As a women with ADHD when a stressful situations hit us, they hit fast and hard. Often, we are left feeling helpless, hopeless, and even breathless. One of the simplest ways to manage stressful and anxiety provoking situations is to breathe. Although it sounds very simple, we often forget to slow down and taking meaningful breaths to regain control and reconnect with ourselves.
Breathing is something that we often take for granted. We do it all day, everyday, usually without ever stopping to think about it. But even though we don’t need to be conscious of our every breath to live, there is good reason to pay closer attention to how you inhale and exhale — your stress levels!
Always begin these exercises by placing a hand on your stomach and (if possible) closing your eyes. Use the hand on your stomach to make sure that you are breathing from your belly instead of your chest. Make sure that with each inhale you feel your belly expand and with each exhale you feel your belly contract. Start each exercise with a long, deep inhale, feeling your belly rise and a long deep exhale, feeling your belly fall to help you settle into the work.
Box Breathing (4 – 4 – 4)
Inhale for four counts through your nose, and feel your belly expand
Pause, hold the breath in for four counts
Exhale for four counts through your mouth, and feel your belly contract
Repeat for 10 counts or until you feel calmer and connected to your breath
4-7-8 Breaths
Inhale through your nose for a count of four, feeling your belly expand.
Hold the inhale inside your belly, counting to seven and focusing on the feeling of being still
Exhale through your mouth for a count of eight, feeling your belly contract. Feel the release as you let the stress and anxiety go with this extended breath
Equal Breathing
Inhale through your nose and count slowly up to four, feeling your belly expand
Exhale through your mouth repeating the count backwards from four to one at the same pace, feeling your belly contract
Repeat this for 10 breathes and notice the movement of belly and lungs expanding and contracting equally while you focus on your breath
Breath Counting (Slowly count to 10, then start again)
Continue to breathe in through your mouth, out through your nose
Do not change the cadence of your breath, simply count each breath
As you inhale, one, as you exhale, two, until you reach 10
Start over again once you have reached 10 from one, do this until you feel in control of your breathing
Breath Visualization (Focus on the inhale and exhale)
This technique does not require a change in breath, rather you are working on visualization
Focus on the inhale through your nose, see the breath travel into your nose
Notice the pause in your breath. Feel the moment of suspension and see the breath sit still inside your throat
Then focus on the exhale and see the breath leave your mouth and re-enter the world
This technique can benefit the most from practice when you are feeling calm, since visualization is a skill that takes time to master
In conclusion These five breathing exercises will help you refocus your energy. This will ease your stress and overtime these breathing techniques will become second nature. The goal is to empower you to take back control of your emotions.
Branda, Rebecca. “5 Breathing Techniques to Try Now.” Summit Psychology, Summit Psychology, 8 Mar. 2022, https://www.thesummitpsychology.com/blog/5-breathing-techniques-to-try-now.