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Manage Anxuety with Breathing Exercises
4 months ago
My furry presence:
Fur Affinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/tamias6/
Devient Art: http://tamias6.deviantart.com/
Sofurry: https://tamiasthechipmunk.sofurry.com/
Weasyl: https://www.weasyl.com/~tamiasthechipmunk
Inkbunny: https://inkbunny.net/tamiasthechipmunk
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tamiasthec.....nk.bsky.social
Fur Affinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/tamias6/
Devient Art: http://tamias6.deviantart.com/
Sofurry: https://tamiasthechipmunk.sofurry.com/
Weasyl: https://www.weasyl.com/~tamiasthechipmunk
Inkbunny: https://inkbunny.net/tamiasthechipmunk
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/tamiasthec.....nk.bsky.social
Now first things first, I’m just a chipmunk, not a mental health care professional. However I do know that waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many of we furries suffer mental and emotional issues that include anxiety issues. If that describes you, then as a person that is diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, I feel for you. Now somebody that does not suffer any forms of anxiety issues outside of the occasional stress for a hard day on the job or bickering with members of your houshold, they will most likely dismiss anxiety as just stress and tell people that have some serious anxiety issues to suck it up butter cup. Okay fine. You have to be in somebody else’s shoes to really understand them, aka empathy, somthing that most of your NPC’s tend to lack.
Anyway. For those that suffer anxiety issues rather its symptom of another more fundamental mental health issue or, like me is the the issue in of itself, let me tell you you are not alone in knowing full well how incidents anxiety can be. You don’t deal with stress very well. A small bump in the road becomes an existential threat. It strips you of your self confidence and prevents you from exploring and trying new situations, to expand your horizons. You are a prisoner of being within your comfort zone where there is certainty and little to not risk taking. Also becuase you can’t deal with stress very well and afraid to venture outside your own comfort zone anxiety can strip you of your self esteem. Worst of all becuase you tend to keep the peace at all cost just to keep anxiety from going into panic attacks, you are liable to stand up for yourself nor set boundaries making you a push over to those who see you as nothing more than a tool to suit them, to hell with your feelings.
Well for me Generalized Anxiety Disorder and ADHD which anxiety is also a symptom of are the two demons that screwed me over from most of my life, had striped me of my self worth, and made me easily exploitable to others. So when I say I feel for you, I mean it. The hell my anxiety problems put me through is something I want no one not even those who hurt me to have to deal with every day of their lives.
Even though to really get a handle on anxiety issues stemming from mental and emotional health issues you really need to seek out a mental health care professional for help, what I can and will do here is teach you some breathing exercises that have been a massive help to me in my efforts to get on top of my anxiety issues and stay on top of them. I have been doing these breathing exercises for a few months and the difference in my ability to manage my issues is night and day. My creative spark has come back as you can see in the art blitz I have been banging out here and my Fur Affinity galleries, and my ability to tackle some challenging situations calmly and with a bit more grace. Also its help me become far more resistant to drama, a virtue that is pretty much a REQUIRMENT in this wacky world of furry of ours and dealing with the eternal September called the Internet.
Now onto the breathing exercises.
1. Find a peaceful quiet space. The big thing you need to do is find a peaceful quiet space AWAT from your own home where everyday life happens. In my case it’s a 150 year old Roman Catholic Church a few blocks from my house. However any quiet space like the reading rooms of a public library will work very well. For me I prefer the nearby Catholic Church since I am also working on healing my spirit from past trauma. Plus Catholic Churches especially old ones are beautiful spaces and make perfect settings for breathing exercises and meditations.
2. You need to do breathing exercises at least every week day for a half hour to 45 minutes each day for maximum effect. Remember when I said it takes allot of work to get ontop of anxiety. This is why. But if you want to take back control of yourself and your life from anxiety, then you got to get your hands dirty.
3. And lastly before I get into the breathing exercises themselves, you need to remember and religiously require the following, what is outside that peaceful quiet space you select STAYS OUTSIDE THAT SPACE!!!!! That space is your sanctuary, your fortress. No day to day issues, no internet dramas, no politics, no nothing is to pass through the walls of that space, no exceptions becuase this space is yours and yours alone to utilize for HEALING and for the breathing exercises.
Now one to the breathing exercises.
