During 2014, I began to practice Conscious Breathing according to Anders Olsson’s guidelines. I had burned out in 2009 and did not feel well at all for many years, suffering from constant anxiety and depression. In 2013, I had stopped using my medicines by my own initiative and quit smoking, and started running as well. I still suffered from recurring anxiety, despite feeling much better.

On January 7, 2014, I received the book Conscious Breathing in the mail and began reading it as well as doing the exercises it contained. From that day on, my anxiety began to recede. That same week, I began doing yoga and found it helpful in the beginning of my breathing retraining.

Improved sleep through Sleep Tape

I also began to breathe through my nose during my running, as well as during walks and bike rides. It was hard in the beginning because my nasal passages felt too narrow. I slowed down my tempo and quickly experienced improvement. I began taping my mouth shut at night around the same time. The first time, I woke up in the middle of the night, panicked a little, and removed the tape.

The following night I tried again, and experienced similar results. But the night after that, I slept through the night and woke up with the tape on after a good night’s sleep, and it’s worked fine ever since then. I felt that I had slept better than normal the first whole night with tape; I felt somehow calmer. It quickly became a habit for me to tape my mouth shut at night, as a good night’s sleep is very important to me.

In the beginning I had to remind myself to practice my breathing on the days I didn’t exercise. Otherwise, I would feel anxiety. I work out almost every day and am now able to run basically unhindered using nasal breathing at the same times as before. Recently, I hadn’t exercised due to toothaches and was a little surprised that I didn’t feel anxiety at all during that time!

Breathing is perfect for decreasing stress and anxiety

I have gotten used to feeling good for the past year, and it is now my natural state of being. During situations where I’m stressed, I just work on lowering my breathing, using the diaphragm, and I quickly feel better and calm down.

It was also interesting to lie in the dentist’s chair and feel a clear improvement in my nasal breathing. Previously, I suffered from narrow nasal passages and was considering having surgery so I would have more space. I don’t need that anymore, as it is easy to breathe through my nose now.

I always recommend breathing through the nose to my friends and in groups on Facebook. I feel that it is an inexpensive way to improve one’s health, and you don’t have to use medicine or go through recurring expensive treatments from therapists!