If you feel like stress is one of the biggest factors driving flares, itching, and just generally making your skin worse, you aren’t alone. Stress is one of the 16 root causes I’ve talked about before that can drive and worsen skin rash conditions. You might not be able to cut everything that stresses you out from your life. But you can do something about the stresses that you can’t necessarily control. And the way that you can do that means paying attention to and tapping into the power of your breath (believe it or not). All in the name of some of the fastest, cheapest, and best stress relief out there. I share this with my private clients and so I thought in today’s episode, I’d share this with you! In this episode: What to do if you can’t eliminate stress in your life Connection between stress levels and how you breath Jennifer’s top 3 breathing exercises that can drop stress levels in 2 minutes or less Tips for practicing breathing exercises (especially if you’re a newbie) Best way to integrate a breathing exercise into your daily routine Quotes: A shallow breath is equated with an increase in anxiety and stress. So when you’re all stressed out and panicked or feeling really upset or distressed, someone will say, take a deep breath. The reason is that as your stress levels rise, your body will respond by taking shorter and shallower breaths that only fill the upper portion of the lungs. But when you take long, deep breaths, it signals to your mind that you are safe and that everything is okay. Here’s the thing about stressors…Part of the process to decreasing your stress exposure is to untether yourself from people and experiences that pile on the stress. But it might not be possible to eliminate everything that creates anxiety and overwhelm. Think of it like those thunderstorms that pop up in the middle of the afternoon that you can't control. You just have to run for cover and wait it out. My point is that while you can’t stop a thunderstorm from rolling in, you do have the power to control how you react to it.