1. DON’T JUST WALK IN!!! YOU ENTER!!! Enter the space. Rather its a church like what I utilize or a secular space like the reading room in a public library, the moment you step through that door, you treat the space as sacred because as long as you are in there that space is your temple, a temple to your healing, to your mind heart and soul. If it is a church you utilize, it is a place were God is where you talk to him and welcome him into your mind body and soul to help you heal. So enter that space and seat yourself reverently and in a meditative way. If you are in a Catholic Church like I go into, do your best on church etiquette like genuflecting or bowing before the altar (during service) or the tabernacle (That fancy gold box behind the altar) or the red candle (marking the direction of a nearby tabernacle) Also anything you do, do so reverently and profusely (church) or medatatively (secular space). Maintain silence at all times in church or secular space.
2. SLOW BREATHING…..The first thing to do after you are seated is to calm yourself and clear your mind. Breathing slowly inhale through your nose, filling your lungs with as much air as you can socking up the peace and quiet. Then exhale through you mouth exhaling out your stresses and toxicity. Repeat this slope breathing for a few minutes or as long as need be until you start feeling relaxed as compered to how you normally feel.
3. SQUARE BREATHING….. Square breathing is one of the vital parts of the breathing exercises. This forces you to slow down and declutters your mind. It’s a way to force your mind to disengage from the stresses that works up your anxiety. You are really suppose to do square breathing as a copping mechanism when you start feeling your anxiety flailing up….AND YOU SHOULD do this every time your feel your anxiety ramping up. Built it also works extremely well as a part of these breathing exercises to help calm yourself self and your mind for the next parts of these exercises.
After getting to a relaxed state in step 2 start the square breathing. Here is the overall structure of square breathing. You count 1,2,3,4 as your inhale, then 2,2,3,4 as your hold your breath, then 3,2,3,4 as you exhale through your mouth, then 4,2,3,4 as you rest with empty lungs. Then you repeat this square breathing over and over again for 5-10 minutes. Trust me 5-15 minutes of square breath is a calming thing.
4. Tensing and Relaxing muscle groups….. After the Square breathing take a couple of slow deep breaths like in step 2. After that we will tense and relax muscle groups. First tense up you feet and lower legs and count to ten then relax and count to 10 again. Next tense your upper legs count to 10 then relax and count to 10. Next do you arms and shoulders count to 10 and relax and count to ten. Finally tense your tummy, count to ten, relax and count to ten. When you tense up pay close attention to how it feels. When you relax pay close attention to how you feel. What you are doing is, teaching yourself how it feels to be tense and how it feels to relax. Doing the Tensing and relaxing part of the exercises will eventually make you more keen on detecting the warning signs of your anxiety flaring up and enable you to react more quickly control it before it overtakes you.
5. Another round of square breathing. First take a few deep breaths as in step 2 and then spend a few minutes doing another round of square breathing. This step is will help settle you down for the next and most important step.
6. Meditation…. Meditation is before the most important step in the breathing exercises. After step five make sure you are positioned comfortably in your chair or pew. Make sure your back is nice and straight. If you have not already done so, close your eyes and begin the slow breathing as in step 2 as you focus your minds eye on something calming, it could be a stream in the middle of a forest. It could be drifting among the stars. You can also imagine a barrier keeping away the stressors and within that barrier, your own little inner world consisting of everything and every person that brings happiness and joy to you. As your breath inhale that calmness and love revel in those good feeling let them carry you where ever they may carry you. As your exhale let go of your worries and negative things that bother you. Let this respite relax you all over. Meditation is something I’ve learned takes time, many sessions, and PATIENCE to do. But if you do the meditation portion of the exercises along with the the steps leading up to meditation almost every day, you will eventually get to a point to where your mind will literally be still and silent. If you are new to meditation your mind being still and silent may sound strange. It certainly sounded strange to me when I first heard about it. But trust me on this when you are able to to get so deep in meditation that your mind does go still an silent, the feeling is absolutely blissful and it makes such a massive difference in how you perceive the world.
7. Pray… This step is optional for those who are religious or subscribe to a spiritual belief that includes praying. If you are in a Catholic Church go ahead and fold down the kneeler and put it to use as kneeling helps get into a prayerful state. Pray for those you care about. Pray to the deity of your religion for aid, comfort and guidance. You can also just merely connect to the Devine and remain in that state without saying anything. It’s the connection to the Devine that help the soul heal. For those you are not religious, your step 7 is merely to think about those you care about and the end goals you want to achieve or merely just use this time to reflect and contemplate.
8. After Praying and or reflecting, spend this time doing slow breathing like in step to to come to a soft landing. Or if you have done this for awhile and you feel your want to meditate even more especially if your mind and body asks for more meditation, do it.
9. Don’t just leave your space, recess out. Again rather you are in a church or a secular space for as long as you in that space you are in session and your session does not end until you exit through the doors back out into the outside world. So if you are in a church, genuflect or bow and pray fully and reverently your way to the door. If you are in a secular space, quietly and revenrently make your way to the door.
