By: Azhar Ali
When we get nervous or anxious, the first thing that starts acting up is none other than the heart.
Our hearts decide to race, our palms get disgustingly sweaty, blood rushes to our faces, we start shaking, and well, there’s no stopping the feeling. The state of being nervous, anxious or rather, any emotion that makes the body heightened is usually something that is not really called for. It’s part of our subconscious and our body’s mechanism to fight, flight and freeze. It’s hard to ground yourself and recognize what’s happening internally during these moments, let alone to “just breathe”. So, let me explain.
I know it’s weird to think that out of all things that would help during a COVID-19 pandemic is to breathe.
However, to focus, concentrate and breathe is going to be your ultimate superpower not only in times like this. When you have that job interview the next day, a potential date that you may be going on, or even meeting up with a bunch of friends at a bar, focus on what matters the most and focus your energy into that, you. Once you’ve honed the energy on yourself – you’re halfway there. As a consequence of dealing with the external world FIRST and not ourselves, we lose sight of the fact that we need to feel calm before anything else has to happen. Breathing helps with absolutely everything – it’s proven to assist with stress, anxiety, pain, sleep, energy, emotional management, senses, blood pressure, digestion, posture and many more other things.
A secret little trick that Navy Seals across the world utilize, to stay more focused, to stay calmer, and more importantly to be able to handle the task-at-hand. Navy Seals have adopted such a simple bodily function to their daily lives which help them to be the most unique individuals in all over the world. Monks, yoga instructors, fitness trainers all practice, preach and teach how to breathe before they suggest any level of exercise, meditation, or wellness activities – because you have to be able to ground yourself first before anything external can occur. So having said all this, how does breathing working?
I’ve boiled it down to 3 easy steps:
1. First, recognize that your breathing has changed. But more importantly, also recognize that you want to do something about it.
2. Find a comfortable area or spot to do this. Helping ground yourself and focusing the energy back on you is going to be important with less external distractions as well.
3. Finally, from your nose, breathe in for 4 seconds, slowly and exhale from your mouth for another 4 seconds, slowly. Breathing in from your nose pulls a lot more air from your diaphragm than breathing in from your mouth. Do this set 4 times or when you feel like you feel better. This is the 4 by 4 rule.
That’s it. Follow those 3 rules whenever you feel like you’re getting anxious, nervous or anything like that. It’s now your superpower!
Taking care of ourselves is the most important thing we need to take priority in. Taking care of others is right after, we need to make sure we feel confident about how we’re feeling mentally, physically and emotionally before we can take on anyone else’s stress – it’s important to remember that. These are one of many things that are part of our self-care routine and should be a part of our daily lives.
In a world where the level of uncertainty is always high, where things can change at any moment, with tests and tribulations with every step of the way, constant emotions on the high, it’s important to recognize and to understand these self-care habits for yourself but also, we can also pass it forward. Make it a responsibility to live a life where you feel okay to first help yourself mentally in the same way you would help yourself physically. It’s important, and frankly in my opinion, A LOT more important.
So yes, go ahead, love yourself, make yourself a priority, and more importantly, breathe.
- Azhar Ali
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