I belong to a yoga studio that is called “Just Breathe”. Breathing can naturally calm us and slow us down to be more aware of our bodies and our thoughts. I think of purposeful breathing as nature’s tranquilizer. Most of us do not breathe with awareness. We are especially shallow breathers during stressful events such as a breakup. Interestingly enough we have phrases about breathing such as “I can’t catch a breath”, “It took my breath away”. Without breath we cease to exist. Try to build an awareness of your breathing and focus on taking deeper inhales and exhales. One simple way to build this awareness is to inhale to say the count of 5 and exhale a bit longer such as to the count of 6 or 7. Another way to build awareness is to inhale filling your stomach, then your rib cage and lastly your chest and then reverse with the exhale. You may want to say a mantra as you breath or on your inhale say to yourself "breathing in peace, exhaling out negativity". Find what works for you.
