Exam & Revision Techniques / breathing and staying centred

Brief Mindfulness/Centering/Grounding Exercises

Take Ten Breaths  This is a simple exercise to center yourself, and connect with your environment. Practise it throughout the day, especially any time you find yourself getting caught up in your thoughts and feelings. 

1. Take ten slow, deep breaths. Focus on breathing out as slowly as possible, until the lungs are completely empty - and then allow them to refill by themselves.

2. Notice the sensations of your lungs emptying. Notice them refilling. Notice your ribcage rising and falling. Notice the gentle rise and fall of your shoulders.

3. See if you can let your thoughts come and go, as if they are just passing cars, driving past outside your house.

4. Finally, notice your breathing, and your body at the same time – your arms, legs, head, neck, shoulders. And  also look around the room and notice what you can see, and hear.

Notice Five Things     This is another simple exercise to center yourself, and connect with your environment. Practice it throughout the day, especially any time you find yourself getting caught up in your thoughts and feelings.   

1. Pause for a moment.

2. Look around, and notice five things you can see.

3. Listen carefully, and notice five things you can hear.

4. Notice five things you can feel in contact with your body. (E.g. your watch against your wrist, your trousers against your legs, the air upon your face, your feet upon the floor, your back against the chair etc)

5. Now do this all at the same time.

Plant Your Feet   This is another simple exercise to center yourself, and connect with your environment. Practice it throughout the day, especially any time you find yourself getting caught up in your thoughts and feelings.   

1. Plant your feet into the floor.

2. Push them down – notice the floor beneath you, supporting you.

3. Notice the muscle tension in your legs as you push your feet down.

4. Notice your entire body – and the feeling of gravity flowing down your head and your spine and your legs, into your feet

Now look around and notice what you can see and hear around you.

Taken from ACT in a Nut Shell

Dr R Harris

THE CALMING RESPONSE TECHNIQUE

Elevated blood pressure, muscle tension, negative emotions (e.g. anger, frustration, worry and anxiety) and negative thinking are all commonly experienced symptoms of stress. These symptoms are caused by your sympathetic nervous system activating the stress response. But the body has an alternative system called the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) which has the opposite effects to the sympathetic system. For example it slows your heart rate and lowers blood pressure .Increased PNS activity is often called the calming response. Normally when a stressful situation has passed, your PNS activity increases, which neutralises the effects of stress. However when exposed to constant stress, the activity of the PNS decreases, which means that you are less able to recover from stress. The key to effective stress management is to restore the activity of your PNS. Not surprisingly techniques like yoga, meditation and some exercises increase PNS.

Research shows that people with higher levels of PNS activity are:

• More resistant to stress

• Recover more quickly from stress

• Have Lower levels of stress hormones•

• Less likely to have a heart attack

• Experience less frustration, anger, anxiety & depression.

• More sociable and friendly

A simple way to increase PNS

One of the simplest ways to increase PNS activity is to slow down your breathing. Slow breathing is common to techniques such as yoga, mediation and some aerobic activities such as swimming or running.

Research shows that the breathing pattern that maximises PNS involves:

• Slowness - slowing your breath rate down (1 breath every 3-5 seconds is ideal)

• Depth - breathing more deeply into the lower regions of your lungs (abdominal or belly breathing)

• Exhalation - spending slightly more time exhaling than inhaling

Practice the following relaxed breathing technique whenever your need to chill out.

1. Sit comfortably upright in a chair (don’t slump) & close your eyes.

2. Begin to breathe through your nose

3. Consciously begin to make your exhalation and inhalation longer, smoother & deeper than before.

4. Let there be a natural pause at the top of the inhalation as well as after exhalation.5. Focus mentally on your breathing. When your mind drifts away, bring it back to the breath.

Listen to the sound your breath makes as it passes through your nostrils. Notice the movement of your stomach.

6. After practicing relaxed breathing for at least 5 minutes, gradually let your breathing rate comeback to normal. Sit for a few minutes soaking in the feeling of relaxation.

Adapted from inateintelligence.com.au