Breathwork means breathing correctly and with intention. But it is also more than that. It is a tool of transformation, connection, and healing. It is our lifeforce, our voice, our energy, and a place our mind can settle. I have found concentrating on breathing especially poignant in the age of Covid, reading people’s experiences of fighting for breath and the visceral terror of being separated from it.
Breathing is a full-self process, calling into action your chest, belly, back, and mind. It takes focus to coordinate all elements fully, although of course we breathe even when asleep and not conscious of it at all. Breathing exists at the cusp of conscious and unconscious, and therein lies its power.
There are patterns and messages in our breathing, with consequences for our health. The rate and depth of breathing influences our nervous system. Fast, shallow breathing activates our sympathetic (fight or flight response) and slow, deep breathing our parasympathetic (relaxation and digestion). Unsurprisingly then, our breathing patterns have immediate and longer-term effects on our blood pressure, mood, anxiety and immune system. It is not a coincidence that animals that live the longest, such as elephants and the tortoises, breathe slowly - around four breaths per minute.
The typical human adult takes 12-20 breaths per minute, despite the optimal rate being *much* slower, around 6 breaths per minute. We can see how this feels by breathing 5.5 seconds in, and 5.5 seconds out, ideally through the nose. Nasal breathing purifies, warms, moistens, and pressurizes the air received by the lung tissue, which increases oxygen absorbed by 10-15 per cent. Interestingly, our anatomy has changed, to be less favorable to nasal breathing since agriculture and eating softer, more processed foods. Our skulls now have smaller jaws and narrower nasal passages. Often our mouths are overcrowded with teeth and our nasal passages restricted, which has led to a steep rise in sleep apnea, which is dangerous to our health in itself, but also through disrupting our sleep. A study recently discovered the phenomenon of ‘email apnea’, where people repeatedly unconsciously stop breathing for short periods reading their emails.
My research led me to breathwork as I find that often when we are experiencing the symptoms of burnout, at core what we are experiencing is a separation between our mind, body, and spirit. Breath is one way to return these to connection and harmony.
Some physical benefits of deep breathing can be felt immediately. By breathing deeply, we activate our parasympathetic nervous system, slowing down our heart rate and lowering our blood pressure.
When we are stressed, the fight-or-flight hormones (such as cortisol and adrenaline) cause our breathing to speed up, and increase pulse and blood pressure. Deep breathing can help reverse this response and relax your body.
There are also benefits from the type of controlled hyperventilation such as in a breathwork class, such as it alkalizes your blood PH. Anesthesiology has discovered a lot about what happens to the body during this process of respiratory alkalosis. When we inhale we take in, and expel CO2 with every exhale. When we breathe faster we get rid of more CO2, which is an acidic molecule.
When the blood becomes more alkaline, there are a few benefits including increased muscle tone and reduced inflammation. Yale School of Medicine found in 2014 that subjects who were taught a breathwork routine had less severe inflammatory responses after exposure to bacterial toxins than those who didn’t.
Try:
· Watching your chest and belly rise and fall as you breathe.
· Noticing the temperature and moisture of your breath.
· Observing how your body feels when you shift from shallow to deep breathing.
· A breathwork routine (video below)
“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” Thich Nhat Hanh
In addition to reversing the physical stress response in your body, focused breathing can also help calm any turbulence in the mind. There are studies that show breathwork can help in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. An example of one innovative study, currently raising funds is
A Landmark Study @ Johns Hopkins University: Can Breathwork Heal Veterans
Some of this may be due to the Bohr effect, where increased blood pH decreases oxygen delivery to tissues, the vessels in the brain constrict, reducing blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain temporarily, producing a natural “high”.
Breathwork can also help you reach a deeper state of mind, where you can more closely and gently observe your mind without the usual chatter of day to day thinking.
Try:
· Breathing slowly and deeply, and becoming aware of the thoughts in your head, without attaching to them.
· Feeling what emotions come up when you change your breathing.
“I am never alone wherever I am. The air itself supplies me with a century of love. When I breathe in, I am breathing in the laughter, tears, victories, passions, thoughts, memories, existence, joys, moments, and the hues of the sunlight on many tones of skin; I am breathing in the same air that was exhaled by many before me. The air that bore them life. And so how can I ever say that I am alone?” C. JoyBell C
Breathwork can also be spiritual. Single-pointed concentration on the breath for prolonged periods (upwards of 5 minutes, more difficult than it sounds) reveals a real inner clarity of the mind, allowing distractions to fall away. Connecting with this core enables a feeling of peace and confidence, and of being in control of our minds, rather than it bouncing around like a balloon in the wind.
Try:
· Letting your awareness rest on your breath. Don’t fight other thoughts, but just don’t engage with them. If your mind wanders, just bring it back, no judgement.
· Allowing yourself to experience your breath connecting you with all living things around you.
· Feeling how this connects to a deeper part of your self.
Two great books on breath and breathing are:
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
Two wonderful videos:
The master of this is Wim Hof ‘The Iceman’, who uses ancient techniques to develop a series of breathing exercises anyone can use to enhance physical resilience, immunity and wellbeing. In one experiment, he fought off an E.Coli infection which had been injected into his blood stream and holds 26 world records including running a marathon in shorts through Arctic conditions and sitting in an ice bath for almost two hours:
Guided Wim Hof Method Breathing
Here is another, very simple, gentle 10 minute routine:
Guided Breathwork Meditation For A Mind-Body Connection
If you’d like to dive in deeper, this is a good place to start, and the videos from the conference are still available in the archive:
The International Center for Breathwork
Observe your own body. It breathes. You breathe when you are asleep, when you are no longer conscious of your own ideas of self-identity. Who, then, is breathing? The collection of information that you mistakenly think it’s you is not the main protagonist in this drama called the breath. In fact, you are not breathing; breath is naturally happening to you. You can purposely end your own life, but you cannot purposely keep your own life going. The expression, “My life” is actually an oxymoron, a result of ignorance and mistaken assumption. You don’t possess life; life expresses itself through you. Your body is a flower that life let bloom, a phenomenon created by life.” Ilchi Lee
Take care and have a wonderful weekend,
Natalie