Relaxation through breathing control

Stress affects the way we breathe: when you experience stress, you don’t breathe efficiently. You tend to breathe too quickly, in a superficial manner. This is why you feel short-breathed; you feel a sort of pressure building in your chest. Relaxation will help you recover a slower, more even breath. Breathing well is essential for your body to work properly. If you breathe slowly, deeply, and evenly, this will reduce the acidity of your blood and lower the amount of carbon dioxide in your system. This is why breathing control is taught in almost all yoga or sophrology techniques. To be sure, breathing is generally considered as a “reflex” function. But through breathing control, you can in fact easily act upon it. This technique is successfully mobilized in many relaxation programs that specifically seek to treat anxious disorders.