Mindful Breathing

Guys, it's been 3 weeks since I've posted!! Things have gotten a little busy lately, so I haven't had the time to write, nor have I had as much time to dig deeper into what I'm learning enough to write about it.  Until now.

This week I'm starting a Stress Response course, and one of the first things we are doing is mindful, focussed breathing.  I've found it to be relaxing, yes, but it's also another factor of the SealFit and Unbeatable Mind programs, and so it must be pretty critical.  The fact that they all practice almost the exact same breathing techniques says something about it.

So a bit about breathing.

There are a couple of mechanical aspects to breathing that need to be addressed right away. First, we should be breathing diaphragmatically.  This means belly breathing, or breathing so that your belly and diaphragm are expanding.  This is the type of breathing babies and children do, and it's the breathing of relaxation.  When we are fully relaxed, this is the way we breathe.  When we are responding to stress (good, bad, acute, chronic) we breathe shallowly and into our chests only.  This doesn't allow for full lung capacity usage, and keeps us in the stress-aroused state, even after the stressor is gone.  So to enable our bodies to relax, it helps to concentrate on breathing into your belly.

The second critical part is that you must breathe in through your nose. Breathing in through your nose helps to humidify the air, and most importantly, enhancing the air with secreted nitric oxide (NO). NO is a potent vasodilator, which dramatically enhances the uptake of oxygen in the lungs.  This is why it's most important to breathe in through your nose, but not as critical to breathe out that way.

There's a pretty simple breathing exercise that works (with practice) to calm down your sympathetic nervous system and counteract all the panicky, fight-or-flight stress reactions in your body.  It can be done almost anywhere, anytime, and nobody would know that you're doing it (even during a presentation or performance!) To start, breathe in through your nose, expanding and filling your belly with air.  Then move to your upper chest and fill it.  Do this slowly, for a count of 4 or more (whatever is comfortable to you) and then hold it in for that same count of time.  Then, slowly exhale for the same count of time, and finally (if you can) hold your lungs empty for the same count.  Do this for 3-4 minutes (or longer, if you can) and with practice, this technique will help to both keep you calm, and calm you down in times of stress.

The key to this is practice.  I'm working now on implementing this technique every day so that my body becomes accustomed to the calming effect.  Over time, it should take no more than a couple of breaths to start the calming effect, and will also train your body to belly breathe all the time, without having to focus on it. 

A final benefit to this practice is that it increases your mental focus.  First, for all the reasons you might think (more oxygen to your brain, etc), but also the focus required to practice this breathing spills over and secondarily serves to get your mind used to focusing - on anything. 

I've been feeling more pain in my jaw joints and teeth recently, and I do find that this practice has helped me to manage that better.

Try this technique for a few days and see how it helps you.   And remember to feed the courage wolf inside you, and starve the fear wolf.