Self Help

All of my self-help tools are simple but powerful and they are what I use when I need to destress, recharge and refocus.

Breathing Techniques

Something so simple but powerful by being mindful with your breathing you can immediately reduce the feeling of being stressed.

Use these breathing techniques throughout the day to help you regulate stress levels and pump oxygen into your heart and brain. These exercises don’t need any special equipment and can be done anywhere.

**Start your day with morning breathing.**

This is a great exercise to relieve stiff muscles and clear your respiratory tract when you get up in the morning.
Stand up and bend forward from the waist. Keep the knees slightly bent. Let your arms dangle loosely to the floor.
Inhale slowly and deeply.
Roll your body up slowly, lifting your abdomen, chest, and shoulders before your head. Do not stand up quickly with your head first.
Once you are in a full standing position, hold your breath.
As you begin to bend forward again, exhale slowly. Repeat this several times to loosen your body.
If you have injuries choose what parts of your body you can.

**Renew your energy midday with this stimulating breathing technique.**

This exercise is used in yoga. It can increase your energy and help you to feel more alert.
Keep your mouth closed, then inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose. Keep your breaths as short as possible. Don’t worry if you make a lot of noise.
Try to breathe in and out in rapid succession three times in one second. This makes the diaphragm work hard. After each set of three, breathe normally.
Be careful and do this exercise for only 15 seconds when you first begin. With practice, slowly increase the duration of the exercise by five seconds each time.

**Relax at the end of the day with the 4-7-8 breathing exercise.**

This exercise is intended to relax and calm your body and mind.
Sit with your back straight.
Move the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth.
Exhale completely through your mouth, leaving your tongue behind your teeth.
As you count to four, close your mouth and then inhale softly. Then hold your breath while you count to seven.
Exhale through your mouth counting to eight.
These steps comprise one breath of 4-7-8.
Start over again by inhaling.
Repeat the steps three more times.

Only focus on one thing at a time

When we have so much to do we can easily become overwhelmed. We might fall into the ‘I will get to that’ or we just keep adding to the pile and we avoid getting it done. This creates stress, anxiety, tension, fatigue and all those tasks or piles of clutter or jobs that need attention can really impact your sleep.

It’s TIME to Dig yourself out of the hole.