More teens are dealing with anxiety than ever before. From school work, social lives complicated by social media, college applications, extracurriculars, and endless bad new coming out day after day, teens need to find methods to help them succeed and thrive in the world. In Anxiety Relief for Teens, Regine Galanti, PhD walks teenagers through many different methods of anxiety relief, from little things they can do at their desk to exercises they can practice everyday to help them lower their anxiety and see beyond it to their future.
COLOR BREATHING
Useful for: Everyday Relaxation; promoting calm
Time: 5 minutes
Breathing exercises can help manage stress, regulate emotions, and even reduce blood pressure. This one combines abdominal breathing with visualization to help you clear your mind.
- Choose two colors: one that you associate with relaxation, and another that you associate with anxiety or just don’t like. For me, blue is calming, while yellow reminds me of caution tape. I’ll use them for this example, but you can choose whatever colors work for you.
- Find a quiet place. Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and being to focus on your breathing.
- Breathe in. Imagine the color blue filling your lungs. Picture the color washing over your body with a sense of calm. Breathe the blue into all the parts of your body that feel extra tense.
- Visualize yourself breathing out the color yellow. That tense and anxious air is sticky and hold on tight inside your body, so the best way to release it is with long and slow breaths.
- Continue to visualize. See the blue air filling your body with a sense of calm as you inhale and the yellow air leaving your body as you exhale. Feel your breath lengthen as you continue this exercise, and try to make your exhales longer than your inhales.
TIP: This exercise is a good one to incorporate into your bedtime routine to clear your mind before falling asleep.
