breathingtechnique

🔥 Hot Tip for Holiday Stress: Get Relief with 5-Finger Breathing🖐️

Give me 30 seconds and I’ll show you a super simple way to stop stress in its tracks as soon as you start to feel it!


It’s called 🖐️5-Finger Breathing, and it goes like this:


1️⃣ Hold one hand in front of you, palm facing up.

2️⃣ Use the index finger of your opposite hand to trace along the outline of your fingers.

3️⃣ As you trace up the outside of your thumb, take a deep breath in.

4️⃣ As you trace down the inside of your thumb, slowly breathe out.

5️⃣ Repeat this in-and-out breathing for each finger—inhale as you trace up, exhale as you trace down.

6️⃣ Continue until you’ve traced all five fingers and feel more calm and centered.


This works because deep and slow breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which makes you feel calm and relaxed.


Plus you can do it anytime and anywhere.


Prevention is the best medicine, especially when it comes to stress. If you start to make a habit of noticing when you feel stressed and taking a moment to reset, you’ll train your body to be more resilient and navigate the holiday stress like a boss.


Drop a ❤️ if this was helpful and be sure to follow for more simple ways to stay healthy ☀️

Laborde S, Allen MS, Borges U, et al. Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and a meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2022;138:104711. [link]

Have You Heard of Left Nostril Breathing?

Have you heard of left nostril breathing?

🧘‍♀️ Yogic traditions teach that the left relates to moon energy: cooling, calming, and reflective. The right relates to sun energy: fiery, energizing, and awakening. So, the yogic practice of left nostril breathing is thought to have a calming effect on the body.

🧠 A more science-y way of explaining this is that left nostril breathing puts the body into a parasympathetic state (instead of the “fight or flight” mode of the sympathetic state). Studies have even shown that left nostril breathing changes brainwave activity on EEG. Pretty cool!

Left nostril breathing is simple:

👍 Just press your right thumb against your right nostril, and breathe slowly and deeply through the left nostril.

That’s it!

You can combine it with other breathing practices, like box breathing (inhaling for a count of 4, holding for 4, exhaling for 4, and holding for 4) or just breathe deeply.

Will you try it?


Reference

Niazi IK, Navid MS, Bartley J, et al. EEG signatures change during unilateral Yogi nasal breathing. Sci Rep. 2022;12(1):520. [link]