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Welcome
Welcome to the introduction to breath-work class, where we will be going through some basic fundamentals of breath work and doing some breath work practices that you can implement on a daily basis. So if you’re a coach or a client, or just wanting to deepen your understanding of breath work, hopefully by the end of this class, you’re able to see the value of having a daily breath work practice.
Science
I want to keep this really simple. And first, by doing that, I want to talk about the science of breath work and really what’s going on, especially when we’re dealing with emotional triggers. We have this autonomic nervous system that is comprised of two parts. We have the sympathetic nervous system, which is the fight flight or freeze response, which I like to call the reactive state, and we have the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the relaxing digesting response, which I like to call the healing state. The sympathetic nervous system is basically our survival mode and it’s the autonomic nervous system because it’s automatic. These processes are going on all the time inside of our bodies and so if we’re unable to hack into what’s going on, it’s basically going to be a system override when we have an emotional trigger and therefore a trauma response. So, typically what happens when we’re in trauma, to put it simply, is we get geared into the sympathetic nervous system. These symptoms down here, if any of you can relate to that, more than likely is what goes on when you are finding yourself in an emotional trigger, or a reactive state.
A reactive state is basically public enemy number one in the world of mental health. Because, even though, for instance, if you have a physical threat, if you’re being chased by someone or something and therefore you have a default reaction to run or to fight, that is good. That is good because it’s a physical threat and therefore your sense of a lack of safety is true. But when it comes to emotional triggers, our sympathetic nervous system really is not what we are wanting to engage, when dealing with those situations. And, the only way that we’re able to do that, to essentially transfer from the sympathetic nervous system to the parasympathetic nervous system, is by hacking into what’s going on physiologically because it doesn’t really matter how much that we know. Meaning, if you have read many books, if you have gone to therapy and therefore you’re like, oh yeah, I know what to do when I get triggered. You can know exactly what you want to do but all of that knowledge and information is more than likely going to be standing by, if you’re unable to change what’s happening physiologically. Because if you’re experiencing all of these symptoms and your muscles are tense, your heart rates accelerating, you’re having excretions of cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine. You’re going to be so flooded that you aren’t going to be able to respond in a way that you are actually going to feel good about, more than likely, and in a way that’s going to be healing. So, we need to learn how to engage our parasympathetic nervous system, to put it simply. So, the way that we do that is through breath work.
Breath is the only research and evidenced based method of hacking into the autonomic nervous system. So, yes, we have the option to breathe automatically but we also have the opportunity to breathe consciously.
Breathing is the bridge between the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. When we consciously slow and deepen our breathing, it stimulates the vagus nerve, which kind of acts as this catalyst for helping our bodies to engage in this new response, this healing response, which is what we need. I mean, we are just totally overstimulated with the sympathetic nervous system. So, the more that we’re engaging in this conscious breathing, this conscious breath work, to transfer out of the sympathetic nervous system into the parasympathetic nervous system, that is going to be incredibly effective and healing to our trauma.
4-7-8 Relaxing Breath for Triggers
The first exercise that I want to go through is the 4-7-8 relaxing breath for triggers. This one is especially helpful in dealing with emotional triggers, stressors and any time that you feel like you are being flooded, this is going to be a very helpful breath work exercise.
These breathing exercises, as you see are very simple, but the magic of it is just committing to it completely.
How it works is we breathe in four counts, we hold for seven counts, and then we breathe out eight counts. The way that we’re able to do this effectively, at least training ourselves, is I like to use a metronome. I have this metronome app on my phone and we’re going to be using this metronome at 60 beats per minute. Just one second counts. If we’re breathing in four counts, it’s four seconds essentially.
Now, getting prepared for this, I’m on a yoga ball here, so it’s nice to help me to have good posture. We want to make sure that our chest is open and that our spine is erect. We don’t want to be slouched. When we’re doing this breath work, we want to get as much air into our system as possible and so we want to create space. The way we do that is we align our spine. I like to think of, if you’re pulling a string on top of your head and it’s kind of pulling you up that way everything is just nice and in alignment.
The next thing we want to focus on is doing this breath work, as long as you’re not congested, you want to focus on breathing in through your nostrils, through your nose. This is very calming and is very helpful in getting us into the parasympathetic nervous system. Let’s just practice that from the beginning, not doing these counts but just practicing breathing in and out through our nostrils.
Deep, slow breaths.
Good.
Now, let’s practice.
Practice of 4-7-8
We’re going to do this for a couple minutes and it may even help, as long as you feel like it’s appropriate to do so, you can even think about something that’s stressful first and then focus on using this practice to slow yourself down to release, to let go, and therefore engage that parasympathetic nervous system.
You can even tell yourself the mantra “I’m healing, I’m letting go, I’m learning.” Whatever is helpful or effective for you. If you just want to breathe, just breathe. So I’m going to start up the metronome here in my timer,
and then deep breath, inhale.
Close your eyes.
Deep breath, exhale.
And then inhale 3, 4.
Hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Exhale, 2 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4.
Hold, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4.
Hold 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
On your own.
Inhale, 3, 4. Hold.
Exhale.
Okay.
Hold.
Exhale.
Inhale, completely on your own this time.
Good.
Deep inhale.
Deep exhale.
How did that feel?
What did you notice?
