YOU CAN BE A STAR AND WIN OVER ANXIETY

When that feeling of anxiety comes on your child (or yourself), it is because your brain is sending out signals that there is a threat and your body fuels up to respond in a fight, flight, or freeze response.  It doesn’t really matter if the threat is real or imagined, or triggered by some past trauma, a body treats it the same way. One technique that has proven helpful for others who are experiencing anxiety is what is termed strong breathing, or deep breathing.

Strong breathing triggers the body’s relaxation response, which is also an automatic response like fight, flight, or freeze. Here’s an adaptation of the breathing technique from the folks at Conscious Discipline. Invite your child to “breath with me.”

S.T.A.R.

S – stands for smile. We smile because we know God is with us. Smiling also releases “happy hormones” and immediately makes us feel better.

T – take a long, deep breath, filling your lungs fully. As you do, remember that even though you have instincts, physical drives, and survival mechanisms like the other creatures that God created on Day Six (See Genesis 1), you also have something extra – the breath of God, His divine spark within you. (Genesis 2:7)

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul (Hebrew word nephesh).

A – and…

R – relax. Slowly breath out shame, fear, anger; whatever it is that is holding you back from connecting with God, with self, or with another.

It’s a calming technique and also a way to remember that God is near and you are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Go ahead and practice this breathing every day, practice is important. Do it at the times your children (or you) are calm so that it becomes easier to access in the moment of anxiety. In the moment of anxiety, it is very hard to breathe if there has not been sufficient practice during the calm times.

Calling it “Star Breathing” is like having a code word for your kids that helps them to better recall it when they need it the most. Is there something special about breathing beyond the physical comfort it brings? Absolutely!

                               To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.” Psalm 25:1

 This word, soul, is the Hebrew word nephesh, the same as in the Genesis verse.  In Hebrew, this word has the meaning of breath -  the physical movement of air in and out of a body that we’ve just been talking about. Breath, Hebraically, is concrete evidence of life.  Nephesh is who I am, which includes my physical being, emotions, thoughts, and actions.  The Psalmist says that transforming prayer lifts up your very essence to become joined with the Father.  Breath in…breath out. What a wonderful thing to remember in those moments we need Him the most!