How to Use Breathing Beads for Labor, Life, and Stress Relief

When your mom told you to take ten deep breaths to calm down, she actually knew what she was talking about. It takes about a minute, or ten deep letting go breaths, to realize we feel better after focusing on our breath. The endocrine system, what rules your hormones, is a bit slow and it has a full body effect. This slow going reset to feeling better gives your super fast brain lots of time to get freaked out and start the whole fight or flight response all over again. You know, getting worried about being worried. So, what are some tools to use to help with this?

Breathing beads are a tactile and visual reminder to bring your awareness back to your breath, letting your lower ribs spread out, air filling your lungs with positive energy and gorgeous oxygen, and then it gently leaving your body and leaving you feeling just a smidge better with each inhale and exhale.

Each bead represents a breath cycle of inhale and exhale. You can pair the breath with affirmations too. Inhale courage.... exhale fear.......or whatever affirmations speak to you.

To start, relax your face because what your face is doing, your bottom is also doing. Relax and drop your shoulders, and relax your hands. Then focus on taking big deep belly breaths. What your hands are doing, your feet are also doing. Move all the way around the bracelet, one bead and one breath at a time, and when you get back to your starting point, flip it and go back the way you came.

I give breathing bead bracelets to all of my birth doula clients and childbirth class students and teach them how to use it. A contraction lasts about a minute so practicing can help you hold on and get through that minute until you get a break in between.

Check out the video for more detailed instructions and let me know what you think!!

Need more motivation and support? Check out my Badass Birth Affirmation Cards too! I have a Badass Birth set, Badass Postpartum, and Everyday Badass sets available with more to come.

xoxo

Angie

#affirmationcards #breathingbeads #relaxation #paincopingtechniques #copingtools