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#breathing exercises
sleepy-sweetpea · 3 months
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Rainbow breathing
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fucking-relax · 1 year
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take in a deep breath.
now breathe out.
feel the fucking nonsense float away.
take full, deep breaths.
breathe in stength...
breathe out bullshit.
allow your breathing to find its own natural, unhurried pace.
with each breath, feel your body saying:
fuck that
(full Fuck That meditation here)
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ayyy-imma-ninja · 10 months
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Hey Lunar,
Take a deep breath okay? And take this stressball, squeeze it to release some stress. It's going to be okay
"...o...o-okay..."
"...okay..."
*inhales...*
*exhales...*
"LUNAR!"
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positivelypositive · 8 months
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🪻
take a deep breath...
...before you scroll further.
check in with yourself. are you holding on to some stressful thoughts? can you put a pin in them and manage them later?
take another deep breath. let your shoulders relax. let the tension in your jaws dissolve. let your face settle into comfortable features.
take a deep breath again. come back to this exercise every now and then. you're too precious to be stressed so much ✨
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sleepicore · 3 months
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Take a deep breath
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luminarai · 1 year
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Just found this app called breasy that I highly recommend to people with breathing issues related to anxiety, stress, asthma, vcd, chronic hyperventilation, and the like. Or if you just want to work on some breathing exercises for mindfulness or meditation.
It’s totally free and comes with 5 different breathing exercises with super short descriptions of what they can be used for.
It looks like this, but you can remove the stars if you want to
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You can also add/remove vibrations and sounds for the exercises so that you get a soft chime or vibration when you need to exhale/hold/inhale (the chimes are pitched slightly different depending on the action so you can use it without looking as well, which I really like!). You can also set a timer for a session.
I’ve really struggled with asthma related breathing issues lately and this is pretty helpful for me when it comes to not over-inhaling or panicking when I’m waiting for my medication to kick in when I’m having an asthma attack, so I just wanted to pass a recommendation along in case it could help someone else too.
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divinebunni · 1 year
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its long, its me, its easy breathing ~
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samuwhal · 11 months
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We need to change how we talk about self-help techniques.
By self-help techniques, I’m talking about: grounding, mindfulness, meditation, breathing exercises, physical activity, and--the big one--yoga. I have struggled with my mental health since I was fifteen, and just now, I am realizing how much these things can actually help. I am almost twenty-six years old, and I will have been in therapy for ten years this fall. Let me tell you, I have spent so much of that time renouncing these tools. Recently, though I’ve realized that: holy shit, they can really work...but man they are offered to struggling people in the worst possible light.
TL;DR: Just because suggestions about ways to manage mental illness are framed as “you have to try it or you want to be sick” doesn’t mean that they can’t actually work or that you are invalidating yourself by trying or being helped by them. Featuring personal anecdotes and a boat metaphor.
I know I am not alone in that the idea of these techniques and exercises just made my skin crawl. They made me feel vulnerable in a way which really scared me, they felt impossible to initiate in the moments needed most, and--ultimately--they felt incredibly diminutive. Think about it: people getting sucked into rapids will drown cursing your name if all you do is insist they have to “ride the wave.” “Fuck you.”
When I began taking anti-depressants, it was not without a fight. I’m lucky; my parents were willing and able to put me in therapy as soon as I asked. But with medication, they were concerned it was a shortcut, that I would be on pills for the rest of my life, and that the chemicals would change me and do “the work” for me, as if this was an issue of character development and not brain malfunction. Why wouldn’t I just do something relaxing when I was upset? Why wasn’t I leaning more into my spirituality? Why wasn’t I letting anything else help me?
And that’s the problem! I tried to explain that I would be able to use those techniques easier if medication brought my overall symptoms down. You wouldn’t expect me to paddle upstream against a tsunami, but I could feasibly make progress against a strong current. Even at that point, if I go over rapids, I want a fucking life jacket, not somebody with their feet firmly planted on the riverbank shouting, “Try yoga!” Though I of course continued therapy in addition to medicine, I still resisted any advice having to do with self-help because of that sentiment.
To be clear, I’m still very pro-medication and for eliminating that stigma. Really, though, when somebody is having such debilitating symptoms--emotions--that they feel like they are getting pulled underwater and gasping for air, it’s not fair that the solution could be something as effortless as breathing in while counting until it’s better. That sounds like bullshit. Mental illness physically hurts, but to outsiders, it’s all in your head, and it would be fine if only you could step back and appreciate how good you have it. If “mindfulness” works, then maybe those people are right, and that can’t be true. It hurts too much to be true.
