What is it with people banging on about doing breathing exercises to calm down? Don't they know it is impossible and makes it worse?!!

What if the reason people won't shut-up about breathing is that it does work when you know how and when to get started? Maybe its time to take breathing exercises out of the 'Too Hard' box and have another look... When our body is in fight and flight (stress) and getting in the way of our functioning, mood, and health, one of the quickest ways to slow this down is with our breath. By slowing our breathing, we activate a chain of events in our nervous system that starts to calm the rest of our body.

Often people will try breathing (and mindfulness and meditation) during times of stress and overwhelm which is possibly the hardest time to learn something new. This would be the same as me (I am definitely not a runner!) training for the City to Surf at the start line; it's probably not going to end well.

The best time to start breathing exercises is at a time when you are relatively calm(ish), not just after a massive blow-up or in the middle of an immediate crisis. Try it maybe in the shower, or first thing in the morning and see how it feels.

Then practice, practice, practice!

Set yourself a mental reminder to focus on slowing your breathing every time you do a particular activity that you do multiple times a day (make coffee, eat chocolate, wait at traffic lights, go to the toilet, etc). You'll soon find it easier to call on these skills and have them work for you when things are stressful.

What is the thing you find hardest about breathing exercises?