Or a literal title might be named, “How to calm down in any anxiety-giving situation, or situation you perceive to be negative.” Not as effective.

When the ship is going down, in the moment of anxiety-driven situations and high emotions (anger, frustration, jealousy, stress, or mind-blowing-madness), to say something like, “let’s block this negativity together,” might not have the same effect as the captain yelling to the group to regain control, “Just calm the F down! Everything’s going to be okay!”

Think about it – the adrenaline pumping through your body is like the crazed ship group running into each other to get to the life boats, and your mind is the captain trying to get their attention.

So, how do you calm the F down? Luckily, it’s easy to do – it’s called breathing.  Or, if you want to get fancy, prana, which means life force, energy, vital breath.

Yoga starts and ends with breath.  As do we. So it makes sense that we have control in any situation, negative or positive, to direct our emotions with our breath.  It might not feel like it at the time, but after some practice, it will get easier and more useful to you to use anywhere.

When you panic, or get upset, the breath tends to get short and fast.  This leads to less oxygen to the brain and the body, and induces a panic sensation in the body.  Think about when someone is hyperventilating – to get them to calm down you may have seen them breathe into a bag.  Part of the reason that helps is due to the focus on breath, to make it longer and fuller, rather than short and fast. Continue reading