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5 Breathing Techniques for Anxiety and Stress and Why They Actually Work · Moving Minds Forward

• 0:03
  Gary Johannes: Hello, and welcome to Moving Minds Forward. Today, we're talking about breathing, and the handful of techniques that can pull you back down when you're stressed, anxious, or completely overwhelmed. People aren't broken, and whatever they're carrying, there's always a way forward. I know that because I've lived it. I left school at 14 with no qualifications, one of nine kids.
• 0:35
  I joined the World Air Force at 16, and then spent afterwards years in sales, then went on to run bars and nightclubs restaurants. Not exactly your typical route into mental health, but in my late forties I met a hypotherapist and everything I thought I knew about myself turned out to be a lot more flexible than I'd assumed. I retrained, and I started inspired to change. Then later I took an MSc in the psychology and neuroscience of mental health at King's College London, starting at 58 and finishing at 60. I'm Gary Johannes, solution focused hypnotherapist, founder of Inspired to Change, and a lecturer.
• 1:23
  Now, this one's a little bit different. Most weeks, I take one thing that's troubling people and pull it apart, look at what's going on, what's keeping it going, and what actually helps. Today, I want to hand you something you can use tonight. Not a condition to unpick, just a set of tools. So if your head's full, your chest's tight, and someone's telling you, just breathe, has ever made you want to scream?
• 1:58
  Stay with me, because I'm going to show you why it works and how to actually do it rather than just saying the words. Let's get into it. Picture this. You pulled onto the drive after work, engine off, and you just sit there. You're home, but you're not ready to walk in the door yet.
• 2:22
  Your chest tight. Your jaw's tight. And your mind's still going over the day and already jumping to tomorrow. You're not in danger. Nothing's actually wrong in this exact moment, but your body hasn't got the message.
• 2:39
  It's still braced. So here's the first thing I want you to hold on to. That feeling isn't you being weak, or dramatic, or bad at coping. It's your body accelerator stuck down. Stress, anxiety, overwhelm are all underneath the same thing.
• 3:02
  An alarm system that's revved up and hasn't switched off. And every accelerator has a brake. The good news of this whole episode is that you can reach the brake yourself with your own breath. Why breathing actually works? Let me explain what's going on.
• 3:24
  Because once you understand it, the technique stops feeling like a party trick. Your nervous system has two settings. One winds you up, heart faster, breathing faster, muscles ready. That's the accelerator, and it fires when you're stressed. The other winds you down, Heart slower.
• 3:47
  Body settling. That's the break. Most of the time, both run-in the background without you thinking about it. The same way your heartbeat and your digestion do. But breathing is different from your heartbeat in one critical way.
• 4:05
  You can take it over. It runs on automatic, but the moment you choose to, you can grab hold of it and drive it by hand. And that matters, because your breath is wired straight to that brake. Your breath is the one part of the alarm system you can reach with your own hands. Here's the key that unlocks all of it.
• 4:31
  When you breathe in, your heart speeds up a touch. When you breathe out, it slows. So a long, slow out breath is a direct message to the body. Stand down. We're safe.
• 4:46
  That's the whole secret. Not deep breathing exactly. Long breathing. With the out breath longer than the in. Every technique I'm about to give you is just a different way of doing that one thing.
• 5:03
  And before we get to them, you're not the only one sitting on that drive. Stress, anxiety, and overwhelm are the waters we're all swimming in right now. Think of a bucket that every bit of life's pressure pour into, work, money, family, the lot. Sleep is the tap that drains it. When more pours in than drains out, it overflows.
• 5:29
  And that overflow is the tight chest, the racing head, the short fuse. Breathing won't empty the bucket, but it will lower the level enough in the moment to think straight again. And sometimes, that's exactly what you need. There are techniques. Five of them.
• 5:51
  You don't need all five. You need the one or two that suits you, ready to go when you need them. Belly breathing. This is the foundation. So start here.
• 6:04
  Put a hand on your stomach, breathe in slowly through the nose, and aim the breath low. So it's your hand that rises, not your shoulders. Then let it out slowly. When we're stressed, most of us breathe high and shallow, up in the chest. That's how you breathe when you're frightened.
• 6:27
  So it keeps the alarm ringing. Breathing low tells the body the opposite story. Get this right, and the rest are easy. 711 breathing. This is one we can lean on a lot, and it's beautifully simple.
