The other day I happened to overhear someone say that they had heard that one of the quickest ways in which one could relax is to sigh. Certainly I know that to take a couple of deep breaths is relaxing; is a sigh different in some way?

When you are feeling tense your breathing quickens and you do not take as much air into your lungs as you breathe. This in turn creates more stress within your physiology. By intentionally focusing on your breathing and ensuring that you are breathing through your abdomen and not just your chest you will relieve this stress upon your physiology and relax yourself quickly.

Wikipedia describes a sigh as "an audible exhalation of air arising from tiredness or emotion, usually sadness, which itself could be stemming from feelings of sadness or futility. A sigh can also arise from positive emotions such as relief and tiredness".

A sigh is certainly an expression of release and is indeed connected to an emotion which is usually negative. You may be sighing away your current negative feelings or sighing your relief at the passing of a negative emotion. But is the sigh itself capable of relaxing you? Or is the sigh a result of you letting go? This is rather a chicken or egg scenario.

Normally speaking a sigh is not something which you set out to do intentionally. It is an instinctive reaction. But it does entail breathing out more fully than normally and usually one inhales more deeply before sighing. And so a sigh is a way of taking a deep breath. It therefore makes sense that one way in which you could relax quickly is to intentionally sigh!

In a world where stress is prevalent it is important to have at your fingertips many different ways in which you can relax and let go. Breathing deeply or sighing are two of the quickest relaxants you will find. For a more long term effect you could take up meditation or yoga or listen to hypnosis mp3 downloads. These will help you to manage stress better, particularly hypnosis downloads.

Hypnosis is particularly good for relieving stress as it allows access to your subconscious mind, which is the part of your mind where instinctive thoughts and behaviors are stored. By using hypnosis downloads you can change the way in which you think about things and learn to respond to situations in a more relaxed manner. In this way you can prevent stress from entering your life instead of trying to manage stress after it has happened. A stitch in time saves nine as the saying goes.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis downloads for relaxation and stress relief.

P.S. You can learn to relax easily. Grab a free hypnotherapy mp3 from my website now.