My assistant tells a fun story about “Just Breathe.”
“When my best friend and I were in elementary school, she was not feeling well. I volunteered to walk with her to the office so she could call her mom.
As we walked down the long hallway toward the office, she seemed very sick, and I was worried about her. In an attempt to comfort her, I laid my hand on her shoulder and said in a most serious tone, “just breathe.” To which, my friend erupted in a fit of giggles that nearly gave her away. She confessed she wasn’t really sick, she just wanted to play hooky.
“Just breathe” was our secret inside joke as kids, but over the years, as we experienced life’s ups and downs, the phrase has become so much more. It is a sentimental reminder of our friendship, a truth, and also solid advice.”
Experts agree that intentional breathing techniques can dramatically improve our mental health and increase our physical fitness. Examples are yoga breathing techniques, runner’s breathing techniques, and cycling, just to name a few.
We don’t need a gym to apply helpful breathing techniques in our everyday life. Intentional breathing techniques can be practiced while running a trail or sitting in your car. You can find many apps that teach breathing exercises, but we love Headspace for its performance, functionality, and it even offers guided meditations to reduce stress and anxiety.
This brings us to our next point, exercise!
We know, we know. It is daunting to think about exercise if you’re flitting around like a hummingbird just to cram everything in. But, we need to make time. The physical and mental health benefits of exercise on our mood might be more important than the physical benefits right now. This goes for kids, too.
When we move, our brain creates some amazing feel-good chemicals called endorphins. Experts report the endorphins are more effective for relieving anxiety than some prescription drugs. We have to do it. Moving just 20 minutes a day, several days per week will substantially improve our mental health. Incidentally, if you’re not the running or gym type, Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Hulu have a lot of exercise options to do indoors. So, get moving, friends. Your body and your mind need it now more than ever.
We will navigate.
- Just breathe – implement intentional breathing exercises every day
- Plan to move your body – even chair yoga or walking. 20 minutes, a few days a week will have a fantastic impact on your overall health
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