AFFIRMATION

I Inhale Peace and Exhale Anxiety

Breathing with intention: a path to daily peace

Breathing is something most of us take for granted. I bet you don’t even think about how many breaths you take during a 24-hour period. For the nerds in the back (me, me!), the breakdown looks like this:

When an adult is at rest, the average number of breaths per minute is 12. There are 1440 minutes in a day, so the grand total is 17,280. That rate per minute can elevate depending on your level of activity. For instance, if you are doing normal activity (whatever that is for you), your rate can bump to 16 breaths per minute. It can be 20 breaths per minute if you are incurring moderate exercise. So, that means your daily grand total can be anywhere from 17,280 to 21,000-ish.

That means that you have, on average, 17,280 moments to welcome calmness and presence with your breath. Stop right now and use the affirmation as your guide.

INHALE: I inhale peace.
EXHALE: I exhale anxiety

Repeat six more times to make it a total of seven. As you move through your day, remember this affirmation as a way of being intentional for your peace. If you feel yourself moving into anxiety, then pause and use the breathing technique as a way to ground yourself.

The Power of Breath

Breathing doesn’t have to be something taken for granted. You can be intentional with your breathing, especially during times of distress or anxiety. When you do, you make breathing a powerful tool for healing, self-regulation, and transformation.

Breath as a Pathway to Presence

If you’re a person who worries about the future or you’re juggling many things in your life, it’s safe to say that your mind is also jumping around, pulled in a multitude of directions. Breath can be an anchor that brings you into the presence. When you focus on your breath, you gently quiet the noise surrounding you (including your mind), and return to the present.

Breath and the Nervous System

You might already know this, but how you breathe directly affects your nervous…