Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercises to Decrease Anxiety
Today, we’re going to access the key to all of mobility and a way to decrease anxiety instantly:
Diaphragmatic breathing.
Sometimes we think that we have to smash into things- that we have to push into our goals or workouts, that we need to stretch further or harder as if the more effort will lead to achievement. In reality, you really have to take a deep breath and chill out.
When you soften your efforts, you positively engage your parasympathetic nervous system, maximizing your ability to rest and relax. In order to tap into this relaxed nervous system, today we’re going to practice how to maximize our breath through our diaphragm. Below you’ll find two short, yet effective, diaphragmatic breathing exercises.
Go ahead- take a deep breath.
When you did that, did you find that your shoulders lift up to your ears and the chest expands from the top? If so, let’s try again. I’ve also observed clients come in and just press their belly in and out while keeping the rib cage small. This also isn’t going to help us maximize our diaphragm breathing and activate the parasympathetic system.
What is the diaphragm?
Our diaphragm rests right underneath our ribcage. It’s a dome-shaped muscle that separates our chest from our abdomen. It’s also the most important muscle when it comes to respiration.
Instead of breathing high into our chest, we want to breathe deeply, in the lower ribcage. This allows the diaphragm to move efficiently and effectively. The way it should be!
Diaphragmatic breathing basics
Instead of lifting the shoulders and squeezing our belly, we’re going to focus on how to reverse that motion by allowing the shoulders to drop down and how to expand from the lower rib cage, helping you calm down, relax, and find more ease in all that you do.
Breathing from the diaphragm results in 360-degree movement, meaning that the rib cage and torso are going to move as one and expand in all directions. So this doesn’t mean that there won’t be any chest movement; it means that the chest isn’t dominating the movement.
When getting started it can be helpful to think of initiating breath from the diaphragm instead of initiating breath from the chest.
What you’ll need for your deep breathing practice
For this practice, we’re going to need some props.
- Either a pillow that is somewhat flat, or you can fold up some towels or a blanket for underneath the head and shoulders
- A denser pillow (or two) to place under your knees
You can even take a chair and place your feet up so that you’re making a 90-degree angle with your legs. Find what’s most comfortable and works best for you. The goal of these props is to help you further relax into the practice.
Finding your deep breathing position
You want to open up adequate airway space from your neck down to the pelvic floor in your hips.
Avoid your hips dropping too far forward, creating an arch in the lower back. Be sure your neck is elongated and not squished or constricted. You also want to avoid feeling like your head is falling back. If it feels like your head is falling backward, add a folded towel underneath the head to create a long, flowing airway.
Take as long as you need to set yourself up for success here. Remember the goal is to find a position that is opening and relaxing.
Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise #1
Place one hand on your chest and one hand on the belly.
First, we’re going to focus on improving the quality of our breath through observation.
Breathe in through the nose and then smoothly out through the mouth with slightly parted lips.
What we want to observe is that both of our hands are lifting slightly. If the belly hand is lifting a little bit more that’s okay, too.
Both hands are going to drop as you breathe out through the mouth. The quality of the breath here should be smooth and controlled.
Slowly breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth is going to help retrain the diaphragm. As you’re breathing out imagine that you’re blowing up a balloon.
Continue to observe your breathing. Is your belly or chest primarily dominating the breath instead of them both working in unison? That’s okay- simply adjust the body. Maybe you need to place another pillow underneath the head or lift your legs higher. Continue playing with the position of your body to see what maximizes the ability to breathe from both areas.
Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise #2
Once you have reached a consistent state of breath, place both of your hands onto the lower rib cage. Now, we’re going to practice breathing into the lateral parts of the rib cage instead of focusing on the breath going up and down.
Start by slightly contracting, or squeezing, the rib cage in. As you breathe in through the nose, focus your attention towards your hands as you imagine sending your breath to this area of the body. Exhale softly out the mouth as you relax into the practice, feeling the ribs contract. As you breathe, continue to imagine the rib cage expanding in and out. Continue to repeat this pattern of breath.
The goal is to allow our exhales to become lighter and lighter- so much so that if you exhaled towards a butterfly it would barely flutter its wings.
Daily deep breaths
You want to do this practice literally every day. I’m not kidding.
The benefits of intentional diaphragm breathing can be amazing. Even after a few exercises, you can begin to notice a reduction of pain in the body, an improved range of motion within the soft tissue, an increased range of motion in the joints, and many other positive benefits.
Immediate results
You’ll notice after doing this breathing technique for just five minutes, you can go deeper into stretches like forward folds or spinal rotations.
By activating deep diaphragm breath, you’re releasing tension that’s keeping you from being able to access your full range of motion.
Practicing these diaphragmatic breathing exercises is one of my favorite things to do, and I prioritize it daily because it improves so many different functions in our lives. Try incorporating even just five minutes of breathwork into your routine and see how much more relaxed, aware, and effortlessly efficient things become!
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