3 breathing exercises to calm anxiety

Pranayamas are yoga exercises that regulate breathing, ideal for connecting with a state of calm and tranquility in chaotic moments to reduce anxiety and stress.

In Sanskrit, the sacred language of India, prana means energy, and Yama means control. The pranayama is a central practice of yoga is the key controls the vital energy by regulating breathing.

The main objectives of doing this are to purify the physical body and the energy body, balance the flows of vital and mental energy, increase the level of energy, regulate the flow of prana to stabilize mental activity.

The link between the breath and the mind is narrow: when you are calm, your breathing is slow and deep, while if you are agitated or feel fear or anxiety, your breathing becomes superficial, fast, and arrhythmic.

Breathing is connected to the entire nervous system, so breathing consciously brings calm mental clarity and emotional stability. It is an ideal tool to bring you into the present moment, calm thoughts, and connect with your interior.

We share three breathing exercises that you can practice at any time and, no doubt, in moments of chaos, anxiety, and stress. To perform them, make sure you are in a place as quiet as possible, sitting with your back straight and your eyes closed.

Nadi Shodhana

This exercise cleans and purifies the energy channels and is used to harmonize the right and left sides of the body. It consists of breathing alternately through one nostril and the other, freely or by adding a measure of time where exhalation lasts twice as long as inhalation.

1. Bring your right hand with your forefinger and thumb in between. Support the ring and little finger in the left nostril and the thumb to the right nostril.
2. Start by covering the right nostril and exhale all the air from the left.
3. Inhale on the left.
4. Cover the left nostril, uncover the right nostril, and exhale all the air from the right.
5. Inhale on the right.
6. Exhale on the left.
7. Repeat at least four turns

Chandra Bhedana Pranayama

Chandra Bhedana Pranayama exercise consists of inhaling and exhaling through the left nostril. It is used to harmonize energy, decrease the level of anxiety, calm the thoughts of the mind, enter a state of tranquility and meditation. If you usually have low blood pressure, check before doing it.

1. Bring your right hand with your forefinger and thumb in between. Support the ring and little finger in the left nostril and the thumb to the right nostril.
2. Close the right nose and inhale through the left nose.
3. Hold your breath with your lungs full.
4. Exhale on the left.
5. Inhale on the left.
6. Hold your breath.
7. Exhale on the left.
8. Repeat at least four turns.

Sama Vritti Pranayama

Sama Vritti Pranayama is a simple and powerful technique to balance and calm the mind, oxygenate the body, and strengthen the respiratory musculature and consists of the breathing phases lasting at the same time. These can be 3x3x3x3, 4x4x4x4, 5x5x5x5, or 6x6x6x6. If it’s your first time, start with the shortest time.

1. Inhale.
2. Hold with full lungs.
3. Exhale.
4. Hold with empty lungs.
5. Start over and practice at least four laps.