3 Simple Rituals That Will Change Your Life

Practice breathing meditation

Since many of us get up in the morning already anxious about the day’s events, there’s one quick, five-minute breathing technique that can set your day right. Psychologist Emma Seppl, author of The Happiness Track, calls it “conscious breathing.” This is a focused form of yoga-based, breathing meditation that will help you to relax and restore yourself before you’re off to the races.

Conscious breathing is so effective, in fact, she investigated its benefits as an intervention used on combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder. When they learned and practiced conscious breathing, it helped to significantly reduce their stress and anxiety levels – sometimes in minutes.