Just Breathe!
If you’re in therapy with me, my hopes are that you leave sessions saying “This freakin lady really likes to breathe!”. But maybe we haven’t had the chance just yet to go into details about why this one small change is SOOOO important. So let's get excited about breath work!
Your Nervous System
Ok, we’re going to do the most basic of explanations here because I am far from an expert on anatomy and physiology! So basically your nervous system is your body’s command center. And it has a few different parts to it that controls all sorts of functions that we have absolutely no control over. These are things like digesting our food, pumping blood to our heart, contracting our pupils, sweating…ok you get the picture. We are amazingly autonomic machines! If you’re like me, you had to look up the word autonomic aka automatic, in other words your body just does this! Guess what’s included in our autonomic functions?
I’ll give you a second, but I think you know what I’m going to say….Breathing! Gold stars all around. Yup, we automatically breathe in and out every day, all damn day and we don’t think about it. Until we do. Now, please just try to digest your food faster. No luck? Oh, ok, go ahead and pump that blood through your body. Nothing, right? No worries, me neither. Buuuut breathing, now that I can speed up. And I notice when I do, my heart rate speeds up. If I’m running, my face turns incredibly bright red, I start sweating, maybe I get a little dizzy, some tunnel vision if I decide to push myself further, and that makes me feel like I’m going to panic and die. Did I just describe my work out routine or a panic attack? Guess what, your body does similar things in both instances!
The difference comes from how our brain’s interpret a real threat or something else. The hope is that we switch seamlessly and often between ramping up that nervous system and bringing it back down. Because I also know that when I get excited about something, I start talking really fast, making my breath come faster, ramping up my heart rate, and maybe I get a little sweaty (don’t knock the sweaty kids!). So even though the outcome may be the same for my nervous system, the experience is different all around. My brain knows that I’m not being threatened when I see a box of puppies delivered to my house and really freak tf out. (That’s never happened, it’s just a dream of mine). Hopefully I gave you some good ideas about what sort of things your nervous system controls and some insight into how our body’s respond.
What does this have to do with your breathing obsession?
Remember how we weren’t sure if I was working out or having a panic attack just because I was breathing super hard? Well, your mind knows! So when I stop running, I immediately start focusing on slowing my breathing down. Key words: I focus, meaning I control it! And while it feels very out of control to have a panic attack, my point is, it’s possible to regain control. All with focusing on your breathing. Because when we slow down our breathing, we slow down our heart rate, slow down blood pressure, release tension in our bodies, and increase hormones that promote rest and relaxation. Doesn’t that all sound lovely? Yassssss. And that’s why I’m obsessed with breathing. Because my hope is for you to take back control.
Irregular breathing doesn’t allow your body to function smoothly the way it wants to. It stays in a “fight or flight” stance, wearing it down and exhausting you both physically and mentally. But when you are in control of breathing, you take back control of all those other parts of the nervous system that you really don't have control over. According to Jesse Coomer, breathwork expert, “Some of the most commonly researched and reported benefits are reduction in stress, better sleep, improved digestion, improved athletic performance, improved focus, improved sex life, and improved heart rate variability. Your breath is connected to nearly every other aspect of your health and wellness, so it has a plethora of benefits.” Alright, Lauren, you said better sex and bad ass athlete, I’m sold.
Sweet, Let’s practice breathing!
The key to this is to practice regularly. When you’re legit having a panic attack, now is not the time to practice something new you’ve never tried before. Your brain is not quite functioning the same and it will be more difficult to add something you haven’t tried before. Can we please make a goal of practicing 3 times/day? Here’s the best part: Even if you aren’t quite able to use breathing techniques when you’re in distress, breathing throughout the day when you're calm is STILL beneficial! Yay, breathing!
Box Breathing aka 5-5-5
STEP 1: Inhale very slowly through your nose for 5 seconds
STEP 2: Hold the breath for 5 seconds
STEP 3: Release the breath through your mouth for 5 seconds
STEP 4: Repeat steps 1 through 3
Continue this process for either one full minute or 5-10 cycles.
This is NOT easy, so please lets give ourselves some grace if we struggle through this for a while. You’re teaching yourself to recognize your breathing in a completely new way. Your brain may have not done this before and it may be scary, especially for those of us with trauma backgrounds. Our bodies have become very used to fight/flight being turned on all the time to recognize danger and now we’re telling it to be calm without any proof that danger doesn’t exist. Let’s be patient with ourselves though and understand that this won’t work all the time, every time. This is just one tool we’re adding to our tool boxes.
Breathing through distress aka when we’re really freaking tf out
The dive response is something all mammals have. It has the ability to immediately slow our heart rate and blood flow, telling our bodies to chill tf out right now before we die. This is not a good technique for anyone with heart conditions or those struggling with eating disorders.
The key to this technique is that water needs to be icy cold, colder than the air around you, but not freezing. And it must hit certain parts of your face, particularly below your eyes and above the cheekbone to make this response activate. *If this isn’t an option, you can also try holding ice packs or something cold to your eyes*
Fill a bowl with icy cold water
Bend/lean over
Hold your breath
Put your face in icy cold water for 30 seconds
Make sure that area underneath eyes/above cheekbones feels the icy water
Look, Ma, I’m breathing!
So, that’s it. Very simple, very effective, but still requires practice. If you’d like a little more info on the diving reflex, check out this article. If you respond well to having multiple senses engaged at the same time, take a look at this video by Dr. Jud who has a great explanation of the 5 finger breathing technique, which I love! 5 finger breathing: Reboot your brain, calm down and be in the moment (Daily Update 19)
