Focused Breathing: Reduce Stress and Boost Concentration with a Simple Breathing Exercise

Although we hear all the time about the benefits of yoga, meditation, and all kinds of other techniques for improving focus, flexibility, mindfulness, and calm, they’re not for everyone.

Not all of us have the physical ability to do yoga—although chair yoga can be gentle on achy joints.

Not all of us have half an hour to devote to meditation every day—although, really, you only need about 2–5 minutes to get some benefits.

And not all of us have the focus required to clear our minds and sit still as mindfulness requires—although moving meditation can be just as effective.

There’s always an excuse for why you can’t do whatever healthy trend is currently all over Instagram, even if it’s just that you don’t have time between all your other obligations.

So what if I told you that there’s a form of relaxation and focus therapy that you’re already doing every minute of every day?

Just Breathe

Breathwork is, quite simply, focused breathing.

You can do that! You breathe all day, every day, without even thinking.

All breathwork asks you to do is to think about it for a change.

Whether you call it breathwork or pranayama, the formal yoga name for controlled breathing, it’s quite simple: a series of focused, controlled breaths that help you relax, focus, concentrate, and be present in the moment.

Although there are hours-long classes devoted to many different kinds of breathwork, some of which even add group therapy sessions to the lineup, and there are hundreds of pranayama classes in yoga studios all over the world, focused breathing at its most basic is incredibly accessible.

All you have to do is count and breathe!

It takes only a few minutes, requires no special equipment, and can be done sitting in your desk chair.

Best of all, you’ll likely find yourself recharged, refreshed, and even experiencing less anxiety and depression, according to some studies. That’s because when we get stressed, we tense up and start breathing shallowly, reducing the amount of oxygen coming in. That makes our bodies start inching into fight-or-flight territory, snowballing into the land of stress and making it hard to calm down and get back into your groove.

When we consciously relax and breathe more deeply and purposefully, we’re short-circuiting that negative loop and giving our bodies what we need to focus.

Six Steps to Refresh

Focused breathing is super-simple to get started with. It only takes 6 steps and less than 5 minutes!

1. Sit Comfortably

To get ready for focused breathing, just sit comfortably. If you want to sit cross-legged on the ground, go for it. If you’d rather hang out in your desk chair, that’s fine, too.

Relax your arms by your side and sit up straight, with your spine lengthened and your shoulders square. Keep your chin lifted slightly.

Close your mouth and breathe through your nose.

2. Breathe from the Belly

To get the most out of your breathing practice, take conscious, deep breaths from your diaphragm.

In simple terms, that just means breathing from your belly, deeply, and feeling your chest and belly expand as you breathe. Most of us take shallow breaths, only inflating the very top of our chests—we never get the deep intake of air that refreshes our bloodstream and floods our bodies and brains with healing, revitalizing oxygen.

3. Find Your Pattern

When you first start doing focused breathing, you might find it hard to take super-long breaths.

That’s okay! Everyone has different inherent rhythms and it’ll take you a little experimentation to find what works best for you.

Start out by breathing in while counting slowly to 2, then breathing out to the same beat. As you get more comfortable, try extending your inhale and exhale.

Most practitioners and coaches suggest that the optimal exhale is twice as long as your inhale: so aim for inhaling for 2, 3, or 4 beats and exhaling for 5, 6, or 7…or even more. Counts of 5 to 10 are totally normal.

 

You might find that you’re comfortable holding your breath for a little while between the inhale and exhale. Wellness expert Dr. Andrew Weil suggests a pattern of breathing in for 4 counts, holding for 7 counts, and exhaling for 8 counts.

 

Experiment and see what reduces your stress and boosts your concentration the best. Whatever works for you is the right pattern!

4. Lengthen Your Exhale

When we get stressed, our breathing gets choppy. Count to 3 as you inhale deeply, then count to 5 as you let the air out slowly.

Lengthening the time it takes you to breathe out forces you to relax more of your muscles and focus more on the pattern of your breathing, letting go of whatever might be bothering you.

