One Minute Mood Management for Busy Parents

by Sarah Chana Radcliffe, M.Ed., C.Psych.Assoc.

Bad Mood Blues

What would it be like to always be in a good mood? Imagine – no irritation, no worry, no blues – only a relaxed, optimistic, calm and cheerful state of being.  The perfectly relaxed parent.  The mellow spouse.  The unharried employee. Bliss.

Of course, the constant perfect mood is not humanly possible, or even desirable. Negative emotions are our friends, prompting us to change, grow and evolve. Nonetheless, there’s no point in prolonging them: they are to be utilised and transformed, so that we can return to a balanced, healthy condition. But how does one go about transforming (getting rid of) bad feelings?  How do we go from down to up?

Back to the Breath

Certain breathing patterns offer powerful physical, mental and emotional healing effects. The “one-minute breath” can induce rapid, long lasting changes in mood changing grumpy, overwhelmed, stressed-out Parent into Mellow Mom or Dandy Dad. The one-minute breath increases the body’s ability to handle stress while it lowers levels of anxiety, depression, anger, overwhelm and burnout.  Performed 4 or more times a day, it can act as a very effective antidepressant; utilized more often, it can lead to states of euphoria! It can be used as often as you like, but never more than 1 minute at a time.  There are many kinds of “one-minute” breaths.  Here are 3 examples:

• Breathe in normally. On the out breath, think a calming word or phrase such as “calm,” “peace,” “one,” “God is with me,” “tranquillity,” or a religious/spiritual word or phrase.  Continue for one minute.
• As you breathe in, think the sound “sah.”  As you breathe out, think the sound “hah.”  Continue for one minute.
• Breathe in to a count of 4.  Breathe out to a count of 8.  Do not pause between the in and out breaths. Continue for one minute.

Let’s examine the use of breath in clearing four common “bad moods.”

Mad Busters

We know we shouldn’t get mad, but we do. And being mad puts us in a really bad mood.  How do we shake it?  We can try the one-minute basic breath. This breath puts a halt to the adrenaline-crazed process initiated by the sympathetic nervous system in an attempt to save us from “attack” (usually from a child, spouse or co-worker). When our body-mind feels threatened, this system jumps to our defence – a good strategy for fending off tigers, but usually disastrous in dealing with interpersonal conflict. The one-minute breath turns on the parasympathetic nervous system.  This puts a halt to the emergency chemicals racing through our system, and restores us to calm and sanity.

Craving Crushers

Something’s off balance and you need your “substance” – the sweets, the cigarette, the coffee or whatever.  A slight irritation is eating away at your tranquillity – you must find relief now! But you’re trying to avoid that substance – it’s causing more harm than good.  How long can you stand the craving?  Which side will win?  The one-minute breath rushes to the rescue.  As the soothing breath fills your mind/body system, the craving abates – you win. The emotion or stress that was tugging at your innards, causing you to search for relief, has been gently lifted out of your field.  Each time the craving occurs, you use the breath to lift out more stress. Eventually, the cravings stop altogether.

Panic Flushers

The most intense opposite of calm and relaxed mood, is panicked mood.  In a state of panic, all systems are on red alert. During a true panic attack, the flow of oxygen is altered by the adrenaline response, causing changes in breathing and circulation.  The resulting sensations can mimic that of a heart attack. Many people rush to the emergency room, only to discover that anxiety is the culprit.  They are instructed to try to breathe slowly through their next attack, since the breath is known to turn off the adrenaline response (the same process as for anger, above). However, many people cannot help themselves with the breath during a true panic attack. They are too panicked to breathe properly! On the other hand, those who use the one-minute basic breath once or twice daily as a routine mood/health-management strategy, will be much more successful at using the breath when needed to turn off a panic or anxiety attack.  This is because the mind/body has learned, through regular use of the breath, how to access the healing properties of oxygen when needed.

Stress Mushers

Turn stress to mush with the one-minute breath.  Stress causes grumpy mood, irritated mood, overwhelmed, depressed and aggravated mood.  Too much to do, too little time to do it in.  Too many demands, too little relaxation.  So many worries, pressures, challenges and problems!  Stress! Stress! Stress! While it’s true that a good, long vacation might help, daily relief is a must for long-term physical and emotional well-being.  The one-minute breath gives the mind/body a full vacation every time it’s used. This breath transports the whole system to a place of safety, peace and harmony.  The more often it’s used, the more the body/mind maintains an inner calm, even in the face of adversity.  Each breath goes to the emotional trouble-spot and gently carries the stress out of your field.

One-Minute Mood Management

As you can see, it only takes a minute to turn off stress, anger, fear and inner disequilibrium.  Indeed, any bad mood can be cleared using the one-minute breath.  The more clearing is done, the greater the release of stress and unprocessed negative emotion in the mind/body unit. This makes you and your family (who has to live with you) a lot happier and healthier. However you go about achieving it, the one-minute basic breath can enhance your mood and your life. Try it for yourself and see!