You can’t be serious, just breathe
I know what you’re going to tell me, you’ve been breathing your whole life and you think you’ve got it down. But you don’t. How we breathe matters. It is a pillar of health. (I promise I am not going to go into the spiritual benefits of crystals next.)
Just breathe!
I tell people when they start yoga, meditation, any form of exercise, or attend a leadership workshop, that if they leave with nothing else but a better way to breathe, then they are good to go. The science of the breath is real, and honestly, having a breath practice has changed my life. I had been a committed yoga practitioner and teacher for over six years and understood the connection of breath during yoga practice. I had learned how to breathe properly, to listen to the breath, and connect it with postures and movement. I knew some techniques, but I hadn’t really developed a sitting pranayama practice (breath practice) until I landed in Thailand back in 2004. With this full immersion into pranayama and asana, my love affair with my breath began. And it continues on.
There are traditionally two types of breath-focused practices: those that emphasize a focus on breathing (mindfulness) and those that require breathing to be controlled (deep breathing practices such as pranayama). When we practice mindfulness meditation, we often use the breath as the source of our focus. It acts like an anchor for our attention. However, in meditation, we make no effort to control the breath. Instead, we focus on feeling the sensations of respiration.
Pranayama Breathing Technique
There’s no doubt that grounding your attention in the breath has a calming effect. But in pranayama practice, we are taking what is autonomic (you don’t have to tell your body to breath) and controlling it. Older yogic and tantric texts clearly state a link between breath and mind–as the mind moves so the breath does, and vice versa. Breath is intimately connected with the mind and the nervous system, thus when we begin to control the breath, we calm our brains and bodies.
It’s very difficult to talk your way out of strong emotions like anxiety or anger. Ever been told to just “calm down” in a moment of extreme stress? How’d that work out for you? When we are in a highly stressed state, our prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain responsible for rational thinking, is offline. You simply can’t think straight. But with breathing techniques, you can get back online.
Different emotions are associated with different forms of breathing, so changing how we breathe can change how we feel. Think about how you breathe when you are anxious or angry versus when you are filled with joy and laughter. When you inhale, the heart rate speeds up; when you exhale it slows down. When you lengthen your exhales, you signal the vagus nerve, which triggers the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic is responsible for the “rest & digest” responses in the body (in contrast to the sympathetic nervous system’s “fight or flight” reactions). Triggering your parasympathetic nervous system helps you to calm down, feel better, and get back to thinking like a rational human.
Merely learning to slow the breath and double the length of the exhale in a moment of distress, will slow the system down, allow you to pause, and have a profound effect on how you feel and respond. Not only, do you have to remember to do it, but once you have practiced it, it will come more naturally.
In fact, I think of breathwork as a gateway drug to meditation practice. I don’t think I would be as committed to meditation if I hadn’t started with pranayama practice. It teaches you to sit, devote the time, and focus on the specific regulation of your breath (keeping you in the present moment). Thus, it prepares you for meditation.
According to my teacher Paul Dallaghan, breathwork is “the regulated activities, consciously engaged in, to exercise and optimize the organs of respiration and brainstem nervous impulses that control breathing, with an outcome of improved respiration across a 24-hour period.”
The key phrase here is improved respiration. Thus, in cases when your attention is compromised, you may go right into practices of mindfulness with an emphasis on concentration and focus. However, when your level of arousal is high, like, say, during a panic attack, fit of anger, or case of nervousness, learning practices to control the breath can have an immediate effect.
Pranayama Breathing Technique
And, beyond learning a quick in the moment practice, a short, dedicated breath practice will prepare you for those moments and lead to improved respiration in the long run. So yes, you can get quick relief with the breath, but you can also enhance your entire respiratory fitness. You will improve the functioning of your diaphragm, increase the elasticity of your lungs, improve oxygen uptake, and build an agile autonomic functioning of your breathing.
Pranayama training takes breathwork into a different realm. Committing to 10 minutes a day of working with the breath, will have a profound effect on your physical and mental health. The practice will enhance your daily well-being by teaching you moment-to-moment breathing practices while also giving you long term benefits. If sitting and observing your breath seems elusive, perhaps working directly with the breath will give you the tools you need on your path to well-being.