Meditation to relax – 3-minute breathing exercise

Meditation to relax breathing exercise that can coax your body into calming down

When we’re anxious and stressed-out, we tend to breathe in a shallow and rapid manner – rapid heartbeat, trembling, clammy hands, or even dizziness. 

A Mindfulness of breathing meditation practice can help you to relax and reduce stress. It is also a very powerful and effective foundation for cultivating mindfulness in your everyday life.

Correct breathing for relaxing and reducing stress

When meditating, it is essential to try to remember to breathe correctly. And better yet, try and make this into a habit so that your breathing is better during your waking day as well.

Many people don’t know how to breathe well and unintentionally breathe most of the time incorrectly.

When we are stressed, we breathe more quickly and not as deeply. But likewise, when we breathe more rapidly and not as deeply, we become more stressed.

Before you start the 3-Minute Breath Meditation to relax, take both hands and place one on your belly and one on your chest. Now, breathe normally. Which hand is moving first? Is it the hand on your chest or the hand on your stomach?

For most people, the answer is the chest. But to be optimally healthy, it should be the belly. When we’re young children, this is how we breathe and how animals breathe.

Belly breathing means relaxing your abdominal muscles, opening your abdominal cavity, and allowing your diaphragm to drop into that space. This then creates more room for the lungs, automatically inflating as they enlarge. You then bring your chest in and open that up to take in even more oxygen. As a result, you breathe a lot more deeply. This oxygenates your body, calms your heart rate, and helps you to feel less stressed.

Now, listen to the meditation to relax or discover a few more tips on getting started with meditation.

How to get started with meditation

The easiest way to get started if you’re a beginner is to try guided meditation like this one. Guided meditation means using a pre-recorded script to talk you through everything you must do at any stage.

Essentially, this helps direct your attention and show you what you must reflect on or pay attention to at any given time.

Learning to meditate and making it a part of your life are two very different things. And you may find it challenging to adopt this new behavior meaningfully. Read this article, where I share 4 essential tips for how to meditate successfully and with ease.