BREAK THE CYCLE OF CHRONIC ANXIETY

LEARN TO TRIGGER YOUR RELAXATION RESPONSE

Kaki Pranayama (“beak” breath) is an great tool to help trigger your relaxation response. If you include blowing softly into the palm of your hand to give an added sensory experience, you may speed up the process.

Directions:
Inhale through both nostrils. Purse your lips and exhale gently through the pursed lips as if blowing gently enough to make a candle flame flicker, but not blow it out. Pursing the lips helps create some back pressure and allows you to lengthen your exhalation with greater ease. Begin to count the inhale and count the exhale (with the same cadence). Make your exhalation longer than your inhalation (i.e. if you count 4 for your inhalation, try to make your exhalation a 6 (or more) count. Bring the palm of your hand in front of your face and blow lightly on your palm during your exhalation. Continue until you feel your relaxation response triggered (a sense of "letting go"). Practice as often as possible, many times a day, to strengthen your relaxation response. The more you practice, the more accessible the relaxation response becomes. People that practice triggering often can usually do so in less than three exhalations. If you suffer from chronic anxiety, your fight/flight response (sympathetic NS) is on a hair trigger, and your relaxation response is very hard to access. Reverse this process by exercising your relaxation response and interrupting the f/fl response. Your gateway to the relaxation response is throughyour exhalation. Make your exhalation twice as long as your inhalation.

YOU CONTROL YOUR INNER PEACE...WHENEVER YOU NEED TO CALM YOURSELF, TRIGGER YOUR RELAXATION RESPONSE...

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