Different Types of Breathing Exercises

Different Types of Breathing Exercises

Breathing exercises become essential as you get older because age does reduce the level of oxygen in your lungs. When you only take shallow breaths, as you do in normal breathing, you will eventually notice stiffness in your rib cage as the muscles surrounding the diaphragm start to lose their elasticity. This causes stale air to build up in your lungs that is composed mostly of carbon dioxide.

Rapid shallow breathing also leads to heart disease after a number of years or excessive feelings of tiredness. Breathing exercises to cleanse the stale air in your lungs should be practiced on a daily basis.

You do not need to set aside a long period of time for this – five to ten minutes is sufficient. You can do the exercises when you wake in the morning or just before you go to sleep at night.

In fact, if you engage in these exercises when you go to bed, they will help your muscles relax making it a lot easier for you to fall asleep and get a good night’s rest. You should lie flat on your back to do breathing exercises.

Make yourself as comfortable as possible. If you need to, place some small pillows under your neck and knees so that you spine is straight. As you breathe naturally, take notice of the rise and fall of your chest and abdomen.

Lay your hands on your stomach, just below your rib cage where your diaphragm is located. The lungs do extend down to this point. Take in a deep breath until you feel your lungs reaching down to this point.

A helpful tip to let you know when the lungs extend to this point is to place your hands so that the tips of your middle fingers are slightly touching each other.

As you take a deep breath and your lungs expand, your fingers will start to move apart. In true breathing exercises let the muscles of your stomach relax and feel it filling with air. Once you feel as if your belly is full, let the air expand your chest and lungs. As you let the breath out slowly, you will feel your stomach start to pull inwards forcing out the last bit of air.

You can also do humming breathing exercises in which you make a humming sound as you exhale slowly. By concentrating on your breathing and humming each time you exhale, you will experience a feeling of relaxation in all parts of your body.

Chinese breathing exercises involve taking short breaths. To do this exercise you take three short breaths in through your nose without exhaling between them.

For the first inhalation, lift your arms out from your sides so that they stand out in front of you at shoulder height. On the third inhalation, open your arms out to your sides, still keeping them at the same height. When you take in the third inhalation, lift your arms up over your head. Then as you exhale, you bring your arms back to the starting position by your sides.

You should not take more than twelve breaths in this exercise because it can cause you to feel lightheaded. One caution about this form of breathing exercise is that you should only engage in this exercise when you are in a sitting position. It could cause you to hyperventilate if you are standing or lying down.

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Basic Information about Anxiety Attacks

Basic Information about Anxiety Attacks

Anxiety attacks can range from mild to debilitating and demonstrate themselves in numerous symptoms. For the most part, an anxiety or panic attack brings on an intense feeling of anxiety of worry that causes feelings of fear, physical illness, and discomfort.

In some cases there is an event that triggers such an attack, but it is also possible that the trigger is unknown. The episodes can be random and come on instantly.

During the attack the body produces extra hormones to prepare the body for its “fight or flight” action, which is what causes the symptoms to become more profound.

A person who suffers from anxiety attacks will tell you that he/she feels like they are having a heart attack or cannot breathe, thus giving them the feeling that they are going to die. It may cause them to try to flee from the area in order to try to escape the feelings of anxiety or panic.

The most common symptoms of such an attack include increased blood pressure and heart rate, which often causes flushing of the skin, chest tightness or pain, profuse sweating, a feeling that you are sick to your stomach or that you may throw up, and a feeling of lightheadedness. In the majority of sufferers, the feeling of chest tightness precipitates an attack, which leads them to think they need to call emergency services.

There are different triggers and causes of anxiety attacks. Heredity plays a part in this and studies have found that panic attacks tend to run in families. At the same time, people with no family history also develop such attacks, so the cause cannot be based on heredity alone.

Many panic attacks have been attributed to deficiencies in the diet, such as a deficiency in Vitamin B. Phobias result from anxiety attacks when a person is exposed to a real threat over a long period of time.

The use of caffeine can lead to such attacks, especially during the withdrawal process. Doctors have also found that thyroid problems and anemia lead to feelings of anxiety that can develop into full blown attacks the longer the condition goes undiagnosed and untreated.

There are many people who perceive a threat in their everyday life and can actually talk themselves into an anxiety attack when they worry excessively about what might happen if an event occurs.

Traumatic experiences in one’s life can also be a trigger for such an attack. Although those who suffer from anxiety attacks feel as if they are going to die, these feelings are the body’s ways of preventing this from happening.

When a trigger occurs, the body starts producing extra adrenaline to prepare it for strenuous physical activity, such as running, which may be needed to ward off the threat. This, in turn, increases the heart rate and breathing rate and increases the amount of perspiration.

When no physical activity occurs or is needed, then these increases in the body cause hyperventilation as the levels of carbon dioxide increase in the heart and lungs. This increase in carbon dioxide is the cause of the feelings of dizziness, nausea, and sensations of numbness in the limbs.

Breathing into a paper bag can help alleviate anxiety attacks, although many experts say it can be dangerous. Taking deep breaths from the abdomen helps to slow down the heart rate and bring the blood pressure back to acceptable levels, thus reducing the intensity of the attack.

