“But I’m always breathing. Why do I need to work on it?”
Breathwork practice? Before my journey to yoga, breathing was something I’d taken for granted—never taking time to reflect on it or change how I did it, my lungs just took care of it and I never drew my attention to my breath.
In fact, that short, shallow breathing that took over whenever I was anxious, felt seemingly out of my control. Not an unpleasant feeling I could actually stop or, better yet, prevent. Those dreaded “fight or flight” sensations are often inflicted by shallow breathing.
Meanwhile, slow, deep breathing, actually pumps more oxygen into the blood, creating a blissed-out feeling. It can also expand your lungs, making you feel more open and at ease. It turns out, there’s a reason why we commonly counter stress with direction to “take deep breaths.”
By focusing on your breathing, you’re practicing a form of self care, looking inward and slowing down. Taking a couple mindful moments to practice gratitude.
We’ve gathered the benefits you feel instantly when beginning a breathwork practice!
+Reduces clinical stress + anxiety. In this randomized, controlled 4 week trial of the Bhastrika pranayama (an ancient breathwork practice) it was found that participants had lower levels of anxiety and stress. Through MRI’s it was found that these changes are associated with the modulation of activity and connectivity in brain areas involved in emotion processing, attention, and awareness.
+ Supports emotional intelligence + regulation. These fascinating studies illustrate the way our breath and emotions are intimately connected.
In the first study, participants were told to bring up feelings of joy, anger, fear, or sadness and then share what breathing pattern they associated with that particular emotion. During the debriefing it was discovered that the emotional states corresponded with a specific breathing pattern across participants. For example, when one participant felt joy, their breath was full and slow and when they felt afraid their breath was fast and shallow.
Interestingly, when the participants were asked to breathe in certain ways — fully and slowly for example — those same feelings of joy returned.
+Triggers the relaxation response. It is well documented that slow, deep breathing with emphasis on the exhale works wonders to ‘down shift’ our nervous system. Commonly referred to as diaphragmatic breathing, research shows that this simple breathing practice relaxes the body lowering heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and cortisol.
+Reduces PTSD symptoms. Breathing practices offer a potent way to calibrate the autonomic nervous system which is often out of balance with PTSD. These practices also support the relaxation response which supports individuals with hyper-aroused nervous systems as a result of trauma.
This breathing study of U.S. military veterans showed a reduction in anxiety, fast respiration and the startle response with consistent breathing practice.
+Improves sleep. There is often a correlation between autonomic dysfunction and insomnia. This study shows that 20 minutes of slow breathing exercises (six respiration cycles per minute) before going to bed greatly improves sleep. Participants were able to fall asleep faster, wake up less frequently during the night and when they did wake up fell back asleep with more ease.
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