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Breathing exercises offer an extremely simple, effective, and convenient way to relieve stress and reverse yourstress response, reducing the negative effects ofchronic stress. There are definitebenefits of breathing exercises. While simple diaphragmic breathing can provide relaxation and stress relief, there are several different types of breathing exercises to try, each with its own twist. Here are several breathing exercises, some of which are commonly recommended, some of which are unique, and all of which can each offer help in managing stress. This is an easy exercise that only takes a few minutes. Here’s how.

Mindful Diaphragmic Breathing

Get into a comfortable position, close your eyes, and start to notice your breath. Before you begin to alter it, pay attention to the pace and depth. Are you taking deep breaths or shallow ones? Are you breathing quickly or slowly? (Becoming aware of your breathing can help you to become more mindful of your body’s response to stress, and can help you to notice when you need to deliberately relax your breathing.)

A Quick and Simple 5-Minute Meditation

Counted Breathing

Counting your breaths can be helpful, both for pacing and as a form of meditation. This technique helps with pacing—it enables you to elongate your breath and stretch out your exhales. There are a few ways to do this.

Set Your Own PaceExperiment with whatever ratio feels comfortable to you, and see if it helps you to feel relaxed. The act of counting as you breathe still helps you to maintain a steady pace and keep your mind on your breath and the present moment, so it is still more effective than simply breathing regularly and unconsciously.

Set Your Own Pace

Experiment with whatever ratio feels comfortable to you, and see if it helps you to feel relaxed. The act of counting as you breathe still helps you to maintain a steady pace and keep your mind on your breath and the present moment, so it is still more effective than simply breathing regularly and unconsciously.

Visualization Breathing: Inflating the Balloon

Get into a comfortable position, close your eyes, and begin breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. As you inhale, imagine that your abdomen is inflating with air like a balloon. As you exhale, imagine that the air is escaping the balloon slowly. Remember, you do not have to force the air out; it simply escapes on its own, in its own time. You may want to imagine the balloon as your favorite color, or that you are floating higher in the sky with each breath if this is relaxing for you. Regardless, the “inflating balloon” visualization can help you to breathe deeply from your diaphragm rather than engaging in shallow breathing that can come from stress.

Visualization Breathing: Releasing Your Stress

Get into a comfortable position, close your eyes, and start diaphragmic breathing. As you inhale, imagine that all the stress in your body is coming from your extremities and into your chest. Then, as you exhale, imagine that the stress is leaving your body through your breath and dissipating right in front of you. Slowly, deliberately repeat the process. After several breaths, you should feel your stress begin to subside.

Use Guided Imagery For Relaxation

Deep, Cleansing Breath

Sometimes all you need to release stress from your shoulders, back, or the rest of your body is a few big,cleansingbreaths.Breathe in deeply through your nose, and take in as much air as you comfortably can. Then release it, and really focus on emptying your lungs. (Many people hold air in their lungs after an exhale, so emptying your lungs on a deep exhale can help you to get more fresh oxygen into them.) Repeat this breathing exercise for a few breaths and release the tension in your back, your shoulders, and anywhere else it tends to reside.

Alternate Nostril Breathing

This breathing exercise variation has been practiced for thousands of years as a form of meditative breathing. As you inhale, place your finger over your right nostril and only breathe through your left. On the exhale, switch nostrils and only breathe through your right. You can breathe at whatever pace is comfortable for you, either a 5-8 ratio, a 4-7-8 ratio or whatever pace feels most relaxing for you (see “counted breathing,” above). Repeat this exercise for up to five minutes.

Explore More Options

There are numerous other ways to practice breathing exercises, but these are some of the most popular and effective. Experiment and see which work best for you.

