Got a Minute? Try Breathing

If you knew you were just one minute away from having more energy, less stress and making your day just that much more productive, would you take the time to do it?

It sounds like an infomercial, but there's nothing to buy because you already possess it, you just may not use it. Like that animal-print Snuggie, it might just be present but untouched.

It's your breath. That thing, oh, you know, your life force that we can pretty much take for granted. The thing that we hold in moments of exasperation. Maybe we haven't been told how powerful our breath is. Maybe we don't know that accessing this always available, yet untapped source of power can change our productivity? But it does, with an increase in alertness.

The next time you feel worn out or just in a slump, try this 1-minute breathing exercise that Gaiam Life recommends from Christine Louise Holhlbaum's The Power of Slow. Come on, we all have one minute.

And with all of that fresh oxygen that you've got circulating, the task at hand perhaps won't feel so taxing. And that should make you breathe a little easier in no time. Here we go:

Inhale to the count of two
Exhale to the count of two
Inhale to the count of two
Exhale to the count of three
Inhale to the count of two
Exhale to the count of four
Inhale to the count of two
Exhale to the count of five

Repeat several times, then return to your normal breathing. Better already, right?

Photo courtesy of Charis Tsevis@sxc.hu.