Rapid breathing caused by stress feeds into a vicious circle of pain, tension and irritability. Fortunately, the opposite is also true – slower, more relaxed breathing helps create a calm mental state and reduces pain perception. Here counting is used to make each out-breath longer than each in-breath, to quiet the fight-or-flight response and boost the body’s calming and healing processes. You can do it anywhere, but it’s important to have mastered the previous breathing exercises, so that:
• You can sense that your inhalations involve your diaphragm – with movement of the abdomen and not the chest as you breathe in.
• You can sense when your upper chest is involved in your breathing and are able to switch to diaphragmatic breathing.
• You have learned how to slow your breathing down (pursed-lip exhalation and a pause before inhalation).
• And all this is possible without feeling light-headed.
1 Count at your own pace as you breathe, until you find a speed that lets you count from one to 11 on each out-breath.
2 When this feels easy, start counting from one to seven on each inbreath, at the same rate. You will automatically breathe out more softly, so that the out-breath lasts longer.
3 Use counting to help you keep the rhythm going, as you aim to make the out-breath about four counts longer than the in-breath. Counting will help focus your mind, so you are less likely to be distracted by other thoughts. Continue for several minutes. As you practise (once or twice daily), you will identify a comfortable counting speed, so you don’t get out of breath. It can be hard to keep count at first, but the technique gets easier the more you do it.