Breathe, Stretch & Move: Get Rid of Workplace Stress

If you improve your awareness of your body and posture, and adopt a ‘neutral body’ stance, this allows breathing and movement to occur effectively and effortlessly.

you have fewer red blood cells if you are anaemic, which means less oxygen is available in the body. You breathe harder to try to get more oxygen.

Take care not to hold at the top of the in-breath. Breathe out gently, relax, and let the in-breath start. This letting go can be a very strange feeling, but relax — your next in-breath will start all by itself with no prompting from you.

Stretching and breathing maintain a range of movement and provide good nutrition via re-oxygenation of the brain and body, improving clarity of thought, focus and energy levels. Movement dissipates toxin build-up. Good movement and good breathing provide feedback to the brain, sending the information that everything is OK. Chemicals are released in

Breathing retraining takes time — it takes between six and eight weeks of consistent awareness and practice for new patterns to become strong and established.

If you are stressed and you try to meditate you can’t do it, but if you are stressed and breathe you can calm yourself, and then what stressed you does not stress you any more.

Initially this practice takes a lot of concentration, but like most things, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Body neutral is the optimum anatomical posture where our joints, muscles and ligaments are not overstressed, and all body parts are working in harmony.

Every time you feel the gentle pause phase at the end of an out breath, you are achieving a mini-relaxation.