What I just laid out is the breathing exercise regiment I do every week day. This coupled with the medications and therapy I have received have gone a long way in getting my own anxiety issues and my mental, emotional, and spiritual house back in order. I’m still a work in progress so this is by no means a magic bullet cure to anxiety problems. However what I have laid out is a very good tool to snatch myself and my life back from my Generalized Anxiety Disorder and ADHD. I certainly hope this helps you all out there suffering from anxiety issues. I really do, becuase I know from first hand experience how much anxiety problems can rob a person of their life and potential, and how much it hurts knowing how much damage it does. You all deserve better and hopefully I’ve done my p[art to help you all get better.
Anyway. For those that suffer anxiety issues rather its symptom of another more fundamental mental health issue or, like me is the the issue in of itself, let me tell you you are not alone in knowing full well how incidents anxiety can be. You don’t deal with stress very well. A small bump in the road becomes an existential threat. It strips you of your self confidence and prevents you from exploring and trying new situations, to expand your horizons. You are a prisoner of being within your comfort zone where there is certainty and little to not risk taking. Also becuase you can’t deal with stress very well and afraid to venture outside your own comfort zone anxiety can strip you of your self esteem. Worst of all becuase you tend to keep the peace at all cost just to keep anxiety from going into panic attacks, you are liable to stand up for yourself nor set boundaries making you a push over to those who see you as nothing more than a tool to suit them, to hell with your feelings.
Well for me Generalized Anxiety Disorder and ADHD which anxiety is also a symptom of are the two demons that screwed me over from most of my life, had striped me of my self worth, and made me easily exploitable to others. So when I say I feel for you, I mean it. The hell my anxiety problems put me through is something I want no one not even those who hurt me to have to deal with every day of their lives.
Even though to really get a handle on anxiety issues stemming from mental and emotional health issues you really need to seek out a mental health care professional for help, what I can and will do here is teach you some breathing exercises that have been a massive help to me in my efforts to get on top of my anxiety issues and stay on top of them. I have been doing these breathing exercises for a few months and the difference in my ability to manage my issues is night and day. My creative spark has come back as you can see in the art blitz I have been banging out here and my Fur Affinity galleries, and my ability to tackle some challenging situations calmly and with a bit more grace. Also its help me become far more resistant to drama, a virtue that is pretty much a REQUIRMENT in this wacky world of furry of ours and dealing with the eternal September called the Internet.
Now onto the breathing exercises.
1. Find a peaceful quiet space. The big thing you need to do is find a peaceful quiet space AWAT from your own home where everyday life happens. In my case it’s a 150 year old Roman Catholic Church a few blocks from my house. However any quiet space like the reading rooms of a public library will work very well. For me I prefer the nearby Catholic Church since I am also working on healing my spirit from past trauma. Plus Catholic Churches especially old ones are beautiful spaces and make perfect settings for breathing exercises and meditations.
2. You need to do breathing exercises at least every week day for a half hour to 45 minutes each day for maximum effect. Remember when I said it takes allot of work to get ontop of anxiety. This is why. But if you want to take back control of yourself and your life from anxiety, then you got to get your hands dirty.
3. And lastly before I get into the breathing exercises themselves, you need to remember and religiously require the following, what is outside that peaceful quiet space you select STAYS OUTSIDE THAT SPACE!!!!! That space is your sanctuary, your fortress. No day to day issues, no internet dramas, no politics, no nothing is to pass through the walls of that space, no exceptions becuase this space is yours and yours alone to utilize for HEALING and for the breathing exercises.
Now one to the breathing exercises.
1. DON’T JUST WALK IN!!! YOU ENTER!!! Enter the space. Rather its a church like what I utilize or a secular space like the reading room in a public library, the moment you step through that door, you treat the space as sacred because as long as you are in there that space is your temple, a temple to your healing, to your mind heart and soul. If it is a church you utilize, it is a place were God is where you talk to him and welcome him into your mind body and soul to help you heal. So enter that space and seat yourself reverently and in a meditative way. If you are in a Catholic Church like I go into, do your best on church etiquette like genuflecting or bowing before the altar (during service) or the tabernacle (That fancy gold box behind the altar) or the red candle (marking the direction of a nearby tabernacle) Also anything you do, do so reverently and profusely (church) or medatatively (secular space). Maintain silence at all times in church or secular space.
2. SLOW BREATHING…..The first thing to do after you are seated is to calm yourself and clear your mind. Breathing slowly inhale through your nose, filling your lungs with as much air as you can socking up the peace and quiet. Then exhale through you mouth exhaling out your stresses and toxicity. Repeat this slope breathing for a few minutes or as long as need be until you start feeling relaxed as compered to how you normally feel.