5. Feel the Rhythm

As you relax, your breathing becomes almost like a wave—the pattern of in-out-in-out matches the feeling of your chest and belly rising and falling.

Focus on that pattern and pretend there’s an ocean wave cresting and falling inside your body, washing away whatever’s bothering you and bringing in a tide of calm, focused relaxation.

Just breathe in and out in a continuous, rolling stream—don’t hold your breath or make any choppy inhalations or exhalations. Ride the wave.

6. Cycle It

As you get used to focused breathing, you’ll figure out when you start to feel refreshed, as your body relaxes and oxygen starts flowing freely to your brain, giving you a boost of focus and concentration.

A lot of people feel great after about 10 cycles of in-and-out, but you may do well with more or less.

Regardless, it usually doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to perk yourself up and come back to whatever you’re doing with an improved mindset!

Advanced Breathing

Once you’ve got the hang of basic breathwork, you can try doing some advanced techniques…which are still pretty darn simple.

Most of these involve blocking one of your nostrils on the inhale and then blocking the other nostril on the exhale, or using different patterns of breathing and different inhale-exhale counts.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out this great article on Yoga Journal.

So the next time you find yourself stressed out by an impending deadline, a character that just won’t cooperate, or even the piles of laundry you’ve been trying to ignore, take a minute and just breathe.

 

Focusing on deep breathing can help calm and focus you, boosting your concentration and wellness.

 

If you liked this article, share it!

For more on how to be more mindful and improve your health, read on:

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think Pieces: What They Are and How to Write One

Image
A think piece, also known as a thought piece, is an article or piece of writing intended to stir up the reader’s thoughts. It is usually speculative, with a lot of expository material, context, and the author’s analysis and opinion of existing ideas. Sometimes, think pieces can lean toward the controversial, especially when they seek to challenge majority opinions. Particularly provocative pieces are often the ones that get shared all over social media or the internet. Editors of magazines, blogs, and websites often pay for think pieces, but they are not that easy to write. This is perhaps why many writers aspire to be published in mainstream publications like The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Atlantic, and The Saturday Evening Post , but their submissions barely get a sideways glance.  The good news is that getting a think piece published does not depend on your name or reputation; instead, quality is king. The key is being able to think deeply about a t...
Read more

The Best Mobile Apps for Writers

Image
If you’re a writer looking for a better way to write on your smartphone or mobile device, this post will help. Using a text app or word processor just won’t cut it if you’re doing heavy duty writing on a mobile device. These tools can help whether you have an Android or Apple device. 1. IWriter iWriter is a writing tool that functions excellently on Android and iOS. It is the best app for writing articles, books, or taking detailed notes. iWriter is a simple and elegant text editor. You can download it via iTunes or Google Play . You can check out iWriter subscription pricing here. 2. JotterPad Jotterpad makes it possible to convert files from PDF to WORD and some other popular formats. The app supports Markdown. It includes text styling, a thesaurus, a built-in dictionary that’ll even help you rhyme. It has essential features such as snapshots, typewriter scrolling, undo/redo, night vision, universal dark theme, and phrase finder. JotterPad supports full Cloud integr...
Read more

Author Business Cards: Why You Need Them and How to Make Them

Image
The first rule for being a successful author is to write. The second rule for being a successful author is to write more. The third rule for being a successful author is to always be networking. You never know where your next fan will come from. It might be someone who finds your book on Goodreads, but it might also be the person in front of you at the grocery store or the guy you bump into when you’re out for pizza. You might get chatting with someone at the bowling alley. You might end up discussing your book at the DMV. Your next reader could be anyone, anywhere. So you need to be prepared! That’s why business cards still matter in the digital era. Although we all tote tiny computers in our pockets all day, it’s still a pain in the butt to exchange contact information on a phone—not everyone uses the same system, vCards work with contact and email programs but aren’t universal, and NFC transfers are kind of clunky. Besides, after you dump your information into someone else’...
Read more