However, I want you to know that your struggles won’t be any less legitimate if something simple actually does end up helping. I have two stories here:
1. Last year, after wanting to start for ages, I finally began exercising: just going to the gym a couple of times a week. My goal was only to feel better in my body, not really to do anything for myself mentally. I even hired a personal trainer to write work-out routines for me to follow, both to hold myself accountable (I won’t skip if I’m paying someone) and just so I wouldn’t be totally lost the second I walked in. But I have felt so many unexpected mental benefits, as well:
Getting my heart rate and breathing elevated--and continuing to exert myself through it--has kept me steadier when anxiety starts to set in. I feel more confident knowing that I can lift heavy things, run distances, and because I did something productive. I’m not stress or bored-eating, not necessarily because I’m afraid I’ll “put the calories back,” but because I’m simply more regulated. I have been sleeping better since pushing my muscles has reduced my lower back pain. I don’t procrastinate showering if I’ve just gotten back from the gym. When I sit down to schoolwork, I focus easier if I had exercised. Something something endorphins. I know I’m starting to sound like a “bro,” but the point is that these are huge benefits to exercising that just don’t get mentioned by the people crudely suggesting that it will fix your depression.
2. A couple of months ago, I was having a bad night, and the “don’t believe any negative thoughts about yourself after 10 p.m.” rule had gone out the window. I did what many of us have taught ourselves to do and asked for a lifeline: I texted my girlfriend in the same room (because vocalizing it was too hard) asking if she would come over to sit with me. I didn’t even realize I was having an anxiety attack, but she did. At first, I felt too frozen and in-pain when she asked me to sit up from clutching the fetal position. Instrumentally, though, she said that she wanted to help, but I had to help myself, too. She was throwing me a ring, but I had to swim and meet her halfway. I sat up.
She held me and led me through a “find five things in the room” exercise, and fuck me: it helped. No, I wasn’t cured. I’m still not. But this broke my self-destructive loop, and I was able to go to sleep relaxed. This was an epiphany for me. I could have provided myself this tool, this comfort, the entire ten years I’ve been dealing with this shit! Instead, I’ve just been enduring it, hoping against everything pulling me down that--instead of drowning--I’ll eventually kick the riverbed where it’s shallow enough to stand.
When self-help techniques are offered to mentally ill people, they tend to be used as a “gotcha:” you could easily be better, if only you wanted to try. To be completely fair, this isn’t always the meaning. However, it only takes a couple of those microaggressions to ensure you shut down when your therapist or a concerned loved one asks if you've tried "grounding” before.
Please, take it from me: these tools aren’t just leaky arm floats that people who never even needed to learn how to swim offer just to feel better as they watch you struggle. They are a life jacket to keep you afloat when you tip, a wider paddle to outrun the rapids, a better rudder and tiller so you can actually steer, a bailing bucket for when things get dicey, or pontoons so you won’t tip so readily. Trying self-help techniques doesn’t disclaim what you’re going through, they just might make it more bearable.
And you’re worth that.
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ptsd-phoenix · 2 months
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theniftyfoxcomics · 1 year
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I made this for myself but I think some of ya'll might need it too.
Remember to practice nice big belly breaths when stressed!
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willowreader · 1 month
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I think that the title is a bit optimistic but the article does have some good information.
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sw33t4ngel · 2 months
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the feeling after a panic attack >>>>>
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pluralprompts · 2 months
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Prompt #1,377
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
That's it. You're doing well.
Headmate A's next breath shuddered as it left, almost in time to how their body shook, but unlike the latter, it wasn't out of the dregs of fear and adrenaline. "D-do you have to..."
What? Compliment you?
Headmate A swallowed, and wiped their hands on their pants, but didn't nod. They didn't respond directly at all, really.
Of course, Headmate B understood anyway. No, I don't have to. But you'll never stop being overwhelmed by simple courtesy if someone doesn't extend you it, so I'm here to fix that.
Now, continue – breathe in...
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Posting this for those who need it
Including myself :)
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validatingsuggestions · 6 months
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take a scrolling break for five deep breaths if you like! 💛
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Health Tip:
Using the phrase "just breathe" or "let's take some deep breaths" can feel patronizing or be a trigger for someone, as it is sometimes misused in medical and therapeutic practices.
An alternative that I came up with, especially good when inacted by a comfort person is asking the subject for a favor. Ask them to watch you breathe. Don't tell them that they have to breathe, just give exaggerated but smooth breaths. Sometimes just the sound can make someone subconsciously align their breathing with yours.
If the person is hyperventilating, get them to a seated position, and use other methods of coping.
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