Breathwork - The Power Of Your Breath
Breathwork is perhaps a rather new topic that is entering mainstream media but is one that has been a part of Buddhist and meditation practices for centuries if not thousands of years. It offers similar benefits as meditation, in the sense that it calms you down and grounds you with your thoughts, with the difference that breathwork has a large impact on calming of the nervous system and even shifting your mood and energy levels; It is essentially a more active form of meditation.
If you are interested in what breathwork has to offer and also what are some common breathing techniques to practice, then please keep on reading. Enjoy <3
WHAT IS BREATHWORK?
Breathwork is a kind of breathing practice through which you practice deep diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing. This kind of practice is designed to improve and enhance various aspects of health such as physical, spiritual and mental health.
Various studies have shown that regular breathwork practice can be of great help when it comes to managing stress, trauma or anxiety.
Breathhwork differs from meditation in the way that meditation is a form of breathwork but breathwork itself does not need to be coupled with meditation practices. Meditation is often paired with various breathing techniques designed to ground and calm you down, whereas breathwork can be practiced independently in order to cultivate feelings of mindfulness and tranquility.
WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?
Just like meditation, the active practice of breathwork has many positive effects of calming the nervous system and clearing our thoughts and mind.
Regularly practicing a variety of breathwork practices has been shown to:
Elevate your mood
Raise energy levels
Improve sleep quality and depth
Improve respiratory function and management of asthma
Management of stress and anxiety (creating feelings of calmness)
Support a stronger immune function
Better mental focus and clarity
Reduce inflammation within the body
Help with managing PTSD
Possibly also lower hypertension (high blood pressure) in adults
WHY DOES BREATHWORK WORK?
So what makes our breath and practicing breathwork so powerful actually?
Deep breathing with your diaphragm has been shown to be able to positively impact the whole body and it does so through having a direct impact on our nervous system.
Our nervous system can be classified as the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) which is responsible for fight or flight reposes and is most commonly activated in stressful situations. The effects of the sympathetic nervous response are recognized as shallow breathing, a tension in the shoulders, digestive issues or high blood pressure and pulse. On the other hand, we also have what is called a parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) which functions as the rest and digest response and is active when our body is in a state of calm.
Breathwork has been shown to be able to calm down the body through reducing the activation of the SNS and stimulating more activity in the PNS, essentially transitioning your body from a state of distress to calm.
COMMON BREATHING TECHNIQUES
Breathing Through Alternate Nostrils
Method: To begin, use your right thumb to apply pressure onto your right nostril so that it is closed. Next breathe in, but so that air only travels through your left nostril. Afterwards you will do the reverse with the opposite nostrils; Release the right thumb and use the right index finger to close the left nostril, so that you can exhale through the right nostril. Afterwards take a pause between an inhale and exhale and continue alternating your breathing through each nostril.
Useful for: Encouraging your body to relax, by requiring you to selectively focus on your breathing
Deep Abdominal Breathing
Method: This is a technique which focuses on breathing through long deep breaths. As you breathe each inhale, you want to visualize the breath and air filling up your entire body, allowing your chest and belly to expand as you inhale. In the exhale, your belly should retract back towards your spine will lowering and relaxing your chest hold.
Useful for: Calming down the sympathetic nervous system.
Breath Of Fire:
Method: To begin, inhale through your nose so that your abdominal muscles are relaxes and then during your exhale, you want to engage your core muscles and strongly push the air our of your body through the nose or mouth. Due to this forcefulness of the exhale, that is where this technique gets its name from.
Useful for: Although this a rather more advance technique, the breath of fire works to reenergize your body and elevate your mood
The 4-7-9 Breath
Method: Start by emptying all air out of your lungs and then inhale through your nose for 4 seconds, then hold your breath for 7 seconds and lastly exhale through the mouth for 8 seconds. This is then repeated 4 times through.
It is additionally beneficial if during your inhale you image that you are breathing in uplifting positive energy and as you are holding your breaths, try to visualize the air that entered your body traveling upwards your body and with it pulling everything that is negative or does not serve you. During the exhale try to imagine excess energy being released through out the mouth.
Useful for: Calming down the body through lowering our heart rate, bringing us into the present moment wile calming down the nervous system. This kind of breath work is beneficial for anyone who is feeling overwhelmed, anxious, triggered, angry or has issues with sleeping.
The 4-4-4 Breath (Box breathing)
Method: Begin by releasing all air from your lugs and holding your breath for 4 seconds, then breathe in through the nose for 4 seconds after which you hold your breath again for 4 seconds and lastly exhale through your nose for 4 seconds. This pattern of breathing should be followed for 5 minutes in order to feel the effects.
Useful for: Enhancing concentration and producing calming effects on the body such as lowering heart rate ad lowering stress levels. It can be beneficial to use in the morning to wake up the mind, in the middle of the day if you experience a decline in energy or before a large project which requires high levels of focus
The 5-5 Breath
Method: Begin with observing the natural rhythm and length of your inhales and exhales. Afterwards, for 1 minute, start by breathing in for 4 seconds and then exhaling for 4 seconds. Next repeat this for 5 seconds instead of 4, and then gradually increasing your way up to 7-10 seconds. The idea is to begin with one minute of breathing in and out for 4 seconds each and then increasing this time span for more seconds, so that overall the practice lasts up to 20 minutes, but can of course also be shorter.
Useful for: Calming down the body and creating an overall sense of calm
I hope that todays post had inspired you to practice more of breathwork and that you were able to learn something new. I think that an occasional breathwork practice can definitely be beneficial, especially in stressful situations where we would benefit from calming down and thinking with a clear head.
Thank you for reading.
