How You Can Use Your Breath to Transform

use your breath to transform

We’ve all been there. Those moments when we feel stressed about one thing or another and … we snap. We begin to blindly commit to catastrophizing our future. Those moments when the familiar drip of fear feels almost electrifying? In those moments we are so deep into the spiral-ing, the original stressor almost appears trivial in comparison to the now impending future. We’ve all been here - sometimes for a moment, sometimes for whole periods in our lives.

In those moments of stress, our body’s react. In order to verify this reality - or moment of stress - the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) turns on; your heart beat quickens, your blood pressure rises, your breathing becomes more shallow, your blood swiftly re-directs away from digestion and repair and to the extremities, while a whole host of other physical symptoms ensue.

The problem is, although this is an evolutionary reaction with a beautiful intention to protect, it’s now become an unintentional saboteur in a world with significantly fewer physical threats, but exponentially more psychological triggers. You see, our bodies can’t tell the difference between a lion chasing us and a fight with our significant other (or any other stressor). So, even though it’s really just a rude comment by your boss or getting cut off in traffic, our bodies are reacting as if we are being chased by lions - yikes.

As much as our minds want to protect us by staying in the familiar, this is when we get to choose: either succumb to the fear or embrace the alternative. An effective first step in approaching transformation at those cross sections of adversity is accepting the old sage advice - take a deep breath.

So how do we choose something different? How do we interfere? How do we curtail suffering and choose peace? Well, of course that isn’t an easy practice - in fact, that’s what the practice is; returning, gently, over and over again to the moment and reassessing “is this story serving me?’, “is this belief + corresponding emotion serving me?”, and if not, reaching into your tool kit to call upon something to support your courage to choose something else.

Enter stage left - simple breathing practices to bring you back to the moment. These are tools that are so helpful to have right there - living in your tool kit. At those intersections of transformation, choosing to utilize these tools is the first step to grounding back in the moment - to curtailing the spiral. At that moment of choice, by utilizing your breath, just like the mind communicates to the body when it is ‘stressed’, your body is communicating to your brain that you are relaxed. Your brain, responding to this message, will switch your body back into the parasympathetic nervous system, or the feel and heal / rest and digest. Your heart rate slows, your blood pressure returns to normal, your blood is redirected to the major organs that aid with digestion and repair, and we’re able to think more clearly - we are able to create space to choose something different.

Don’t take my word for it. Try it out for yourself. Next time you find yourself in a moment of stress, call on one of these exercises. These simply give you another moment to choose and in doing so, allows your body to physically occupy a space that is conducive to healing and prioritizes reparation.

Below are three different, easy breathing techniques that will deactivate your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and gently transition you into your parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest). Check out my instagram post here as well for video directions. 

Inhale through your nose deeply into your belly.

Box Breathing : Inhale for 4, Pause for 4, Exhale for 4, Pause for 4

5 - 5 - 7 : Inhale for 5, Pause for 5, Exhale for 7.

Longer Exhale : Inhale for 4, Exhale for any amount of time that is longer ( > 5 secs)

I invite you try these simple breathing exercises the next time you find yourself at a crossroads. Deep, conscious breathing - like these exercises - is the gift of calming the waters before the wave breaks. 

If you’re interested in learning other breath work techniques as well as mindfulness tools in a guided, individualized format, check out more on my 6 week intro to meditation course: Meditation 101.

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Cultivating Gratitude for Growth