How to Slow a Heart Beat

Exercise and anxiety cause your heart rate to rise. Although it's good to get your heart rate up for your heart health, it's also good to know how to slow it down, especially if you are feeling discomfort. You can slow your heart beat and reduce tension naturally by relieving physical and mental stress and focusing on your breath. There are some simple steps you can take to slow your heart beat and calm your mind.

Instructions

• 1

  If you want to decrease your heart rate, first close your eyes and try to calm your thoughts. Try to go to an area where you are alone and it is quiet, even if that place is just a closed office or inside a car. Do not focus on the physical and emotional stresses in your life, but try instead to focus on becoming completely calm. Take a large inhale breath through you mouth and hold it while tensing up every muscle in your body. After about five seconds of holding the breathe, release the air through you mouth and completely relax all the muscles that you contracted with tension.

• 2

  Breathe normally for about 10 breaths until you feel ready to continue with the exercise. With your eyes still closed, breathe in and out 10 slow and controlled breaths. With every breath in, focus on your inhale breath, and with every breath out, focus on consciously feeling your heart beat slow down. Try to think about the breath moving in through your lungs and then radiating out through your heart, your head, your fingers and your toes.

• 3

  After the 10 slow and controlled breaths, open your eyes and continue to focus on slowing down your heart rate. Now, take a deep breath and focus on grounding your energy down through your body. Feel relaxation coming from your head, down through your heart and allow the stress and tension to exit through the energy you are directing through your body.

• 4

  Breathing may help slow your heart rate down, but there are some other techniques you can add to breathing exercises to slow your heart beat. Going for a leisurely walk or taking a bath can help to get your mind off of stress and calm you physically and emotionally. You can also gently massage your pressure points on your throat beneath your chin or on the inside of your wrists.