WASHINGTON — You breathe more than 900 times per hour, but how often do you think about your breath?  Breathing can have a calming effect on how you handle daily challenges.

Therapeutic yoga teacher Mary Beth Cully says a simple breath can change your perspective and how you look at situations.

“If you focus on breathing deep — full inhale and a complete exhale — we really cannot multitask, it’s kind of an oxymoron … you don’t multitask very well,” says Cully. “If you … simply say to yourself, ‘I’m breathing in, I’m breathing out,’ that’s where your mind stays.”

Cully says mindful breathing is something worth trying during stressful commutes.

“When I drive my car, instead of having to hit my horn because I want to go first or that person wants to get in front of me and this is a problem — I’m going to take that breath, and I’m going to let that person go, and I’m going to be OK with that,” she explains.

Listen to more of Cully’s talk with WTOP’s Stephanie Gaines-Bryant below: