Hey guys, welcome to not another anxiety show. I'm your host, Kelly Walker, and today I'm

writing solo because I want to share a fun exercise and don't want to make Erica play the guinea pig so soon after just coming back.

Plus, she doesn't know it just yet, but she gets to play guinea pig in the next episode I have in mind.

So today I wanted to talk about breathwork.

So often, if we're experiencing even moderate anxiety, breathwork like deep belly breathing can be

inaccessible to us because it makes us feel more breathless and, of course, therefore,

more anxious.

But on the other hand, the benefits of breathwork have been validated in research studies,

particularly breathwork that focuses validated in research studies, particularly

breath work that focuses on slowing the breath because it regulates the parasympathetic

nervous system or the rest and digest system, calming the mind and body.

I want to share a breathing exercise that I find and other clients have found is more accessible than

deep belly breathing. Deep belly breathing doesn't always work well because if we're anxious,

we're likely hyperventilating, even if it's subtle, which means while we might feel breathless

or hungry for air, we actually have more than enough oxygen and actually need to increase

levels of carbon dioxide.

So if you feel like you can't take a deep breath in, no big deal, because the exhale is where the calming effect lies.

The exhale is what stimulates the parasympathetic response, lowering our heart rate and blood pressure.

In addition, elongating the exhale helps increase those carbon dioxide levels in our blood, balancing out oxygen and carbon dioxide

so that we don't feel that breathlessness or air hunger. So the exercise is really simple.

It starts with taking a regular breath in, no need to be a deep breath, then elongating

the exhale by either pursing your lips, like you're blowing bubbles through a straw,

...