Experiences with breathing exercises
Hi everyone,
I'm not sure if this is the right place for this, but I'm really curious what everyone's experiences with breathing exercises is.
So far I've noticed; if I go sit or lay down just to do a breathing exercise, I find it really hard to keep going and not get distracted. After a while of doing this I feel like my tension has gone up, instead of down.
On the other side of the spectrum; lately I've been trying to (S) focus on regulating my breathing while exercising (jogging, riding bike), and I've noticed that for me this enhances the relaxing nature of the activities.
I'm looking forward to your input on this topic.
Have a nice day everyone 🤗
@Madaraismyspiritanimal Hello, welcome to Mindfulness Center! I am glad that you have reached out to here.
That's really great to see that you already have taken the first step to practice it, I really appreciate you 😀 also I understand some methods are not equally helpful for everyone, so do you feel, while doing breathing exercise you can add something more? Like concentrating on any sound, or calming music or anything you would like to, so that you can enjoy and also feel better after the practice? What do you feel about it? 
@Madaraismyspiritanimal
What works for one person, doesn't work for another. If you find it easier to be active then do that!
That said, I found meditation helpful but the idea isn't to "clear your mind" but to practice dismissing thoughts with compassionate nonjudgement. Building up that practice makes it easier for me to dismiss some of the thoughts that come with anxiety. So for me, the whole point is to get those thoughts and then dismiss them! :)
@exuberantocean5576
True, my point was never to find the "right" way to be mindful. I'm just curious how others go about it, and maybe I can learn from it 😊
How do you manage to dismiss bothersome thoughts? Whenever I try to, the same thoughts boomerang back even harder than before.
@Madaraismyspiritanimal yes that totally happens to me too. I let go of the thought, then it comes back and I have to let go of it again and again. They do always eventually move on if I stick with it long enough, but in the beginning it's best to practice for shorter periods of time so that the thoughts don't get too agitated. Several short sessions tend to be better than one longer one when I feel like that. It can also be helpful to visualize the thought as a cloud and watch it drift away. Sometimes just naming the thought like 'thinking' or 'worrying' can help too.
@Madaraismyspiritanimal
I've had something similar as well. I usually only focus while sitting down if there's some calm music playing in the background or if I put my hand on my chest and follow my heartbeat. But I definitely understand where you're coming from and what you're experiencing :)
i do this too!
@Madaraismyspiritanimal
Hello,
I have tried to work on my breathing and can do it for a short time frame.
I came to look to clean up a mess.
Breathing exercising can also be more relaxing or more energizing depending on the length of time you take for the in breath and the out breath. The 4-7-8 breathing technique, also known as relaxing breath, involves breathing in for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds. This breathing pattern aims to reduce anxiety or help people get to sleep.
It's true though that differernt breathing exercises seem to work better for different people, so you kind of have to experiment and find what works for you.