TIPP Skill #4: Paced breathing
Feeling overwhelmed? Here is part three of a four-part series on a set of skills that change your physiological response to anxiety/intense emotions and can help decrease emotional intensity. This set of skills are called the TIPP Skills*.
P: Progressive muscle relaxation
Tense groups of your muscles on purpose as you breathe in, relax the same muscles as you breathe out.
Typically progressive relaxation is done as a guided meditation, but you use it whenever you notice tension in your body. Want to try a guided relaxation? Check out one of our podcasts.
The article Stress Management: Doing Progressive Muscle Relaxation from the University of Michigan offers an in-depth description of progressive muscle relaxation, along with a list of muscle groups to go through and how to tense them.
The goal of this skill is to decrease intensity of anxiety/distress, not to get rid of emotions or solve your problems. For more in-depth information, check out our blog post on dealing with widespread panic.
*The TIPP skills come from Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), created by Marsha Linehan, PhD, ABPP