This happens when you focus on your breathing - Wow !!!
The Calming Response (Parasympathetic Response)
- oxygen consumption decreases
- breathing slows
- heart rate slows
- blood pressure decreases
- muscle tension decreases
- growing sense of ease in body, calmness in mind
Technique 1 - Takes 30 seconds
- Take a long, slow breath in through your nose, first filling your lower lungs, then your upper lungs.
- Hold your breath to the count of "three."
- Exhale slowly through pursed lips, while you relax the muscles in your face, jaw, shoulders, and stomach.
Technique 2 - Takes 90 seconds
- Sit comfortably.
- Take a long, deep breath and exhale it slowly while saying the word "relax" silently.
- Close your eyes.
- Let yourself take ten natural, easy breaths. Count down with each exhale, starting with "ten."
- This time, while you are breathing comfortably, notice any tensions, perhaps in your jaw or forehead or stomach. Imagine those tensions loosening.
- When you reach "one," open your eyes again.