Breath is just one aspect of fight-or-flight, so it is very common for people with anxiety to experience an inability to catch or slow their breath, or to increase their awareness of that breath. Fight-or-flight is a natural self-preservation technique, and it actually means the body is functioning appropriately. Our job is to figure out what’s causing that stress response and begin to manage it. That may sound surprising, given the mental benefits sitting mindfulness meditations can have, but there are plenty of stress and anxiety-management tools out there that may be more effective. Anyone who becomes more anxious while focusing on the breath may benefit from movement meditation instead. The process of moving helps the anxious person get out of their head and into their body. Therapeutically, that 20-minute walk is all it takes to reduce anxiety. If you want to try another strategy, breathwork could also help. Opposite of sitting meditation, which focuses on the natural pace of the breath, breathwork requires you to actively change the natural breath. Here are a couple of breathwork techniques I recommend:
