If you’re looking for a quick way to reduce anxiety around school, your breath is a great place to start.
If you're looking for a quick way to reduce anxiety around school, your breath is a great place to start.
There was a fairly recent case study that demonstrates daily mindful breathing and cognitive reappraisal practice's ability to reduce test anxiety for students.
The case study also made it clear that your mindful breathing increases positive automatic thoughts to a greater extent than cognitive reappraisal.
Speaking on the case study, renowned breathwork coach, Jesse Coomer, states,
"This is why it's so important for you to understand your body's breathing mechanics and create an awareness of breath. There are plenty of students who are unknowingly putting themselves into a state of fight or flight and it's not going to help their test scores."
With school starting this fall, I know you're probably looking to reduce some of the added stress that's on your plate. This case study reveals the power of your breathing practice in a practical way and what's possible with the right information and guidance.
As stated in the study:
"Based on our study results, we suggest that an ongoing program of mindful breathing practice could become a foundation of resilience for participants (from a neuropsychological point of view). Future studies of the efficacy of mindful breathing practice should be conducted with follow-up assessment to determine the duration of mindful breathing practice`s positive and beneficial effects."
Basically, what they mean is that keeping a consistent practice with your breathwork is key to building resilience in the face of stress (or the face of getting an F on your report card).
It's also revealing that with this exciting news, there's going to be more that we find out about the power of your breath.
The study goes on to say:
"Firstly, both mindfulness breathing and cognitive reappraisal practices yielded a large effect size in reducing test anxiety for undergraduate students. Secondly, mindfulness breathing practice showed increased positive automatic thoughts over time, compared to their counterparts, the cognitive reappraisal practice and control group. Our findings showed that the effects of the MBP on test anxiety were comparable to those of the CRP."
The case study is available at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.016482
About Midwestern Method LLC
Midwestern Method LLC was founded in 2017 and serves the Breathwork industry. It is known for teaching anxious, overwhelmed people how to gain back control through their breathing in less than 30 minutes a day.
