cultivating calm: the power of the breath

Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment.

Thich Nhat Hanh

I invite you to notice how you’re feeling in this moment – what’s your stress like on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most stressful?

Now I invite you to take 3, calm, deep breaths…

Note how you’re feeling: did the number on the scale go down at all? Even half of a number is noteworthy.

And if not – you’re not doing anything wrong, you might just need a few more of these deep cleansing breaths (let’s be honest – we all probably need more of them).

Even amidst and after a global crisis, we are still living in a fast-paced world, where speed unfortunately often overrides the wellbeing of our nervous system.

We so easily slam on the gas without pumping the brakes, which will result in an overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system – also known as fight or flight – which impacts the adrenal glands (these help regulate our energy and hormones), digestion, and so on.

Spending just a few moments consciously breathing can help to activate the parasympathetic nervous system – sometimes referred to as rest and digest – and reset us to a more balanced state.

So in lieu of being overcome or motivated by anxiety, distractedness, or stress, we can learn how to respond to our lives from a place of mental clarity with support from the breath.

Ask yourself – has anyone ever advised you to take a deep breath to help calm nerves during a time of stress or anxiety (or maybe you did this intuitively without third party intervention)? If you did take that deep breath or several, did you perhaps in fact calm down as a result?

Writer and yogi Etty Hillesum said, “Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths,” which I think exemplifies the ease we experience when we simply remember to pause and breathe.

Fascinating scientific studies on the practice of pranayama – the yogic term for breathing practices or “breathwork” – are continuing to emerge, which helps us uncover a wide array of benefits. This includes, but is not limited to, increased pulmonary function, better sleep quality, reduced depression, decreased stress and anxiety, improved digestion and immunity, along with many, many others.

Ayurvedic Doctor John Douillard has written several articles on the benefits of breathwork, including how it can help with occasional heartburn, benefit the lungs and nervous system, decrease stress and improve immunity, support the aging process by increasing overall longevity, and how practices like breath retention (kumbhaka) can increase CO2 tolerance which frees up oxygen to assist in the body’s energy and repair (which is needed, for example, for optimal digestion and blood circulation).

How can something as simple as breathing boast such a variety of positive outcomes? The answer lies within the way breathwork affects our lungs and our nervous system – which, like all the inner workings of our body, are interconnected with one another.

Conscious pranayama breathing techniques help us to balance the two branches of our autonomic nervous system.

The sympathetic branch of the nervous system moves us forward, toward activity and acceleration – like, for example, if you need to run from a bear (digestion goes on pause, heart rate rises, etc).

The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, is a state of restfulness, where digestion is easeful and the heart rate is regulated.

The issue is that we are often in a state of fight or flight – as though we are constantly running from a wild animal, even when we’re not. And so now more than ever is a time to return to practices like this to help us kickstart our parasympathetic nervous system and cultivate more ease in our minds, bodies, and lives as a whole.

When we are literally all recovering from living through a global crisis there the respiratory system was sometimes very vulnerable, now more than ever is a time to cultivate healthy, strong, resilient lungs – including everything that goes along with it, considering how the breath sends oxygen to and hence creates overall wellbeing in the organs, blood, muscles, bones, and so on.

We can go a few days without water and food, but we can’t go more than a few minutes without breath.

When we can learn to calmly control the breath with gentle pranayama practices, we have a better chance at remaining much more at ease with the breath; of working with it rather than anxiously anticipating it; of harmoniously communicating with it instead of moving through our day as though it’s a disconnected lifeline.

This, among many other reasons, is why prana in the word for breathwork – pranayama – translates as “life force.” The breath is in fact a force that gives us life.

There are many different kinds of pranayama practices – it is very important to start slow and not create a sense of dizziness or shortness of breath. Over time you can build up to more challenging breathwork practices, which – like the physical practice of yoga asana – can be met with more ease when we have a steady foundation on which to build.

So how can you get started on your own?

• Choose a time: Similar to how we can approach starting a journaling practice or exercise routine. Maybe it’s first thing in the morning before getting out of bed / after meditation / before a meal / during the day when you have a break / evening when winding down before going to sleep. There is right or wrong here – experiment and choose what is best for you.
• Try a guided option or follow written instructions if that feels helpful. It can be confusing to know where to start, and sometimes it’s just nice to be guided instead of thinking about what comes next.
  • Breathing for Calm meditation
  • Breath Awareness meditation
  • Breathing Gratitude meditation
  • Pranayama techniques from Dr. John Douillard
  • Alternate Nostril breathing & Bellows Breath from Dr. John Douillard
  • Yoga International Pranayama Beginner Track techniques
• Start with 1-5 minutes: no need to push yourself – this is an ongoing practice and requires a gentle, curious awareness. Consider writing or using some journaling prompts to check in with how you’re feeling before and after, which can help you to better notice the effects.
• Choose a posture that best suits you:
  • Sit up tall on a chair, couch, cushion, block – something that allows the pelvis to equalize and the spine to be easily erect. You can sit against a wall to support the spine and / or to receive additional feedback from the movements of the breath.
  • Lay down on a mat – or something not too hard – with support like a cushion or rolled blankets under the knees. You can also place a neatly folded blanket or pillow under the head with the creased edge of the blanket touching the shoulders. If you are very anxious, it might help to put a blanket on top of the pelvis, legs, or the whole body.
  • You may experiment with putting a soft eye pillow, sleep mask, or something wrapped around the head and eyes to help calm the nervous system and even ease headaches.
  • Relax the muscles of the face – jaw, ears, eyes, nose, etc. Especially keep the eyes very relaxed – you can close them or pick a gazing point in front of you/over the tip of the nose – doing your best not to bulge or clench. 
  • Make sure you are not cold – cover the hands, feet, neck, and ears or head if you’re chilly.
• Note the quality of your breath during practice:
  • There are some practices where you exhale out of the mouth, but generally speaking it is through the nose. If you think of an anxious gasp or stressed out sigh, for example, it is a sharp inhale or exhale through the mouth – and we are aiming to curb, not produce, anxiety. There are several studies that show how nostril breathing is incredibly soothing for the nervous system – you can reference Dr. John Douillard’s blog for more insight on this topic.
  • You might pay attention to how the breath feels – the temperature, the quality (for example: long, sharp, hot, cold, smooth, tight, spacious, scattered, etc). Bringing a calm awareness to the breath can help to enhance the experience.

Click here to explore a few simple yet powerful breathwork practices for you to experiment with.

Thank yourselves for being curious to learn about yourself in this way; for taking the time to explore new practices that help you cultivate calm physically and mentally.

My hope is that you remember your ability and opportunity to cultivate a sense of calm every day.

What will you try this week, and how might breathwork benefit you in your day to day life?

Read the newsletter for a stress-relieving restorative practice, France retreat details for August 2022, my favorite springtime matcha (what else is new?), mindful living tools to enhance body and mind, and good vibes.

Take good care of your Selves and each other,

xo

S

Photo: Fontainebleau, France / March 2022.