Navy Seal Box Breathing

Stress stinks and it’s important you have intentional and practical ways to deal with it.

Unmanaged, stress can cause a long list of issues from insomnia, tension, aches & pains, to high blood pressure and lowered immunity.

It also can affect your appetite, your focus, and your mood.

One way you can minimize the negative impact of chronic stress is to learn how to turn down your central nervous system’s “fight, flight, or freeze” system (the sympathetic nervous system) and activate its “rest & digest” system (the parasympathetic system).

You can do this by meditating, doing two 5-minute sessions of breathing exercises, journaling, slow walks in nature…

All of these things are (even more) awesome for helping your brain stress less.

Let’s put it to practice!

Here’s a simple and proven breathing technique that will help you feel calmer almost immediately.

Navy Seal Box Breathing

It’s called “box” breathing because each part of the breath is held for an equal amount of time – a count of 4.

It can help to visualize breathing around a box while you do this exercise.

How to do it:

1. Sit or lie down in a comfortable spot. In the gym, we love the child’s pose position, crocodile (lying on belly), or lying on your back with legs bent 90 degrees up on a wall.
2. Inhale through your nose (if possible) for 4 seconds
3. Hold your breath for 4 seconds
4. Exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds
5. Hold your breath for 4 seconds
6. Repeat the inhale-hold-exhale-hold pattern for a total of 4 times, working up to 5 minutes.

Go ahead and give it a try right now!

Inhale 4, 3, 2, 1

Hold 4, 3, 2, 1

Exhale 4, 3, 2, 1

Hold 4,3, 2, 1

Did you feel everything start to slow down and lighten?

We hope you find this technique helpful and make it a part of your every day routine.

Jessica & Team Valeo