“We are taking in the infinite with each breath. All the stars, everything in the known universe, have contributed to the air that we breathe.”
Risa Kaparo, Ph.D., Awakening Somatic Intelligence
Mind-body practices almost always begin with the breath. The breath is always with us, but how often are we aware of it? Day in and day out, we are carried along with the gentle rhythm of inhalation and exhalation. When we need a moment of calm, we can return to the breath. We cannot breathe in the past or in the future. We can only breathe NOW, in this present moment.
In many traditions, the breath is linked to the soul or life energy. The word “respiration” clearly links breath and spirit. Whether you attach a sacred meaning to the breath or not, it is a powerful tool for connecting with your body and calming your mind.
I particularly like that in the medical literature, the in-breath is “inspiration,” and the out-breath is “expiration.” I like to imagine that with the in-breath, I am taking in new energy, and on the out-breath, I am releasing that which I no longer need.
As I shared in the previous video, the breath is also one of the only life-maintenance activities over which we have a significant amount of control. We may not be able to consciously control our heart rate or digestion, but without any formal training you’ve probably been able to change your own breathing patterns many times during your life.
You’ve probably noticed that different emotional states have different breathing patterns. When we are relaxed, our breathing slows, and tends to be “deeper” — from the belly or diaphragm. When we are tense or scared, our breathing rate increases, and it tends to be more shallow and concentrated in the lungs and upper body.
In a particularly fascinating study, researchers taught participants different patterns of breathing — one associated with states of happiness, and one associated with states of sadness. But they didn’t tell the participants what “style” of breathing they were learning; they just thought they were learning a “technique.” Sure enough, people who were taught “sad” breathing ending up feeling sad; those taught “happy” breathing felt happier! Simply breathing “happily” makes you happy.
This brings us to a core theme of this course: our body is constantly sending information to the brain about how we feel. We can alter our mind state through our body and breath!
This is particularly helpful because mind-based, cognitive strategies don’t often work when we are stressed out. We probably KNOW we don’t need to worry…. or that our concerns are unfounded…. but we still get anxious. When these top-down strategies don’t work, we can turn to the “bottom-up” strategies of the body.
In this lesson, I am going to share with you several different breathing exercises that you can use to calm down and reduce stress.
The first one is Coherence, or Resonance:
(I kind of look like I’m flipping you off in this screenshot. I promise, I’m not…. I just like to talk with my hands a lot!)
You can find a “coherence clock” for timing the breath here.
Belly Breathing/Diaphragmatic Breathing
Have you ever watched a baby breathe? They breathe with their WHOLE body. You notice this especially in the belly — there’s no “sucking in” the gut. Babies let their bellies get big and full when they inhale.
Take a moment right now to notice how you breathe — does your belly expand with the inhale?
For many of us, it doesn’t; in fact, sometimes we breathe in a way that the belly actually contracts with the inhale, and the in-breath is confined mainly to the nose and lungs. This creates a shorter, more rapid breathing pattern associated with states of anxiety or anger.
In his book Body Sense, psychologist Alan Fogel says “many people hold unnecessary tension in the diaphragm and other breathing muscles, which leads to compromised breathing and ultimately impacts health and well-being.”
During normal breathing, the diaphragm moves downward on the inhale to increase lung capacity, and then it relaxes upward on the exhale to expel the air. There can be great variation in adults in how much the diaphragm actually moves with each breath (between 2.7 and 7.5 inches); for many of us, we don’t fully engage the diaphragm and thus do not fully experience the benefits of deep breathing.
“When our whole organism is moving in response to the breath, a ‘sponge-like’ squeeze of all the lymph nodes occurs, circulating the fluid. Deep breathing thereby prevents congestion and activates the immune system. It delivers nourishment to the cells so they can regenerate and eliminate wastes, preventing toxins from being reabsorbed into the system.”
Risa Kaparo
To practice diaphragmatic breathing, lie down on your back with your knees bent. Place one hand on your belly and one hand on your chest. As you breathe in through the nose, notice the rise of the belly against your hand; your hand on the chest should not move much. Then, on the exhale, engage your stomach muscles so that they fall inward. (Risa Kaparo says it should feel “as if you were exhaling from your kidneys.”) Allow a brief pause, if possible, between the in-breath and out-breath, and between the out-breath and the next in-breath.
This type of breathing, with a longer exhale than you may be used to, is the “secret” to deep breathing. Risa Kaparo, in Awakening Somatic Intelligence, says, “No amount of efforting during the inhalation will produce deep breathing. The only way to substantially deepen your breathing is to exhale completely…. The way you can fill the rest of your lungs is by causing them to empty.”
Paradoxically, this type of breathing may be difficult at first, and involve “efforting,” but practicing it for a few minutes a day will help it become more automatic for you.
In the Guided Meditations section of this week’s lessons, you will find additional exercises for working with the breath.
Share: What did you notice doing the breathing exercises?
should you be breathing in nose and out nose, or in and out nose?