Stay In The Box

Hey there,

I hope you all have been managing your stress effectively enough.  It doesn’t have to be perfect!  We just want to keep the “burnout monster” from swallowing us up.

Today I have a simple tactic.  This will resonate with some of you and others won’t bother with it.  I’ve learned over the years that there isn’t any strategy, technique, or tactic that everyone likes.

So here we go–Box Breathing!  Heard of it?  Tried it?

Well everyone has heard of deep breathing–Box Breathing is simply one form of deep breathing.

Before you tune me out, understand that various forms of deep breathing are used daily by elite athletes, highly trained soldiers, and world-class  performers.  The best of the best.

 I won’t go into all the “whys and wherefores” of deep breathing today.  You probably already know them.

But the Box Breathing breakdown–let’s do that.

Sit in a comfortable chair or lie down.  Close your eyes if you want and you don’t feel weird about it.  Otherwise don’t worry about it.

And then . . .

STEP 1:  inhale through your nose for a count of 4 seconds.

STEP 2:  pause for 4 seconds.

STEP 3:  exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds.

STEP 4:  pause for 4 seconds.

And that’s it.  4x4x4x4.  Like you’re traveling around a square . . . or a box.

How long should you do it?  Play around with it.  Starting off, do it for a continuous minute to get the hang of it.  Work up to 5 minutes and beyond.

One finer detail:  when you inhale, pull your air down into your belly (diaphragm) more than filling your chest.  In fact, you can put one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest to start out, to make sure you’re pulling your air down.

Why?  That’s another article.  Just trust me on this one.  Basically though, you can inhale more oxygen by doing diaphragmatic breathing.

But here’s an even better question:  WHY do Box Breathing in the first place??

It’s a key strategy to decrease stress and anxiety, and calm down your body and your mind.

We can ideally combine it with releasing our muscle tension through progressive muscle relaxation.  Again, we can cover that in another article.

For now, give Box Breathing a try.  You can even do it while you’re driving.  I live in the heart of Chicago, which has some of the worst traffic in the world (well, it definitely feels like it sometimes . . . ok often).  Deep breathing helps me avoid road rage lol.

Give it a try.  Until next time, be well.

 – Sean Cox, Chicago