3. SQUARE BREATHING….. Square breathing is one of the vital parts of the breathing exercises. This forces you to slow down and declutters your mind. It’s a way to force your mind to disengage from the stresses that works up your anxiety. You are really suppose to do square breathing as a copping mechanism when you start feeling your anxiety flailing up….AND YOU SHOULD do this every time your feel your anxiety ramping up. Built it also works extremely well as a part of these breathing exercises to help calm yourself self and your mind for the next parts of these exercises.
After getting to a relaxed state in step 2 start the square breathing. Here is the overall structure of square breathing. You count 1,2,3,4 as your inhale, then 2,2,3,4 as your hold your breath, then 3,2,3,4 as you exhale through your mouth, then 4,2,3,4 as you rest with empty lungs. Then you repeat this square breathing over and over again for 5-10 minutes. Trust me 5-15 minutes of square breath is a calming thing.
4. Tensing and Relaxing muscle groups….. After the Square breathing take a couple of slow deep breaths like in step 2. After that we will tense and relax muscle groups. First tense up you feet and lower legs and count to ten then relax and count to 10 again. Next tense your upper legs count to 10 then relax and count to 10. Next do you arms and shoulders count to 10 and relax and count to ten. Finally tense your tummy, count to ten, relax and count to ten. When you tense up pay close attention to how it feels. When you relax pay close attention to how you feel. What you are doing is, teaching yourself how it feels to be tense and how it feels to relax. Doing the Tensing and relaxing part of the exercises will eventually make you more keen on detecting the warning signs of your anxiety flaring up and enable you to react more quickly control it before it overtakes you.
5. Another round of square breathing. First take a few deep breaths as in step 2 and then spend a few minutes doing another round of square breathing. This step is will help settle you down for the next and most important step.
6. Meditation…. Meditation is before the most important step in the breathing exercises. After step five make sure you are positioned comfortably in your chair or pew. Make sure your back is nice and straight. If you have not already done so, close your eyes and begin the slow breathing as in step 2 as you focus your minds eye on something calming, it could be a stream in the middle of a forest. It could be drifting among the stars. You can also imagine a barrier keeping away the stressors and within that barrier, your own little inner world consisting of everything and every person that brings happiness and joy to you. As your breath inhale that calmness and love revel in those good feeling let them carry you where ever they may carry you. As your exhale let go of your worries and negative things that bother you. Let this respite relax you all over. Meditation is something I’ve learned takes time, many sessions, and PATIENCE to do. But if you do the meditation portion of the exercises along with the the steps leading up to meditation almost every day, you will eventually get to a point to where your mind will literally be still and silent. If you are new to meditation your mind being still and silent may sound strange. It certainly sounded strange to me when I first heard about it. But trust me on this when you are able to to get so deep in meditation that your mind does go still an silent, the feeling is absolutely blissful and it makes such a massive difference in how you perceive the world.
7. Pray… This step is optional for those who are religious or subscribe to a spiritual belief that includes praying. If you are in a Catholic Church go ahead and fold down the kneeler and put it to use as kneeling helps get into a prayerful state. Pray for those you care about. Pray to the deity of your religion for aid, comfort and guidance. You can also just merely connect to the Devine and remain in that state without saying anything. It’s the connection to the Devine that help the soul heal. For those you are not religious, your step 7 is merely to think about those you care about and the end goals you want to achieve or merely just use this time to reflect and contemplate.
8. After Praying and or reflecting, spend this time doing slow breathing like in step to to come to a soft landing. Or if you have done this for awhile and you feel your want to meditate even more especially if your mind and body asks for more meditation, do it.
9. Don’t just leave your space, recess out. Again rather you are in a church or a secular space for as long as you in that space you are in session and your session does not end until you exit through the doors back out into the outside world. So if you are in a church, genuflect or bow and pray fully and reverently your way to the door. If you are in a secular space, quietly and revenrently make your way to the door.
What I just laid out is the breathing exercise regiment I do every week day. This coupled with the medications and therapy I have received have gone a long way in getting my own anxiety issues and my mental, emotional, and spiritual house back in order. I’m still a work in progress so this is by no means a magic bullet cure to anxiety problems. However what I have laid out is a very good tool to snatch myself and my life back from my Generalized Anxiety Disorder and ADHD. I certainly hope this helps you all out there suffering from anxiety issues. I really do, becuase I know from first hand experience how much anxiety problems can rob a person of their life and potential, and how much it hurts knowing how much damage it does. You all deserve better and hopefully I’ve done my p[art to help you all get better.
