Just Breathe...

 "Do you do breath work every day?"  

I had just finished a breath work session with a client, and as we were recapping his experience, he asked me that question.  

"No," I answered.  Then I smiled, realizing that breath work had become such a habit in my daily routine that I forgot I was even doing it.  It had just become the way.  “Actually, yes I do.”  I proceeded to give him the run down of the various types of breath work that I do, including the one I do daily without thinking about it now.  We will get to that in a moment.

Breath work has been making headlines in the mainstream media recently, although it has been practiced for centuries or longer by cultures around the world.  I believe that what finally brought it to the forefront here in the US is the rise in awareness about anxiety, depression, and mental illness.  People have been suffering silently for years with mental illness disorders, but only recently has society become more accepting to talk openly about these disorders.  

This is where breath work takes center stage.  When we feel anxious or stressed out about a situation, our sympathetic nervous system kicks into overdrive.  This is our flight, fight, or freeze system.  We go on high alert, becoming tense, nervous, anxious.  Our breathing becomes quick and shallow.  The simple act of taking a few conscious, slow, deep breaths triggers the parasympathetic nervous system.  This is the "rest and digest" system, the calm, cool, at ease system.  Our breathing slows, our heart rate slows, we feel at peace.  I think we all can agree that feeling calm and at peace sounds better than tense and anxious.      

There are many different methods of breath work, and many resources to study.  I am not going to cover all the methods here, but I will recommend two books for a deeper dive into the topic.  The first book, called Breath, by James Nestor, offers excellent insight into the research behind breath work and the scientific reasons for why it works.  There are a few books I have read in my life that have changed the way I do things, and this book was one of them.  Another good book is Breathe In, Breathe Out, by Stuart Sandeman.  This book is more of a how to, so if you don’t want to go into the science behind breath work but just want to know how to do different techniques, this is an excellent resource.   

As for actually doing breathwork, one of the easiest techniques to learn and remember is the box breath.  Box breath offers a simple reset at any point during the day when you start to feel anxiety creeping in, feel overwhelmed, or just need a respite between meeting, clients, or tasks.  Even one round of box breath has shown beneficial results in stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system.  It works like this:

Inhale though the nose for a count of four.  Hold the breath of a count of four.  Exhale though the nose for a count of four.  Hold for a count of four.

That's it.  Easy peasy.  You can do a round of box breath when you are walking to the bathroom, or after finishing a meeting or phone call.  Any time you have a few seconds, try a round and notice how it makes you feel.  

My absolute favorite form of breath work is even simpler than the box breath.  It can be performed all day long, and ideally all night.  It can be performed anywhere, any time, without drawing attention.  You can even do it during exercise, although it is more challenging.  What is this magical form of breath work?  Nose breath.  Breathe in and out through your nose all the time.  Let me repeat that.  Breath in and out through your nose ALL THE TIME.  Sounds easy, right?  Start noticing.  Notice how often you mouth breathe, and how often those around you mouth breathe.  You may be astounded.  

Why breathe through the nose?  Our noses warm, humidify, and filter the air that we inhale.  Our noses also have sensory receptors that communicate directly with the lungs.  Every time we inhale through our nose, the nose sends a message to the oxygen receptors in the lungs telling them to get ready to uptake oxygen and offload carbon dioxide.  Without getting anymore into the science, the bottom line is it makes us more efficient.  Every breath we inhale through our nose gives us more bang for our buck.  

This last bit caught my attention.  As an endurance athlete in my mid-40s, I am looking for any and every advantage I can get to make my workouts more effective.  I decided to give this nose breathing thing a try during my workouts.  The next bike ride I did, I focused on nose breathing.  It was easy with light intensity, but as I rode harder, I struggled to maintain nose breath without feeling like I was suffocating.  I kept working on it.  And working on it.  And still more work.  It's taken some time, but I can successfully nose breathe through all but the most intense efforts, and I have noticed a big difference in my performance.  I can maintain the same speed and power with nose breath, but I have a lower heart rate.  I feel more comfortable at harder efforts because I'm not over breathing through my mouth.  Essentially, I'm no longer voluntarily hyperventilating.  My body is more efficient at higher efforts, which means I don't burn fuel as quickly, which means I have more gas in the tank, which means I can go farther faster and still feel great.  

Give nose breathing a try.  I encourage starting with nose breath during daily living.  Focus on it at work, cooking dinner, doing chores around the house.  If you feel good, try doing it during lower intensity exercise first.  As your body adapts, you may start to try nose breath at higher intensities.  Of course, if you feel light headed or faint, resume mouth breathing immediately.  Also notice those around you.  Once you become a habitual nose breather, you will be amazed at how many people breathe through their mouths all the time.  

If you want to learn more, I encourage you to read the two books I mentioned earlier.  If you choose to start a breath work practice, notice how you feel before and after.  It's been a game changer for me.