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3 June 2020
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Breathing may be a basic human function, essential to life, that you do with little-to-no thought and take for granted, but, are you actually breathing effectively? Learning how to consciously control your breathing can enable you to experience both physical and mental health benefits, such as alleviate stress and reduce anxiety. It is the link between body and mind.
Just as your breath is influenced by your thoughts and emotions, your thoughts and emotions are influenced by your breath. For example, when you’re anxious, worried, or upset, your breathing becomes faster. If you then consciously slow your breathing down to a gentle wave-like pattern, you can soothe your nerves, settle your thoughts, and calm yourself down.
The following are four breathing techniques to help you feel calm. They work by lengthening the exhalation, which makes your parasympathetic nervous system become more engaged and active – part of the autonomic nervous system that turns of stress – helping you to feel relaxed.
It’s important to note that these should only be practiced if you’re feeling well and have no conditions that affect your breathing. When practicing them, if you start to feel dizzy or your breath becomes compromised at any point, stop straight away and return to the natural rhythm of your breath.
4-7-8 Breathing
‘Four-seven-eight’ is a simple rhythmic breathing technique developed by Dr Andrew Weil, that promotes deep relaxation.
- Begin by sitting in a comfortable position
- Breathe in through your nose for four counts
- Hold your breath for seven counts
- Breathe out through your mouth making a whooshing sound for eight counts
Repeat the cycle four times
Alternate Nostril Breathing
Our nose is designed for breathing; it filters dirt, warms, and moistens the air before it reaches our lungs. ‘Alternate Nostril Breathing’ is breathing through one nostril at a time. This is what your body normally does, and you can observe it happening throughout the day.
The main benefit of this type of breathing is mental and it’s been described as ‘nature’s own sedative’ as it has a calming effect, bringing both the body and mind into a state of harmony and balance.
- Begin by sitting in a comfortable position
- Bring your right hand in front of your face, so your hand and wrist are central to you chin. Place your middle finger and index finger in the centre between your eyebrows, ring finger and little finger on to the left nostril and thumb on to the right nostril. You should be able to open and close each nostril fairly easily
- Breathe in through your right nostril, whilst closing off your left, then close your right nostril and breathe out of you left
- Breathe in through your left nostril, whilst closing off your right, then close your left nostril and breathe out of your right. This is one round
- Start by doing four rounds, then as you get used to it gradually build up to eight. Notice how you feel afterwards. Once you get used to this technique, you can try prolonging the exhale for double the count of the inhale.
Humming Bee Breath
The ‘Humming Bee Breath’ resembles the humming vibrations of a bee that has a natural calming effect, helping to promote feelings of contentment and wellbeing.
- Begin by sitting in a comfortable position
- Either keep your eyes open with a softened gaze or allow your eyes to gently close
- Plug your ears with your index fingers, blocking out all sound
- Begin by taking a few slow deep breaths, breathing in fully through your nose and exhaling fully through your mouth
- Then allow your breath to find its own natural rhythm as it moves in and out of your body
- On the exhale, start to resonate a humming sound by making the sound of the letter ‘M’ from the throat, keeping your mouth closed. It’s felt more than heard, so there’s no need to strain to make it loud. Allow the sound to fade at the end of the exhalation. Focus your awareness on the sound vibrations
- Continue for eight rounds and after your last round come to stillness, relax your hands back down and allow your eyes to gently open.
Golden Thread Breath
The ‘Golden Thread Breath’ results in a lengthened exhalation that soothes the nervous system, leaving you feeling calm in both body and mind.
- Begin by sitting in a comfortable position
- Either keep your eyes open with a softened gaze or allow your eyes to gently close
- Place both hands on your heart
- Allow your breath to find its own natural rhythm as you inhale and exhale
- Now allow there to be a very small space between your top teeth and bottom teeth, between your top lip and bottom lip. Enough of a gap that you might imagine a piece of tissue paper held between the lips, such a small gap that is practically invisible
- Breathe in through your nose and breathe out between slightly parted lips. Feel a fine cool breeze passing. If you’re struggling to exhale because the gap is too small, then simply widen the gap slightly
- The heart of this practice is softness. Your cheeks, lips and whole face is relaxed. There’s no need to purse the lips as if you were whistling. The lips are soft
- On the next exhale, imagine a thin golden thread extending from your lips as you breathe out. Visualise it’s smooth and silky surface glistening and fluttering out on your exhalation until it disappears into the distance. Allow your mental attention to follow it into the distance, carrying with it any troubles or worries as they leave your body with your breath
- Observe how the lengthening of the exhalation is achieved effortlessly. Simply because the gap through which the breath passes is so small, it takes a long time for the breath to pass out
- Continue for eight rounds. Notice the calming and grounding effect of the extended exhalation and visualisation of the golden thread of breath fluttering out into the air in front of you.
