stress even if we’re not.

Fortunately, the reverse is also true. Simply controlling the speed and depth of your breathing helps interrupt the panicky feeling. When we take a long, slow breath we are telling our body that we are safe and can relax. Deep, measured breathing also improves our oxygen levels and reduces amounts of carbon dioxide in our blood which, let’s face it, is what breathing is there for. Furthermore, by stretching the muscles we use to breathe and consciously letting them relax they return to a more physically relaxed, flexible state. It’s just like we would get up from a chair to stretch our legs occasionally.

Popular Types

There are several variations on relaxation breathing exercises you can learn to help interrupt stress and relax. Our online animations let you try the different types to find the one which works best for you. Learn More.

Our Exercises

Our relaxation breathing exercises help you try the different techniques and practice the one you like most to use regularly through your life whenever you need it.

Match your breathing to the animation. Don’t worry if you can’t keep time at first, it may need several tries. You should soon find it becomes easier and more natural. I’d recommend you do not repeat the exercise more than three times without taking a break to let everything settle down.

Once you’ve practised the technique using our animations, you should be able to do it quickly and quietly whenever you need to, with or without them.

Important Note - Not Recommended for Everyone

If you have any health issues related to breathing, or to your heart, lungs or chest, you may wish to speak to your healthcare provider before undertaking the breathing exercises, especially those requiring you to hold your breath. This is also true of certain neurological conditions such as epilepsy.

I found out the hard way that it seems you can also get cramp in your intercostal muscles if they are not used to all this real breathing!

WorkPlace WellBeing

We offer a range of relaxation breathing animations for you to add to your website or include in your workplace wellbeing strategy. You can either choose one of our existing designs or have these cusomtised to suit your corporate style. Further details can be found here.