Aha, I'm new to this as well. Well, the techniques I've been taught are breathing with your stomach. Breath in deep, make sure you see your stomach suck in when you breath in, and extend all the way out like you have Homer Simpson's belly. Rinse, wash, and repeat until you feel cleansed.
The key is to feel yourself relax. The more you focus on doing the exercise, the less you think about anything else. That and, getting oxygen to the body helps.
Another thing I find that helps, is listening to calming music. Personally, the wilderness stuff doesn't work for me, I like listening to "Massive Attack - Teardrop", or anything Jack Johnson, etc...basically whatever music you like that keeps things even. You can check out youtube video's, or go to imeem.com and listen to playlists of stuff. I feel like I'm promoting them, but hey it's free so why not?