• 6:48
  Breathe in through your nose for a count of seven, and out gently for a count of 11. The exact numbers matter less than the shape. Out longer than in. The longer exhale is the bit doing the work. If seven and eleven feel like a reach, start with four in and six out, and build up.
• 7:14
  This is your good all rounder. And it's a lovely one when your head's overwhelmed and you need to slow the whole thing down. The psychological sigh. This is your emergency break. The one for when anxiety is climbing fast, and you need to calm right now.
• 7:36
  Take two breaths in through the nose. A normal one, then a second short sip on top to fully fill your lungs. Then one long slow release through the mouth. Do that two or three times, and you'll feel yourself drop a gear. It's quick, and you can do it without anyone noticing, and it happens to be the technique with the strongest recent evidence behind it.
• 8:04
  Box breathing. In for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four. Like drawing four sides of a square. The steady rhythm gives the racing mind something to hold on to, which is why it's a favorite of people who work under real pressure. Reach for this one when you're wound up and tense or steadying yourself before something big.
• 8:30
  One thing. If holding your breath makes you feel more tense, skip the hold, and just do the slow in and the longer out. Never force it. Four seven eight breathing. This one's for the end of the day.
• 8:49
  In through the nose for four, hold for seven, out through the mouth for eight. That long hold and the longer exhale wind the whole system right down. It's the one to use lying in bed when your mind won't switch off and sleep won't come. So which one when? Anxiety rising fast?
• 9:14
  The sigh. Wound up and under pressure? Box breathing. Head overwhelmed? Too much at once?
• 9:22
  Seven eleven. Slow and steady. Can't sleep? Four seven eight. And sitting underneath all of them, barely breathing.
• 9:33
  Because that's the base the others are built on. Don't try to master the lot. Pick one. Make it yours. And a quick honest word.
• 9:44
  Gentle is the whole point. If any of these makes you feel light headed or dizzy, you're probably trying too hard. Ease right off. Go slower and softer, and it settles. This isn't about gulping big dramatic breaths.
• 10:02
  It's about doing less, slower. One important thing. Breathing is a brilliant tool, but it's a tool, not a cure. If you find you're reaching for it 10 times a day, just to get through, that's not a failing. It's information.
• 10:22
  It's your nervous system telling you the bucket's overflowing, and that the real work is upstream, and what's filling it in the first place? That's the deeper work we do in solution focused hypnotherapy, bringing the whole level down, so the alarm isn't sitting on a hair trigger to begin with. Breathing calms the moment. The deeper work changes the baseline. You want both.
• 10:49
  And this isn't just something that sounds nice. In 2023, researchers at Stanford ran a proper trial comparing different breathing exercises against meditation. The one that came out on top for lifting mood and calming the body was the exhale focused one. Long out breaths. Just five minutes a day.
• 11:11
  Now, it's one study, and the science is still young. But it lines up exactly with what we see in the room. And with a hundred and fifty years of knowing that a slow breath out settles the body, the out breath is the key. That keeps coming back. If you take one thing from this, don't wait until you're in bits to try this.
• 11:34
  Pick one. Just one. And practice it now, today, while you're calm. Two minutes. Because here's the thing.
• 11:42
  You can't learn a new skill in the middle of a panic. If the first time you try seven eleven is when you're already overwhelmed, It won't land. But practice it while you're steady a few times, and you lay the track. So when the alarm does go off, the calm response is already there, ready to run. You're not fixing anything today.
• 12:09
  You're just loading the tool before you need it. Before you go, let me say this to you directly. If you're stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, you're sitting on a drive unable to go in. You're not broken, and you're not weak, and you are very far from being alone. Your body's just stuck in a gear it doesn't need to be in, and you're carrying the gear stick.
• 12:35
  The same nervous system that learned to rev up can be taught breath by breath to settle. That's not me being kind. That's neuroscience. Understanding what's going on is where it starts, and you've just done that. If this has been useful, subscribe wherever you're listening, and share it with someone whose head is full right now.
• 13:00
  This is a good one to have in your pocket. Moving minds forward, understanding what's going on, what actually helps. And if the calm never seems to last, always full, and you'd like to get to what's underneath, Inspire two Change can help. We've a nationwide network of solution focused hip hopists right across The UK, working in person and online. You can find your nearest therapist, read more about how we work, and book a free initial consultation at inspiretochange.biz.
• 13:35
  The link is in the description below. See you on the next one.