While avoiding stress completely isn’t realistic, there are effective ways to manage anxiety and anger levels. Try yoga, meditation or deep breathing. The next time you feel yourself tensing up, follow this easy technique, appropriately called the “Relaxing Breath” (or the 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise):
* Find a quiet place where you can sit comfortably, with your back straight.
*Place the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth, in the area just behind your upper front teeth. Keep it there through the entire exercise.
*Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
*Hold your breath for a count of seven.
*Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
This is one breath. Repeat the cycle – inhale for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight – three more times, for a total of four breaths.