Maybe you can do a little body scan. What’s going on in your body, if you felt any shifts, notice the state of your mind, if it feels any different. If nothing changed, that’s totally okay. This is just a practice and just helping you to slow down because more than likely, this was probably the first time in the day where you gave some conscious breath and it was more than likely slower than what you typically breathe at. Because our breathing is typically pretty dysregulated. Another goal of these breath work practices is just to help ourselves to actually breathe. One of the first things that happened that happens when we experience trauma is we lose connection to the breath. We actually lose breath and our inhales and exhales become very shallow. The way that we know that we’re healing is if we’re actually breathing more effectively, we’re breathing deeply. Again, you can tell yourself that when you’re doing this breath work. I’m healing. I’m breathing.
5-5 Coherent Breathing for Stress
The second exercise is the 5-5 Coherent Breathing for Stress. I like to use this breath when feeling overwhelmed, not just an acute trigger but more so when things have been building up. This breath is really good overall to practice throughout the day. Any time that you have, even just a couple minutes. What we’re wanting to achieve here is a dedication of five minutes to breath work practice. When you’re at work, if you’re just in between calls or whatever you do, this can be a really good breathing exercise.
The 5-5 method is exactly how it sounds. It’s breathing in for five counts, breathing out for five counts. That’s all that we’re going to do at first. But if you feel comfortable, you can try extending the inhales and exhales equally to increase your focus and calm. So, to six seconds, inhale, six seconds exhale and so on. But at first we’re just going to do the five second inhale and five second exhale. So same thing as we did last time, make sure you’re finding yourself in a good position, nice and upright.
Close your eyes.
Deep inhale.
Deep exhale.
And inhale, 4, 5.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Inhale.
Exhale.
On your own.
Notice the rhythm.
Notice the quality of your mind.
Lose count. No worries. Just come back to the rhythm. That equal breath.
Your next exhale, you can try increasing that breath to six counts. Seven counts.
Trying to find that range where it feels most relaxing and comfortable. It’s not a competition.
And, to find that calm.
Notice that sense of power that you get from the breath.
Increasing that breath, if you choose. If it allows for deeper relaxation.
One more round through.
And deep inhale.
Deep exhale.
You can open your eyes.
So how did that feel? What did you notice? How was that different from the first breath work exercise? Did that feel better? Was it harder to focus?
Just notice again, even doing a body scan. If you’re even feeling a slight difference from your state of mind and state of body before and after the practice, that’s a pretty big difference.
So even if you’re like, I don’t know about this, but you’re feeling a little bit more calm, it’s already doing something.
All it takes is practice.
4-4-4-4 Box Breathing Method for Focus and Grounding
Our last exercise is the 4-4-4-4, or Box Breathing Method for Focus and Grounding.
So this breath is a little bit different. We’re going to be breathing in four counts, holding for four counts, breathing out four counts and holding for four counts.
What happens in this breath is when we hold after the inhale and exhale, it does deprive our bodies of oxygen. But what happens is we’re actually increasing our ability to intake oxygen when we hold our breath, if we’re doing it consciously. If we’re not doing it consciously, that’s more of a sympathetic nervous system response.
But if we’re doing it consciously, That engages the parasympathetic nervous system, but it also activates certain systems as far as being able to feel more awake and alert. So this isn’t the best for trauma. But this is more so like you’re feeling sluggish, maybe feeling a little bit depressed and this is going to help to get some energy moving in your body and in your mind. This is really good for just balancing grounding and focusing.
Let’s practice.
Once again, find a good upright position.
Close your eyes.
Deep, inhale.
Deep exhale.
And, breathe in 2, 3, 4.
Hold 2, 3, 4.
Exhale, 3, 4.
Hold, 2, 3, 4.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4.
Hold 2, 3, 4.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4.
Hold 2, 3, 4.
Inhale, 2, 3, 4.
Hold 2, 3, 4.
Exhale, 2, 3, 4.
Hold 2, 3, 4.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
On your own name?
One more time through.
Deep inhale.
Deep exhale
Open your eyes.
How did that exercise feel? Anything different that you noticed?
Was it more difficult? Did it feel more invigorating? Was it stressful?
Breath work is really all about getting in tune. Getting in tune with our bodies and our minds and feeling more in control. I mean, what’s more empowering than being able to just feel the flow of breath, coming in and out, and you are engaging that. You are consciously moving that breath. And, if we can move our breath, we can move our emotions, we can move our bodies, we can move our healing process.
Conclusion
Again, the goal is to practice five minutes a day. We’ve gone through the relaxing breath, the coherent breath, the box breath. And, if you engage in one of these exercises, or all three, on a daily basis, five minutes per day, I guarantee you will feel the effects. You will feel the difference. And, overall, what we’re wanting to achieve is more cohesive, coherent breathing, throughout the day. The ideal breath is actually 5.5 seconds. Inhale and exhale.
Now, that might seem really long but ideally that’s when our bodies and minds function most effectively. So, if we can do that for just five minutes a day, increasing that breath, it’s going to help to move that pattern, that habit that we have in regards to that autonomic nervous system breathing. But now we’re doing a more consciously.
You can feel free to draw upon these slides. Again, they’re going to be a resource for you online to go through each of these practices and have a great day.
Thank you for coming.