One Simple Strategy To Reduce Anxiety

Get your nervous system under control just by changing the way you breathe

Air represents spirit. The way you breathe represents the current state of your spirit. When you’re anxious, your spirit is agitated, restless, full of energy but not sure what to do with it.

This comes across as shallow, quick, and irregular breathing. When someone is calm, their breathing is even, slow, and fills the lungs more deeply.

Every system in our body and mind is deeply interrelated. Feeling anxious may cause shallow breathing, but cause and effect can move in the opposite direction too.

Consciously alter your breathing, and your feelings will change. Slow it down. Fill your lungs. Close your eyes for an extra layer of calming effect.

Unwanted emotions arise when we are careless about managing our body, mind, and spirit. The worldly cause — shallow breathing, being yelled at, whatever it is — is secondary.

The primary cause of unwanted emotions is unconsciousness — failing to cause the emotion that you do desire.

So the next time you’re feeling anxious, do the trick: take conscious control of your breathing, and slow it down. Make your breathing calm, and you will become calm.

And if you want to defeat anxiety more permanently, create a habit of breathing consciously, calmly.