There are normally two ways of breathing, chest/thoracic, or abdominal/diaphragmatic. If one breathes using the chest, only this will lead to anxiety, or distress in general. It is common for people who do little exercise during the day, have a lot of stress and even tight clothing can hinder ones respiration system. Chest breathing is shallow, irregular, and fast. In other words, one does not have the right amount of oxygen entering the body; this leads to sighing, which provides short-term relief. How to tell, the main symptoms are the chest expands and the shoulders rise. This type of pattern often causes, holding of breath, hyperventilating, shortness of breath, and quite often a person will pass out /faint. On top of this the stress response will be activated hence more anxiety, and more shallow breathing. It is a cycle that can be broken with specific breathing exercises.

The other main way for breathing is abdominal breathing, this is the 'natural' way and newborn babies breath in this manner. However, as they grow and develop if they are living in a stressful house their breathing pattern can alter. On inhaling, the lungs open fully to allow as much oxygen to enter the system. The diaphragm contracts and expands to allow the lungs to expand. This means the body has the right levels of oxygen to provide energy.

What is the point of mentioning this, you may be asking. One can become aware of how they breath which means the more one is in tune with their body the easier it is to know when something is happening. You can shift your breathing to abdominal breathing which will reduce anxiety, tension, hyperventilating, it can even stop your hands and feet feeling cold! It has been found that breathing can reduce anxiety, panic attacks, depression, tension, and muscle tension, irritability even agoraphobia. It is amazing how learning how to breathe in a normal manner can reduce or even stop completely some of stress symptoms. You can get benefits from the very first lesson, which does help boost self-confidence!