A simple and quick exercise to help you immediately reduce stress and anxiety

This goal of this article is to provide you with a simple exercise that helps manage stress and anxiety. Feel free to re-share or send it to your team if you find it helpful.

If you manage a team and would like to receive a few other simple mindfulness exercises, please just leave a comment on this article or send me a note.

Thank you for caring about your team's well being. It's needed now more than ever.

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A quick moment of vulnerability.

As a prototypical Type A personality, I have battled anxiety my entire life.

The need to be better, faster, stronger. The need to always perform. The need to always win.

And even when I did win and achieve things I should have been proud of, impostor syndrome took hold and so did fear that whatever I achieved would not last.

I have been fighting this my whole life and have made significant progress, but the reality is, it will be something that I battle forever.

But I won't give up trying to overcome it.

The Exercise That Helps Manage Stress and Anxiety

Looking back, aside from a healthy sleep routine, I have found the following exercise to help more than anything else I have tried.

Some of you might be familiar with this 478 breath that I am a big fan of, but having run my introduction to mindfulness session for over 100 organizations and 5000 people since 2014, I have come to realize that for a few people, the 7-count of holding their breath can be intimidating.

So here is a gentler alternative and it is a breath you can use anytime and anywhere and nobody will even notice!

The Triple 5 Breath

1) Inhale through your nose for a 5-count.

2) Exhale through your nose for a 5-count and notice how relaxed your body is as you exhale. Pay special attention to your shoulders.

3) Repeat this four more times so that you do five inhales and five exhales in total, hence why it is called the Triple 5 Breath.

4) If you have more than a couple of minutes and want to induce an even deeper relaxation response, repeat steps #1-3 above with a 6-count and then a 7-count.

Why It Works and How To Make It Work For You

On average adults take 12-20 breaths a minute which means they take a full inhale and exhale every 3 to 5 seconds.

The Triple 5 breath slows down your breathing rate which then engages your parasympathetic nervous system to kick in a powerful relaxation response which can help you manage your stress and anxiety.

The key is to try to use this breathing technique consistently.

I have found leaving little sticky notes around the house in places that I frequent often. I have the sticky notes on our fridge, my washroom mirror and doors to remind me to just take on deep breath when I see them.

Again, if you manage a team and think they would benefit from some additional mindfulness exercises or ideas to help manage stress just leave a comment below or send me a note.

Also, if you have found this article helpful, I would greatly appreciate you re-sharing it or sending it to your team as this is the one cornerstone mindfulness exercise that has helped me manage stress and hope that it helps others.