7/11 breathing is a good skill to use for anxiety. It’s recommended to do it for 10-15 minutes. Like any other skill it does require a lot of practice I advice that you practice it when you are feeling calm (so you are ready in a time when you need it). If you lose count, simply start again until you do 15 minutes. It will also help with distraction even if you don’t get it right the first time.
Breathing out longer than you breathe in actually activates your parasympathetic nervous system-
Anxiety is your sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”) setting off all the alarms, while breathing like this will set the parasympathetic system (“rest and digest”) into action shutting off the alarms and settling your nerves.
Other things that help are laughing, checking out what’s going on around you (moving head and eyes to orient to your surroundings), or getting curious about something. :)
This is such an interesting blog. I especially like the pictures by Christian Hopkins. You go girl.
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