I hope you all are finding something that you can look forward to this Thanksgiving, whether it’s time with people you care about, eating food you enjoy, or even just time off from work or school. Thanksgiving can also bring a lot of anxiety and other emotions, so I thought it would be the perfect time to teach you a new breathing technique! People have done this technique with a variety of different images, but I’ve adapted it to be used with the image of pumpkin pie, perfect for our current season.

First, the purpose of this technique: people often dismiss breathing techniques as being ineffective. It is true that a breathing technique will not solve the problem that is causing you anxiety. However, it can help your body to calm down, which then will help your mind to more effectively solve the problem. When we are feeling an emotion very intensely, it “turns off” the more thinking and logical parts of our brains. One purpose of breathing techniques is to calm the intensity of the emotion down so that those parts of your brain gradually start to “turn back on” and you can use them to think of other coping strategies or ways of problem-solving. Does that make sense?

Now onto the pie!

Doesn’t that pie look good? Can you imagine how it smells, fresh from the oven? The scent of the pumpkin, the spices, the warm crust?

When you inhale, imagine that you are smelling that pie — inhale slowly, and imagine that you are taking in all the scents and warmth from the pie as you are doing so. Hold your breath for a second or two as though you are savoring the scent. Finally, exhale as though you are gently blowing on a pie that is too hot, making it more comfortable for you to eat. Repeat these steps a few times, and hopefully you’ll notice some signs that your body is calming down a bit.

You can do this with lots of different images; pumpkin pie seemed most appropriate this week, but see what works for you.

And I hope you have a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving!