All posts filed under: Breathing Space

woman listening on headphones

12 ways to boost your breathing for birth

Knowing how to use your breathing for birth is an essential skill to work with contractions, to stay calm and to manage any panic. Relax & Breathe is simple and effective to use – the key to it is to understand how it helps and to practice to make it work for you. Relax & Breathe is my own take on using breathing and relaxation techniques – I originally used it to manage anxiety and panic attacks and then I developed the technique to use for labour and birth. By focusing on your breathing, on relaxing your muscles and on developing you own technique relax & breathe can be used for: The benefits of breathing for birth Learning how to use relax & breathe throughout your pregnancy means that you can benefit from it throughout each trimester as well as for your birth preparation. During birth it means you have a skill to fall back on: It doesn’t make birth easy but it does help to make it positive with effective coping strategies and realistic …

breathing as a new parent

5 effective ways to use your breathing as a new parent

Using your breathing as a new parent is about identifying if you are feel anxious, tense or overwhelmed so you can focus on staying calm. Relaxing your body and slowing your breathing can be a simple and effective way to head off any feelings of being overwhelmed as well as to ease any discomfort and to help your recovery from birth. The key to using your breathing as a new parent is to make it familiar for you, so it is comfortable and easy to use and so you don’t have to think about it. So how do you use your breathing as a new parent? You can focus on your breathing if you are experiencing discomfort, pain or you feel overwhelmed. If your breathing is too fast, slow it down again; if you are holding onto tension (forehead, haw, shoulders, hands, pelvic floor, legs, feet) let it go. Throughout the day, slow your breathing and relax your body to feel calmer. Keep it simple – all you are doing is slowing your breathing and …

breathing in labour

5 effective ways to use your breathing in labour

Using your breathing in labour is about listening to your body so you can work with your contractions and identify if you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed so you can focus on staying calm. Relaxing your body and slowing your breathing can be a simple and effective way to head off any panic as well as to stay calm and focused with your contractions. The key to using your breathing in labour is to make it familiar for you, so it is comfortable and easy to use and so you don’t have to think about it. So how do you use your breathing in labour? Focus on your breathing if you are experiencing discomfort, panic or you feel overwhelmed. If you are feeling anxious, panicky or overwhelmed, slowing your breathing will slow your heart-rate, which gets you to be calm and back in control. Keep it simple – all you are doing is slowing your breathing and relaxing your muscles. If you have been practising this in pregnancy it would hopefully be more familiar for …

breathing during pregnancy

5 effective ways to practice your breathing during pregnancy

If you can practice your breathing during pregnancy, you can learn to focus on and use your breathing effectively. It can help you to manage sickness and nausea, headaches, back ache and pelvic pain, as well as any anxiety or feeling overwhelmed. Using your breathing can be a simple and effective way to ease discomfort in pregnancy and it can be excellent preparation for birth and for when your baby is here. The key to using your breathing is to make it familiar for you, so it is comfortable to use and so it easy and you don’t have to think about it. So how do you use your breathing during pregnancy? Make the time to practice it – just a few minutes at a time. Bring it into your day so you are using it frequently: start with morning, daytime and evening. Keep it simple – this is about how you breathe, not learning a new way to breathe. Get to know your breathing and to familiarise yourself with how your body feels when …

Breathing Space

Breathing Space

Breathing Space is a place for you to find out about and use simple and effective relaxation and breathing skills. Relax & Breathe is something which can make a difference to you because you can easily fit it into your day and make it work for you. I developed Relax & Breathe over 10 years ago now after using really simple skills to manage anxiety and panic and I wanted to use it in my practice with parents. Breathing Space is a place to find out more, to listen to some audio and watch some videos so you can make it work for you. Relax & Breathe is easy to bring into your day – so you can use it as you need it – just give it a go. And you can message me here with any queries. Through this website and my social media accounts you can read practical articles and posts along with different experiences and comment about all things pregnancy, birth and early parenting. Working with parents since 2002 Say hello…Instagram | Linkedin …