5 Steps to Do Breathing Exercise for Stress Relief

Many yoga beginners ask the same question, how to breath during yoga practice? Does it help to do breathing exercise for stress relief? In short words, breath in slowly and exhale slowly. This is the basic rule of yogic breathing, and continuous practice of slow breathe appears to largely boost your performance and relieve pain during exercise. That is perhaps why so many medical professional always tell their patient to keep breathing.

Benefits of keeping stable breath

-relieve stress

-keep calm, increase alertness

-boost immune system

-reduct anxiety and depression that are aggravated or triggered by stress

“There is scientific research behind this, a research conducted by Dr. Chris Streeter, an associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at Boston University, show that after 12 weeks of daily yoga and coherent breathing for people with diagnoses of major depressive disorder, their depressive symptoms significantly decreased.”

It can not hurt to try stable breathing, right?

5 Steps to Practice Controlled Breath?

1. Switch to a comfortable position, like sitting upright or just lying down, put your hands on belly;

2. Try to hold for a second then slowly breathe in, expanding your belly, to the count of five;

3. Pause for seconds, no need to be very long;

4. Slowly breathe out to the count of five;

5. Manage to repeat this pattern for 10 to 20 times and do it everyday.