Reduce social anxiety by breathing slowly

I’m not a doctor or a medical professional, but in my personal experience, one method that has helped people reduce social anxiety is breathing slowly. I originally practiced breathing slowly to help me stay calm and focused before the end of year exams back in my university days.

Then when I started helping people improve their social abilities, and they told me how they would feel really nervous or anxious in the moments leading up to a social interaction, or going to a party or social event; it made me think of this. So I told them to try breathing slowly. This does not work for every single person, but for a lot of people, it has been helpful.

Just before you enter a social interaction, if you feel nervous in the moments leading up to the social interaction or at the thought of the social interaction, then try breathing slowly to lower your social anxiety. It is an easy and always available method to help yourself.

Take in deep slow breathes to relax.

The scientific reason behind this is that when you slow down your breathing, it will slow down your heart rate. When you feel nervous, your heart rate goes up. But when you slow down your heart rate, you become more calm, if not completely calm.

It is working with your body to relax your body.

How To Breathe Slowly

This is not something you will understand until you have experience with it. When you practice doing it, you will feel the difference.

Let us try it.

Breathe in deeply for a count of 3

1…..

2…..

3…..

Hold your breath for a count of 3

1….

2….

3….

Now gently breathe out for a count of 3

1….

2….

3….

How was that? Simple right?

Let’s do it again

Breathe in deeply for a count of 3

1….

2….

3….

Hold it for a count of 3

1….

2….

3….

Now gently breathe out for a count of 3

1….

2….

3….

Repeat

Breathe in again deeply for a count of 3

1….

2….

3….

Hold till 3

1….

2….

3….

Gently breathe out for a count of 3

1….

2….

3….

Repeat this a few times.

How did that feel?

You may have felt yourself becoming more relaxed and calm simply by doing it just now. Or you may need to practice it more to start to understand what I am talking about.

Keep Practicing It! 

This is not something that will work without practice. Learning to breathe slowly is something that gets easier and more effective the more often you do it.

You have to practice this breathing exercise in your spare time when not in social situations to develop the ability to be able to do it effectively when you need to.

A professional guitar player would not play guitar for the first time at a music concert. He or she would have spent hours and hours practicing it in their spare time before the concert. It is the same with using breathing to feel more relaxed.

Do not underestimate the power that taking in deep, slow, gentle breathes can have on reducing your anxiety in not just social interactions, but other situations as well.

While breathing slowly is not the only way to reduce social anxiety, it is a useful tool to have, and one that I prefer using the most.