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Different Methods of Anxiety Treatment

Different Methods of Anxiety Treatment

There are many different types of anxiety disorders, each of which requires a specific anxiety treatment. Some of the different types that commonly affect a large number of people include:

• panic disorder
• obsessive-compulsive disorder
• generalized anxiety disorder
• social anxiety
• phobias of different items, situations, and locations

There is no one anxiety treatment that works for all of these types, which is why a medical doctor has to assess the patient to determine the type of anxiety he/she is suffering from.

While the symptoms of anxiety may be the same, this does not mean that the same treatment will be effective for different individuals. Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress and it is possible that no treatment is needed.

It is quite common for people to become worried or anxious about a specific situation. They do know what they are worried about and recognize the symptoms of anxiety for what they are. In this way, they are able to deal with their feelings and symptoms without needing any anxiety treatment from a professional.

It is when the anxiety develops into something more serious that has an effect on the patient’s quality of life that a person has to seek treatment.

The doctor or psychiatrist discusses the symptoms with the patient and may even interview the family of the patient to get further information. It is essential to try to identify the root cause of the anxiety in order to determine the most effective method of treatment.

Patients who experience episodes of panic disorder are not typically able to pinpoint anything in particular that triggers these episodes that strike without warning.

Choosing the method of anxiety treatment for such a patient is usually done with a consultation between the doctor and the patient. In some cases, medication is used as a short term treatment and the patient is reassessed at regular intervals.

Antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed medications for this type of anxiety. Patients with obsessive compulsive disorder have an uncontrollable need to repeat an action over and over.

They also have disturbing thoughts, which are called obsessions. Medication is often prescribed to help the patient feel better about different situations and to help control the thoughts.

However, the most effective anxiety treatment for this disorder has been cognitive behavior therapy in which the patient is exposed to the source of the obsession and learns how to respond in a healthy manner. This treatment helps to retrain the brain to respond in a different manner so that the person no longer feels compelled to repeat certain actions.

Anxiety treatment for generalized anxiety disorder involves teaching the patients techniques of self-help in which they can recognize the symptoms of panic and anxiety and calm themselves, thus reducing the symptoms.

The treatment can consist of practicing daily relaxation techniques, making changes to one’s lifestyle and practicing meditation. There are also three types of medication prescribed for this type of anxiety, which include anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants.

Psychological counseling is used as anxiety treatment for those suffering from social anxiety. At times, depending on how debilitating the disorder is in a patient, antidepressants may be prescribed to help reduce the symptoms of anxiety.

Phobias are usually treated with exposure therapy in which the patient is exposed to the source of the fear with increasing frequency until the patient is able to cope when presented with the object, situation, or location.

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A Brief History of Transcendental Meditation

A Brief History of Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental meditation is a relatively new form of meditating in comparison with Yoga and Buddhist meditation. It was developed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1957 as a way of developing the mind so that a person can rise above, or “transcend”, beyond the noise and stress of daily life.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a student of the famous Hindu Guru, Swami Brahmananda Saraswati. From 1958 onwards, he traveled the world teaching his spiritual regeneration and enlightenment.

Transcendental meditation had its beginnings in the Far East and then spread to the western world. After three years of travelling and teaching, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi realized that he needed to train his followers so that they could spread this form of meditation even further.

The first international training course was held in Rishikesh, India in 1961. As more and more people all over the world realized the benefits of this form of meditation, scientists began researching it and by 1970 the first scientific papers were published espousing the technique.

Since then there have been hundreds of such documents published, all of which show that transcendental meditation:

• helps to reduce the stress levels in the body leading to overall good health
• helps to increase a person’s creativity
• helps to heighten the intelligence level of the meditator
• brings about self-realization
• could actually help you to live longer

Transcendental meditation does not have any religious affiliation, but it did have a political association in the Natural Law Party. This political party was formed in 1992 with the goal of using the principles of the meditation as a way of finding ways to solve the problems of society – crime, injustice, economics and environmental issues.

A basic transcendental meditation courses are generally expensive and in spite of the high cost, an estimated five million people all over the world have taken these courses. There are also advanced courses available for extra costs.

This process of meditation is relatively easy to learn in the seven-step procedure used in the four days of the course. Each day begins with a two hour lecture and the instruction starts with a ceremony performed by the instructor after which the students learn the technique and start practicing.

The principle behind the technique of transcendental meditation is that the source of all thoughts is the deepest level of the subconscious and is far beyond what the normal senses can experience. In this meditation, the practitioner takes one thought or sound and focuses on this so that it can be experienced in the deepest possible way.

The Maharishi compared it to a bubble of water that starts deep in the water and is only visible when it reaches the surface. He said that our thoughts are the same way – they start in the subconscious and rise to the conscious level of the mind.

In January, 2008, the Maharishi retired as the chairman of the transcendental meditation organization. He passed away the following month in Vlodrop, Netherlands, where he had lived for almost 20 years, coordinating his centers of teaching through an organization known as the Global Country of World Peace.

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