Everyday Breathwork
Breathwork can often seem like a very complicated and challenging thing to incorporate in life, especially into an everyday routine. Even as someone who has spent lots of time studying breathwork and made it apart of my life for years, when I fall out of my good habits I can find it hard to pick breathwork back up. But once I do, I always notice how much better I feel and how little effort it takes to get such a great reward. When we’re anxious, calm, stressed, what changes? Our breath - all of oursignificant emotions are experienced through our breath, yet we are never taught how to use our breath in a purposeful way.
Discover the benefits of breathwork and how to incorporate this practice into your life with ease and simplicity.
What is breathwork?
When I use the term breathwork here, I am referring to any practice that forces you to be still and intentionally focus on your breathing. This could be for any duration of time, in the form of taking some deep breaths first thing when you wake up, it could be closing your eyes and breathing into your belly whilst stretching, or some more in-depth techniques that we will talk about. The practice of breathwork dates back to Ancient Indian times and has evolved over time. In Yogic practices, breathwork is commonly referred to by its Sanskrit name: Pranayama (prana meaning life energy).
Key benefits:
Breathwork activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)
The PNS is responsible for the “rest and digest” activities in the body, promoting calmness, clarity, gratitude, relaxation, a decrease in cortisol, a slower heart rate. When you take a deep inhale into the pit of the belly, you stimulate your vagus nerve, indicating to the brain that it can relax. The vagus nerve runs from the neck to the abdomen. On the inhale, the sensory nodes on our lungs send information up through the vagus nerve and into the brain, and when we breathe out, the brain sends information back down to either speed up or slow down the heart. By stimulating it through deep breathing, we see it act as a brake on the stress response that pops up throughout the day.
On the other hand, the Symathetic Nervous System (SNS) is responsible for the feeling of “fight or flight”. Whilst very beneficial to humans in our earlier development, in modern times this peak-stress state is very detrimental to our health and our ability to function well. In the same breath, so many of us live in this state everyday and may even be so used to it that we don’t notice it anymore. It is normal to have moments of high stress, but by being more intentional with our breath at times throughout the day we can make the shift from this consistently stressed state and soothe our nervous system.
Promotes emotional regulation
When practicing breathwork, we are able to process emotions in a more balanced and effective way. Activating the PNS allows us to step away from such heightened emotions we may be feeling, such as overwhelm, anxiety, or anger, and we can begin to process experiences better as well as cultivate a more-informed perception of how we actually feel. Beyond this, we are training our brain to soothe ourselves in times of heightened emotions, rather than trying to always seek emotional regulation from another person or experience.
An opportunity to check-in with ourselves
When we do a meditative practice like breathwork, we’re tuning in to our own thoughts, becoming gently aware of the chatter going on internally. Noticing our thoughts without judgement or labels allows us to let go of the ones that don’t serve us with kindness. Often, without taking the time to check-in with ourselves, stressful and unkind thoughts, feelings, emotions can reside within us and we don’t even know how bad they’re making us feel - because it is all happening unconsciously. You can’t change what you don’t honour, so honouring these less loving thoughts (that we all get) means we can release them, and make space for better thoughts.
How can I incorporate breathwork into my life?
As we have discovered how powerful breathwork is, I want to help you find some ways to make it apart of your everyday life. Remember you can always start small, and if you are brand new to this habit, I would recommended making a habit of taking 6 deep, slow breaths into the belly first thing when you wake up in the morning. Use these 6 breaths to think about the kind of energy you want to take into the day, before you check your phone or do anything else. Focus on taking full inhales deep into the pit of the belly, and exhaling completely each time. Similarly, you can also incorporate this same practice right before you go to sleep, in which I would recommend thinking about some moments from the day you are grateful for, proud of yourself for, or the kind of day you want to have tomorrow. Some days you may prefer to not think about anything.
Another simple way to incorporate breathwork more intuitively, is using it as a “pause” in moments of stress. If you are feeling overwhelmed, about to go into a hard exam or meeting, having an emotional day, just take a few minutes to stop and close your eyes and take some deep breaths. It is the most simple way to add breathwork into your life but it is a powerful tool to slow down and give your body and mind a second to reset.
Some more intentional breath techniques:
Box breathing: Inhale for 3, hold for 3, exhale for 3, pause for 3, repeat
Nadi Shodhana: alternate nostril breathing
5-5-5: Inhale for 5, hold for 5, exhale for 5, repeat
Full yogic breath: breathing into the 3 chambers (belly, ribs, chest)
If you want to learn more about the breath and these techniques, make sure to get your ticket to our upcoming retreat in January 2025 and join our extended breathwork and meditation session! Limited tickets remain.
