Take a breath. 

I don’t remember what had happened first, but one thing after another led to some major stress. My tension had grown more intense, and I wasn’t in a great place.  

I can’t remember why I did it, but I took a moment to check in on how I was feeling.  

I found something surprising. I was tense. (I know…shocking!) From my head to my toes…everything was tense. This was troublesome.  

So, I took a breath.  

Sloooooowly in and sloooooowly out.  

And then I did it a few more times. I focused on everything that was tense in my body and worked to relax it, one muscle at a time. 

The focus on relaxing caused my stress level to decrease.  

My problems weren’t fixed, but my perspective had shifted by taking a moment to refocus my breath and physical well-being.  

This experience changed me. I learned that when stress was escalating- taking relaxing breaths was my best chance to regain some balance.  

There is something balancing and renewing about breathing.  

Try it right now. Take a really deep breath.  

Okay, let it out.  

Doesn’t that feel better? 

In fact- why don’t you do it again?