Kaitlyn Bruneau (Instant Stress Relief)
Kaitlyn is a psychotherapist specialising in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy who helps clients recognise and change unhelpful patterns while fostering self-appreciation. She’s dedica...
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What is the recommended action after performing a grounding or relaxation exercise?
I encourage you to check back in on that stress rating again. Has it gone down? Hopefully it has, because sometimes we can feel better by addressing just our physical symptoms, not only by directly tackling the stressor at hand. And once you're feeling calmer, you can most likely approach your stressor with a clearer mind.
How to use square breathing technique to deal with stress?
For this, you're breathing in, holding that breath, breathing out, and holding that for the same amount of time. I like to recommend four seconds for each part, but you can adjust it based on your comfort level. So you would breathe in for 2, 3, 4. Hold that for 2, 3, 4. Exhale for 2, 3, 4, and then hold that for 2, 3, 4 before beginning again.
How can breathing help with stress?
Breathing is the only thing that our body does automatically that we can also control. And when we get stressed, sometimes our breathing and heart rate react with us either holding our breath or speeding up our breathing. Therefore, the first thing to do is to check in with how you are breathing. If you're breathing is reacting to the stress that you're feeling, try to normalise it. Essentially sending a message to your brain that everything is okay. We can calm down a bit. There are also a few specific breathing techniques that you can use, giving you something to focus on to slow your heart rate down and get out of your own head.