Paul Blay
04-03-2011, 08:37 AM
Hi, I thought I'd just share a method that I found works very well for me. It actually comes in two parts, one is a standard breath control regime. The one I use is HRV Training (popular with Biofeedback / Neurofeedback), but it should work with any approach that encourages steady, slow, breathing.
I practice at home using an online metronome (just Google). Setting it to 45 works best for me, but it can be adjusted up and down to your personal taste. Then, while I'm practising, I listen to the metronome so it's like "In - two - three" "Out - two - three".
Now here's the trick that I found out recently - if you have to do something that makes you anxious (in my case filling out a rather nasty form) just have the metronome on and listen to it while you work. I find that it distracts me just enough that I don't think about how anxious I am, and it also discourages hyperventilation as I have the habit of breathing at a steady pace while the metronome is playing.
You should also be able to use an mp3 player to playback a suitable metronome recording so you can listen to it while you're out and about.
I practice at home using an online metronome (just Google). Setting it to 45 works best for me, but it can be adjusted up and down to your personal taste. Then, while I'm practising, I listen to the metronome so it's like "In - two - three" "Out - two - three".
Now here's the trick that I found out recently - if you have to do something that makes you anxious (in my case filling out a rather nasty form) just have the metronome on and listen to it while you work. I find that it distracts me just enough that I don't think about how anxious I am, and it also discourages hyperventilation as I have the habit of breathing at a steady pace while the metronome is playing.
You should also be able to use an mp3 player to playback a suitable metronome recording so you can listen to it while you're out and about.