Yoga Breaths

As you may have noticed, I have a tiny, little bitty temper problem. I am naturally (I guess), for some reason, pretty short on patience, and it takes very little for me to fly off the handle. Unfortunately for my sanity, I am also pretty passive-aggressive, so instead of just blowing up, I internalize my lunatic urges. Recently, in some situations I've noticed that I can actually feel my blood pressure rising. I get light headed and tense, and I can actually feel my blood coursing through my veins. That ain't good, folks. So before I hulk out (or drop dead), I've decided it might be in my best interest to look into some stress-relievers.

I once mentioned to one of my work colleagues that if I'm speaking to someone particularly heinous that I have to "take yoga breaths". She found that hilarious, but that's a thing I actually do. I take long, deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth, and if I focus on my breathing, it tends to slow my heart rate and calm me down a bit.

Does anyone have any good tips on how to de-stress in an aggravating situation? Or, better yet, on how to prevent things from getting to you in the first place? I always thought of myself as a laid-back person when I was younger, but in the more recent years I've come to the conclusion that I was flat-out wrong and that I'm super high-strung. I'd love to be one of those people who just laughs when something goes wrong, but I just get tense so easily. Luckily, these feelings don't hang out for too long, so as quickly as I was triggered, I'll be happy as a clam again 20 minutes later. Is this sort of thing something that's just part of who you are, or can you tailor your personality to become more go-with-the-flow? It's definitely worth looking into.