Valley Railroad Steam Engine, Essex CT
Originally uploaded by Professor Bop
Whenever I start getting tense, I tend to blow my air out slowly and completely on the exhale, then gently and slowly let it back in on the inhale. The calming effect of exhaling slowly and completely has been known for thousands of years. The blowing out with puffed out cheeks and slightly pursed lips seems to be my personal variation of it.
I started doing it years ago, when my daughter was little. I imagined the stress energy inside me as steam. The blowing out was using a pressure valve to relieve enough pressure so I wouldn’t blow up. The idea was once the pressure was relieved a bit I could figure out a constructive way of using that energy.
I thought it was a great idea. It really works for me. It’s become an automatic habit now, and I noticed myself doing it the other night. I’m just glad my daughter wasn’t around to see it. It used to make her nervous…she no doubt thought her mother was about to explode. Nope, just trying to regulate my stress energy and use it wisely. It’s just another technique for optimizing my stress level.
