Breathing exercises against the Ache, exhaustion, feverishness & breathlessness

Symptoms & Treatments
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Hi there,

I’d love to know if anyone *doesn’t find the breath-hold-exercise in the following guided tutorial https://youtu.be/tybOi4hjZFQ to be very helpful for Ache, exhaustion/fatigue, feverish-feeling, shortness of breath & eyesight?! Why don’t you try it now? The first round takes 3mins, all 3 rounds 11 mins.
It helps me tons. I’m looking for further ones, but nothing is quite as good.
While cycling I’m also holding my breath and practicing very deep breaths, feeling how my lungs are become ‘bigger and bigger’. As soon as I feel the need for more breath, I do some of these, as I feel necessary. I often hunger for more oxygen, but now I know what do do.
I didn’t use to think breathing exercises particularly helpful for anything, apart from one:
Holding one wing of the nose, breathing slowly out thru it, slowly in, other wing, out, in.
Also OK: Breathing out and in to the count of 4, then after a while 5, then 6, then 7 (holding 2).
On youtube I’ve found a PT saying it’s good for serotonin, getting to sleep (again), anxiety etc.
(In almost ALL following exercises: in thru nose, out thru mouth, short hold in between)
His fave is the lip brake: Fill lungs and cheeks and use the lips to brake the air whilst leaving.
Or: he presses his fingers further under the lowest ribs every time he breathes out (lying down).
He recommends to yawn often.
Anxiety:
In 7, hold 4, out 8 against anxiety.
Breathing into folded hands (against hyperventilating)
Stress:
Breathe deeply in and out with your hands on your belly.
Breathe in, put both arms up, breathe out.
Breathe in & out with one arm rounded over the head, the hand of the other on the flank under that arm.
Breathe in & out with torso turned more and more.

Two in old posts here are:
Breathing exercise (Sep13) In 5, out 8, in detail.
Deep Breathing Exercise (Feb15) in detail.
And there are also a few posts showing that fibro can mean having “breathing problems”:
https://forum.livingwithfibro.org/search?q=breathing%20problems

Let’s see if this category will be found and read and answered…
I refuse to put this post under the category “complementary therapies”, because it says there that they *complement *medical (meaning chemical) treatment. From all I’ve read and experienced myself, medical treatment, whether chemical or herbal, doesn’t much help alleviate fibro, rather often causes new pain.

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Oh my gosh - This is going to be so helpful! I will bookmark your post and come back to it when I have more time. The one for anxiety, I actually use when I can’t get to sleep - Breathing out for more counts than you breathe in, helps your body truly relax. I had not connected this with using it for my anxiety (It was on a free “going to sleep” book from Audible. When you subscribe to them, there are all kinds of free books you can download…)
Thank you, JayCS. I can’t wait to study this! :blush:
PS: Interestingly, years (and years) ago, when I used to act in plays and musicals (when I wasn’t playing keyboard for them), if one of the other actors was nervous, I would tell them to breathe deeply, and it would trick their body into thinking it was relaxed. (I’m sure I shared other tips with them, as well, but it has been another lifetime ago, so I have forgotten…)

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A similar trick I learnt by chance before my piano (and recorder) exams was to wash (the sweat off of) my hands. Originally to just not slip off the keys (Gershwin prelude…), but then I realized that it tricked me exactly into this… :relaxed:

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I use deep breathing in many different situations. I have Anxiety Panic attacks…it helps in many other situations.