Inhale… Exhale…
Simple, yet powerful. It’s a bodily function that we don’t have to think about doing. It is the function that is often overlooked during segments of our life’s that we go through. Think of a scenario that crushed you to your core. How was your breathing in the middle of it? Do you know if you were even breathing at all?
How you breathe, matters. Whether it be normal day to day or during difficult situations. Breathing helps us to think rationally, ground is when anxiety sneaks in and helps us identify real emotions. Knowing your breathing patterns can benefit your mental and emotional health; it is medicine for your soul, mind and heart.
To ground yourself during an anxiety attack means to check your senses. You can do this by simply walking away from the cause of the attack and using your 5 senses.
- 1 thing you can smell/taste.
- 2 things you can feel/touch.
- 3 things you can hear.
- 4 things you can see.
Checking your senses helps regulate breathing and helps us make rational decisions. Do these steps as many times as you need till you can revisit the issue or until you can come up with a solution; and a part time solution is better than none.
Just a single thought is capable of changing the breathing pattern.
-Isle Middendorf
A Glimpse:
Before I started my recovery journey, which I have stated about in previous blogs, trauma-based situations crippled me. I usually felt a lot like Hammy in Over the Hedge, when he drank that energy drink. Beep bopping to hypersensitivity and not seeing the end result to a lot of band aid decisions. I was a mess and I caused a lot of my own turmoil because I didn’t breathe. In turn to holding it in, I made irrational decisions I later had to revisit to make a new decision, that I was breathing better in making. Through recovery, I learned breathing techniques that I still use when I’m faced with a hard or troubled situation. It has changed the way I parent my kids, how I deal with coworkers and anyone else I may encounter. It is a process and you can trust that process. The work is WORTH IT.
Take a deep breath, get present in the moment and ask yourself what is important this very second.
~Greg McKeown
Healing-Advice 