This week, I’m going to focus on different parts of my genius hour. Mostly because I don’t want to do anything today and I’m very sad because this is a Wednesday and I don’t like Wednesdays.

Recap

I’m first going to see what I want to do by copy and pasting the previous plan onto here:

• regulating screen time/efficient use of technology
  • regulating social media/time wasting apps
  • exploring apps that will help me benefit from
• daily schedule breakdown (how it is to be Rachel)
  • what I am doing on a daily basis
    • what I should be doing on a daily basis
  • include all the days (Sunday-Saturday)
• hobbies (because we all need some happiness)
  • journaling
  • spending time outdoors
• timing my life around my extracurriculars
  • being ready to change my schedule to be more fitting to the situation
• changing my lifestyle as extracurriculars stop for the summer
• efficient note-taking (aesthetic notes)
  • understanding what is more important
  • studying
    • schoolwork
    • extracurriculars
    • others (homework from home)
• clean workspace
• regular intake of downtime
• how to decrease stress levels and stay calm
  • different breathing methods

I have decided to bold what I will be doing today/this hour, and to italic what I should do in the rest of the week.

Breathe…

As of right now, I’m going to research different ways you can calm down. Although this is a far stretch from my ultimate end goal, I believe that it is very important for me to know the best methods to calm down and which methods work for me.

I’ve been having some issues lately with panicking suddenly out of knowhere. When I say panicking, I don’t me externally panicking so that everyone can see, but I’ve been having a sinking feeling in my chest. I’m sure many of you experience it on a daily basis, but it just doesn’t feel right.

Currently, I know methods such as:

• Box Breathing
• The 5 4 3 2 1 sensory thing (I’m not sure what it’s called)
• Taking deep breaths through your “belly”

Yeah… not a lot. I often forget about the box breathing method, but breathing really slowly and deeply helps calm me a bit.

What I learned today

Here is the website Aasiyah and I used. We tried some of the methods:

https://www.healthline.com/health/breathing-exercise

Pursed Lip Breathing

This one felt very goofy and weird to do. It did take a lot of brainpower to do, just as described. Aasiyah rates it a 6/10 because it’s a little weird to purse your lips. I rate it a 4/10 with the same reasons.

Diaphragmatic Breathing (Belly Breathing)

People say that people should belly breathe everyday. Me, personally, I feel like it’s a valid point. Aasiyah rates it a 5/10 because it’s weird. I rate it a 9/10.

Breath Focus Technique

There’s a LOT of steps for the breath focus technique, but it’s actually a really good breathing focus. If I wasn’t interrupted by the people around me, I could’ve done this for a long time. I would rate it a 10/10. Aasiyah would give it a 7/10 because it’s weird.

Lion’s BreathI will try more methods later today or tomorrow. So that is all for now. Goodbye!

This one felt very, very weird, so I would rate this a 2/10. Aasiyah did not participate in this attempt.

Alternate Nose Breathing

Since I have a slightly stuffy nose, I will attempt this later.

Equal Breathing

This one was super straightforward, so it didn’t feel as awkward as the others. I would rate this a 7/10.

Resonant or coherent breathing

The steps seemed really simple and it made sense why I would do it. It was also very relaxing. I would rate it a 9/10.

Sitali Breath

This one wasn’t very good because it took a lot of energy to continuously open your mouth and turn it into an “O”. I would rate this a 6/10.

I got really bored after, so I didn’t want to finish.

Conclusion

Breathing really helps you calm down if you are stressed or something like that. I mostly enjoyed this exercise. Next week, I will be cleaning my room, I guess.