In stressful times you can use the power of your breath to help calm feelings of stress or anxiety.

Box breathing is a simple relaxation technique that can help you ‘reset your breath’ and return it to its normal rhythm.

This video demonstrates box breathing and highlights its benefits.

In short, it involves:

- Imagining breathing around a box

- Inhaling as you visualize going up one side of the box, pausing and then exhaling as you picture going down the other side of the box.

In moments of stress and anxiety, box breathing is an easy way to slow down and help calm your body and mind.

Many thanks to Dr. Joanna Mansfield, psychiatrist at Sunnybrook’s Women’s Mood and Anxiety Clinic, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Clinic for her expertise and voicing this box breathing video.

Video produced by Brent Creelman and Jennifer Palisoc in Communications & Stakeholder Relations at Sunnybrook.

For more mental health resources, visit: http://sunnybrook.ca/Psychiatry

If you need help in an emergency, please call 911 or visit your local emergency department. If you feel like you're in a crisis or need somebody to talk to, please know that help is available.

Find a local crisis resource: http://sunnybrook.ca/GetHelp