Pause the panic mode You know when you're getting really pissed off, anxious, or stressed, and someone says, "It's OK, just take a deep breath"? Sometimes, you want to smack the person. Even so, you suspect that advice is spot-on, and that your emotional hubbub (Too many application essays, anyone? Computer stalling, anyone? Fridge has no food again, anyone? Relatives grating at you, anyone?) could get quietly derailed. But in the moment, when you're stuck in shallow breathing (and maybe shallow thinking), "Take a deep breath" is annoying to hear, and for whatever reason hard to remember to do. Even though it's the easiest-- and actually most helpful-- thing of all (and free--did we say free?). Plus, maybe you don't know how. Really how. These trying moments of intensity can be greeted as opportunities for taking-- or learning to take, or finding value in taking-- a deep breath. I have to relearn this lesson all the time. So get your big breath on If you've never been shown otherwise, you might take a deep breath by puffing up your chest while tensing your jaw and shoulders, and leave it at that. No bueno. Instead, read on to learn what that well-meaning correct-but-pain-in-your-ass person could have instructed you to do-- a gift you can give yourself right now, and every day from now on, if you so choose. How can you get that restorative, revitalizing deep breath? You know, the one that makes all your problems (momentarily) go away? Well, it's not just your chest you want to move, even though that's the part of our bodies we most closely associate with breathing. In fact, it's more helpful if you think your lungs are in your belly. Your diaphragm will pull down the lower lobes of your lungs, and your blood, brain and spirit will be richer for it. Your parasympathetic nervous system, the function that allows you to relax, will give you a full-bodied thumbs-up. Here's the triumvirate of breathing exercises Try it according to my Continue Reading …