Slow breathing practices have been a part of many cultures around the world for centuries and are very well understood as being of great benefit to psychological and physical wellbeing. Unfortunately, in spite of the many benefits of slow breathing practices being fairly well known we all tend to breathe quite fast and many of us find slow breathing practices really hard. Research has suggested that we would benefit from breathing less than 10 breaths per minute however most of us exceed that and breathe between 10 and 20 breaths per minute instead! Today we reflect on some of the common barriers to slow breathing practice we see in our practice and offer you some beginner slow breathing exercises to try.

A couple of weeks ago my husband was talking to me about a “thing” he had read called “revenge procrastination”. Now, he and I are both notorious for procrastinating and so this tweaked my interest. As I listened to what revenge procrastination was about, all I could think about was how relevant this explanation for why we procrastinate so much, especially when it’s bedtime, felt.

Melbournians right now will be feeling an immense sense of anxiety, overwhelm, and a lot of anger and frustration. As a fellow Melbournian, I can tell you that as I was watching the press conference on Friday afternoon I felt sick in my stomach and thought “here we go again”, followed quickly by - “well I’d rather this now than what we dealt with last year”. So yes, the emotional rollercoaster is real.

In the last week lots of children have been making big school transitions into kindergarten, prep and new classes. Big transitions are often a time of heightened emotions, anxiety and trepidation and can often trigger separation anxiety. This year after the challenges of COVID-19 it may be that more students than usual will be feeling strong emotions about school and about separating from their parents and so it is a good time to spend some time thinking about separation anxiety and how to best support our children and our students during this important time.

No one right now needs to be reminded that life is full of challenges, because goodness knows 2020 was an extremely difficult year for Australians and people all around the world. And even outside of the context of the New Year’s Eve bushfires, COVID and our experiences in lockdown, life is generally full of stress, heart break, mental health difficulties and challenging emotional experiences. Taking a step back from reality is a very effective way of experiencing a few moments of respite to help cope with life’s hardships.

Mental health is not something someone chooses to experience. It is something that is happening to them. We cannot choose or control what happens to us and what we experience however we can control what we do about it to a degree. When someone is struggling with their mental health, it can impact the system in which they are functioning and by this I mean their wider network. This includes family, friends, co-workers, etc. When our close loved ones are trying to support us, we need to keep in mind the impact mental health can have on them too.