Breathwork To Relieve Stress
The benefits of breathing intentionally.
You may have noticed breathwork classes popping up everywhere. It’s the emerging wellness trend du jour. Of course it’s not anything new, but as mindfulness is more widely adopted into the mainstream culture, it’s finally receiving the attention it deserves.
There are specific approaches like Pranayama, Holotropic Breathwork, or Cadence Breathing, to name a few. These approaches offer techniques for awakening energy centres, balancing the nervous system, or inducing altered states of consciousness.
Then there is simply breathing. Like sitting and breathing. Lying down and breathing. Walking and breathing.
But perhaps that feels a little too unstructured for someone newly exploring these realms. I just wanted to point out that breathwork can be a technique you use, but it can also just be a simple personal practice as well.
To explain what I mean, let’s unpack what’s really at the heart and soul of a breathwork practice and what it can do for you.
Stopping and resting.
Thich Nhat Hahn, a Vietnamese Zen Bhuddhist monk and world-renowned mindfulness teacher considers the practice of stopping and resting to be the first stage of meditation. He says:
“lf we cannot stop, the course of our destruction will just continue.
The world needs healing - individuals, communities, and nations need healing.”
When I recommend meditation to my clients I often get a bewildered response. They have a hard time with doing nothing. They find their mind races, no matter what.
This is where breathwork can serve as an ideal bridge to a meditation practice. Because it’s an activity with a clear set of instructions, and can provide structure for an overactive mind. When used intentionally, it can interrupt the normal flow of thoughts, and provide a soft focus which allows the mind to rest.
The first principle to embrace on the mindfulness journey is stopping and resting.
Giving ourselves permission to do that is the secret ingredient. Think of it as pressing pause on your day, and filling that pause with breathing intentionally.
What happens when we pause.
When we stop and breath, we bypass the mind and touch our stress in a very physical, very real way. It immediately connects us to the tension we are holding in our body.
Tension that protects us from feeling our raw self.
Breathing with intention allows us to feel the contrast between our inner and outer world, and how we are reacting to that. We are suddenly aware of our rushing, grasping, defending, judging. And as we bring awareness to these states with the breath, they begin to transform.
Our tight grip on who we think we are, and what we think reality is, starts to loosen up. We make space for ourselves, by taking a moment to breathe.
Breathing naturally.
There’s no secret instruction for breathing. No right or wrong way to do it. While there are a variety of techniques that you can explore, the basic instruction is to stop and rest.
The breath should be comfortable and not forced, as the primary goal is to release the feeling of struggle.
And gently land in the present moment.
Chronic stress imprints our nervous system with this persistent feeling of resistance to what is. We are living in a constant state of needing to modify or change what is. Breathwork interrupts this fixation and reminds us that ‘what is’, is actually not so bad. In fact, breathing with intention reminds us just how lovely the present moment can be.
When we stop to breathe, it feels like returning home.
Finding resonance.
The science of breathing and how it affects our mood and physiology is now at the frontier of the mind-body medicine movement.
There is a substantial body of evidence that demonstrates a bi-directional relationship between breathing and mood states like anxiety, depression, anger, and stress. Not only do these emotions impact how we breathe, but the opposite is also true.
Breathing, especially when done with purpose, can have a powerful and positive effect our mood.
Which is why therapists and integrative doctors are now using breathwork techniques to help people with mood, pain and stress disorders to find more balance and healing.
It is no surprise that our respiration, nervous system function, brain activity, blood pressure and heart rate work together as a coherent whole. What researchers have discovered through biometric measuring is that the our heartbeat and rate of respiration will begin to synchronize at 6 breaths per minute. This is referred to as breathing at Resonance Frequency.
At resonance frequency, our entire physiology begins to stabilize. All of our vital systems start working together in greater harmony.
And that translates into us feeling more energetic, more centred, and more connected.
This is why breathwork is such an important form of natural medicine, that is also backed by science. It turns out we are hardwired to live in biological resonance. Just watch an animal breathe. You will see how fluidly their inhale and exhale moves from head to toe, in a seamless wave, without beginning or end.
Our animal companions have so much to teach us about how to breath naturally.
The parts of the breath.
When I am introducing clients to breathwork, I like to start with exploring the architecture of the breath.
Bringing awareness to its three primary movements, and how those movements shape the body. This helps establish a more deeply felt relationship with the breath. Which can serve as a foundation, before moving onto more advanced techniques that alter the tempo of the breath.
Let’s take a moment and go there. I think you will get a boost for your day. So are you sitting comfortably? Settle in and start to notice your breath.
In and out.
The first movement I want to highlight is in and out.
Bring your awareness to the inhale entering into your body, and then the exhale leaving your body. Feel how it rushes along the back of your nose and throat.
Notice when you inhale, how the air surrounding your body, becomes a part of you. And as you exhale, you become a part of it. The movement of the breath naturally weaves the space inside and outside of the body together.
This is a great reminder of how we are always connected to something larger than us.
Filling and emptying.
The second movement I want to bring your attention to is filling and emptying.
Take a moment to notice how the inhale fills you up. Expanding throughout the body cavities from mouth, to throat, to chest, to belly, and lastly the pelvis. And then as you exhale, those internal spaces empty out.
Feel how your internal musculature contracts and tones as you release the breath. This movement makes us aware of how we receive and then let go.
Receive and let go. Receive and let go. This very cleansing movement of the breath.
Rising and falling.
As you continue breathing, notice when you inhale, how your body ever so subtly lifts up. The spine grows taller as the breath touches the top of the head. And then when you exhale, how you sink back down into your seat. Feel how the breath lands down in the hips.
This movement puts us in touch with gravity and how we interact with it.
You can feel the breath travel like a wave along the inside of the spine. Dropping down like an anchor, and then reaching up and growing taller.
Continue for a few more breaths.
And notice how all three movements flow simultaneously together throughout the body and into the space surrounding the body. Getting to know these three movements is a simple, foundational breathwork practice.
Feel free to use it anytime to balance your energy. It will strengthen your relationship to your body and allow you to meet the world with a little more ease and authenticity.
