|
STEP 3: Practice Your
Breathing Skills
(continued)
Calming Counts
The third technique is called Calming Counts. It has two
benefits over Calming Breath.
First, it takes longer to complete: about 90 seconds instead
of 30 seconds. You will be spending that time concentrating on a specific
task instead of paying so much attention to your worried thoughts. If you
can let time pass without such intense focus on your fearful thoughts,
you will have a better chance at controlling those thoughts.
Second, Calming Counts, like Natural Breathing and the Calming
Breath, help access the Calming Response. That means you will be giving
yourself 90 seconds to cool your body out and quiet your thoughts. Then,
after that time has passed, you will less anxious than you were.
Here's how this skill works:
|
Calming Counts
|
- Sit comfortably.
- Take a long, deep breath and exhale it slowly while saying the
word "relax" silently.
- Close your eyes.
- Let yourself take ten natural, easy breaths. Count down with each
exhale, starting with "ten."
- This time, while you are breathing comfortably, notice any tensions,
perhaps in your jaw or forehead or stomach. Imagine those tensions
loosening.
- When you reach "one," open your eyes again.
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