18 Effective Stress Relief Strategies

4 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Jerath R, Crawford MW, Barnes VAet al.Self-Regulation of Breathing as a Primary Treatment for Anxiety.Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback.2015;40(2):107–115. doi:10.1007/s10484-015-9279-8Hopper SI, Murray SL, Ferrara LR, Singleton JK.Effectiveness of diaphragmatic breathing on physiological and psychological stress in adults: a quantitative systematic review protocol.JBI Database System Rev Implement Rep.2018;16(6):1367-1372. doi:10.11124/JBISRIR-2017-003477Vlemincx E, Van diest I, Van den bergh O.A sigh of relief or a sigh to relieve: The psychological and physiological relief effect of deep breaths.Physiol Behav.2016;165:127-135. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.07.004Telles S, Gupta RK, Yadav A, Pathak S, Balkrishna A.Hemisphere specific EEG related to alternate nostril yoga breathing.BMC Res Notes. 2017;10(1):306. doi:10.1186/s13104-017-2625-6Additional ReadingFulton, O.Just relax and concentrate on your breathing.BMJ2015;351:h6185. doi:10.1136/bmj.h6185

4 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Jerath R, Crawford MW, Barnes VAet al.Self-Regulation of Breathing as a Primary Treatment for Anxiety.Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback.2015;40(2):107–115. doi:10.1007/s10484-015-9279-8Hopper SI, Murray SL, Ferrara LR, Singleton JK.Effectiveness of diaphragmatic breathing on physiological and psychological stress in adults: a quantitative systematic review protocol.JBI Database System Rev Implement Rep.2018;16(6):1367-1372. doi:10.11124/JBISRIR-2017-003477Vlemincx E, Van diest I, Van den bergh O.A sigh of relief or a sigh to relieve: The psychological and physiological relief effect of deep breaths.Physiol Behav.2016;165:127-135. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.07.004Telles S, Gupta RK, Yadav A, Pathak S, Balkrishna A.Hemisphere specific EEG related to alternate nostril yoga breathing.BMC Res Notes. 2017;10(1):306. doi:10.1186/s13104-017-2625-6Additional ReadingFulton, O.Just relax and concentrate on your breathing.BMJ2015;351:h6185. doi:10.1136/bmj.h6185

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Jerath R, Crawford MW, Barnes VAet al.Self-Regulation of Breathing as a Primary Treatment for Anxiety.Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback.2015;40(2):107–115. doi:10.1007/s10484-015-9279-8Hopper SI, Murray SL, Ferrara LR, Singleton JK.Effectiveness of diaphragmatic breathing on physiological and psychological stress in adults: a quantitative systematic review protocol.JBI Database System Rev Implement Rep.2018;16(6):1367-1372. doi:10.11124/JBISRIR-2017-003477Vlemincx E, Van diest I, Van den bergh O.A sigh of relief or a sigh to relieve: The psychological and physiological relief effect of deep breaths.Physiol Behav.2016;165:127-135. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.07.004Telles S, Gupta RK, Yadav A, Pathak S, Balkrishna A.Hemisphere specific EEG related to alternate nostril yoga breathing.BMC Res Notes. 2017;10(1):306. doi:10.1186/s13104-017-2625-6

Jerath R, Crawford MW, Barnes VAet al.Self-Regulation of Breathing as a Primary Treatment for Anxiety.Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback.2015;40(2):107–115. doi:10.1007/s10484-015-9279-8

Hopper SI, Murray SL, Ferrara LR, Singleton JK.Effectiveness of diaphragmatic breathing on physiological and psychological stress in adults: a quantitative systematic review protocol.JBI Database System Rev Implement Rep.2018;16(6):1367-1372. doi:10.11124/JBISRIR-2017-003477

Vlemincx E, Van diest I, Van den bergh O.A sigh of relief or a sigh to relieve: The psychological and physiological relief effect of deep breaths.Physiol Behav.2016;165:127-135. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.07.004

Telles S, Gupta RK, Yadav A, Pathak S, Balkrishna A.Hemisphere specific EEG related to alternate nostril yoga breathing.BMC Res Notes. 2017;10(1):306. doi:10.1186/s13104-017-2625-6

Fulton, O.Just relax and concentrate on your breathing.BMJ2015;351:h6185. doi:10.1136/bmj.h6185

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