Breathing exercises are a powerful tool that you can use to de-stress and get happy fast. Next time you find yourself turning to food when you feel stressed, depressed, or worried try these two simple and effective exercises. They work and will save you from a binge and the guilt that comes after it.
Slimming Breath
Great for times when you're about to start indulging on all those fatty and sugary foods. This exercise controls hunger and thirst for high calorie beverages too.
Stick out your tongue, it's sides folded upward to form a taco shell shape, then breathe in slowly and deeply through your mouth.
Withdraw your tongue and place it behind the upper teeth for a short time, with the breath retained, before ehailing slowly through both nostrils.
The exhalation should be longer than the inhalation.
Balancing Calming Breath
Alternate nostril breathing is a great exercise when you're feeling stressed, out of control, or just disconnected.
Sit or kneel comfortably, keeping the spine erect.
Gently bend your head forward a little and using your right hand place your right thumb over the right nostril and your right ring finger over the left nostril. Your index and middle finger are gently placed between and slightly above your eyebrow.
With your thumb closing your right nostril, slowly breathe in through your left nostril. Pause retaining the breath by closing both nostrils with the appropriate fingers, and when necessary exhale through your right nostril by releasing the thumb.
Breathe straight back in through your right nostril, pause, closing both nostrils, and then exhale through your left nostril by releasing the ring finger. This completes one round of this calming breath.
Complete a couple of rounds at your own pace to begin with then work to the following pattern: breath in for 2 counts, hold for the count of 8 and out for the count of 4. Try to pull your abdomen in and exhale every little last bit of air.
Perform seven rounds and you will feel calmer and more balanced.
Lose more weight with easy breathing exercises from Free Your Breath, Free Your Life: How Conscious Breathing Can Relieve Stress, Increase Vitality, and Help You Live More Fully
