Put a Little "Om" in Your Day

Deep breathing and meditation have long been used by many cultures as an avenue to improved health. These exercises can relieve stress, provide relaxation in the moment, and improve our ability to handle the pressures of daily living. Engaging in these exercises on a daily basis can decrease the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Regular practice will have lasting effects that improve our overall mental, emotional, and physical health.

What is deep breathing? The act of deep breathing itself is simple. Unfortunately, we have become a culture of stressed out, on-the-go, shallow breathers - our daily activity typically keeps us so active, we forget to breathe.

Taking just 10-20 minutes of our day to focus on our breathing and to calm our minds can vastly improve our ability to succeed in our on-the-go days. Again, the practice itself is simple:

- Find a comfortable place to sit. Sitting in an upright position, trying not to slouch, will help open up your midsection and increase your ability to breathe deeply.

- Finding a time and place in our day where we will be uninterrupted for these 10-20 minutes is critical.

- It may be helpful to set a gentle alarm when you are practicing your deep breathing. If you are focused on being done in exactly 10 minutes, it may be difficult to focus on your breathing - setting an alarm takes the focus off the time so that you can just breathe.

- The breathing process itself is simple:

Take in a deep breath through your nose, filling up your lungs and more importantly, filling up your abdomen - the process of breathing in through your nose should take 7-9 seconds. Repeat.


While you are practicing, your mind may wander - especially the first several times you practice, you may find yourself worrying or going back to anxious thoughts. This is your time to focus on your breathing and relax, there will be time for worry and all those other thoughts after you are done.