According to the World Health Organization, anxiety is the most common mental health disorder in the world.
Characterized by a feeling of fear or lack of control, anxiety can occur in anyone throughout life, so it’s important to know what it is beforehand.
Breathing and emotions
As well as being vitally important to human survival, breathing is intrinsically linked to our moods and emotions. In the face of feelings of anger, sadness, pain or tranquility, the rhythm of our breathing varies. Thanks to this, we can reverse the process. Instead of sensation driving the breath, we can use inhalations and exhalations to create a new emotion, in this case calm.
Consciously altering our breathing is useful for controlling the way we react to moments of stress, sadness or when negative emotions overwhelm us.
The value of knowing your breath
To control our breathing, it’s essential to know how we breathe. Mouth or nose? Do I use the diaphragm? Do I position my tongue? How do I pause between breaths? Once we’ve answered these questions, we need to practice breathing at different times and in different situations so that, although it may be an effort at first, it later becomes a natural, unconscious habit.
The link between anxiety and breathing
Anxiety normally involves much shallower, faster breathing. In turn, the high speed of inhalations and exhalations can generate more anxiety. For this reason, we can find ourselves plunged into a spiral from which it will be difficult to escape if we don’t have the necessary tools.
The 4:6 method for controlling anxiety
This technique can help anyone prone to panic or anxiety attacks. Its simplicity makes it easy to remember at a time when you’re not thinking clearly, and can be essential when you need to put your feet up or deal with different feelings and emotions.
The steps of the 4:6 method
Here are the six steps to adopting conscious breathing and taking control of your emotions:
- To begin with, you need to adopt a seated position, stretch your spine and keep your shoulders and arms relaxed.
- Next, you need to take a breath and breathe deeply and gently through your nose.
- This breathing should be abdominal, so you should feel your belly expand naturally as you count to four.
- Then exhale through your nose, counting to six.
- To change your state of mind, repeat this operation ten times.
- If you want to improve your practice, you can continue for as long as you like. 5 to 30 minutes is recommended.
To perform this exercise correctly, it’s best to lengthen the exhalations longer than the inhalations, adapting the number of seconds according to your needs and comfort.
Conscious breathing is a simple but powerful tool for controlling our anxiety and emotions. By adopting the 4:6 method, we can restore our emotional balance and regain a state of inner calm.
I’m Thomas, passionate editor at services-conseils.fr. My area of expertise is technology and the web, where I devote my time and energy to unearthing the latest news and trends. My aim is to share my knowledge and discoveries with our readers, who are eager to learn more about these constantly evolving fields.
I am a web editor specialized in people news. I am passionate about the world of celebrity and I love to follow the latest trends, scoops and gossip that make the buzz