Breathing mindfully–benefits of breath work.

Understanding the science of breathing

Breathing is an essential rhythm occurring naturally within your body, typically requiring little conscious thought. The impulse to breathe originates from pacemaker neurons in your brainstem. You take in oxygen with each breath and expel carbon dioxide, a waste product. The breathing pace varies, influenced by emotional and cognitive states such as anxiety, stress, or arousal.

Why breathing through your nose is important

Breathing through your nose generates neuronal oscillations, indicating movement or fluctuations. This airflow affects regions of the brain like the amygdala and hippocampus, which play a role in processing emotions, arousal, memory, and sensory experiences. Researchers have noted significant differences between inhalation and exhalation through the nose. Inhalation stimulates olfactory neurons and enhances emotional responses and memory (Zelano et al., 2016).

“Breathing through your nose generates neuronal oscillations. Oscillation is just a fancy word for movement or fluctuations. When inhaling, you synchronise brain oscillations across your limbic network.” (Zelano et.al, 2016)

Breathwork and the Impact on brain function

Slow, deep breathing exercises activate various brain regions related to emotion, attention, and body awareness. This includes the cortex and the midbrain, beyond the traditional understanding of the brain stem’s role in breathing. These exercises can help regulate stress responses and improve cognitive functions like attention and memory (Bullock, 2019; Zaccaro et al., 2018).

Breathwork and vagus nerve stimulation

Longer exhalations have been shown to stimulate the vagus nerve, which plays a critical role in the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting a state of relaxation and reducing the fight-or-flight response. This technique, often used in my practice, helps in calming the nervous system, reducing anxiety, and improving heart rate variability (HRV) , especially when grounding at the start of a session with me (Bergland, 2024).

Psychophysiological benefits of breathwork

Slow breathing techniques, particularly those involving prolonged exhalation, have been linked to better mental health outcomes. These techniques are effective in managing stress, reducing anxiety, and improving overall mental resilience. Studies show that these practices can lead to increased activity in brain structures that support emotional regulation and body awareness (Zaccaro et al., 2018; McQuillan, 2022).

 Practical applications of controlling our breath

Practicing controlled breathing with a focus on longer exhalations, such as the 4:8 breathing ratio (inhaling for four seconds and exhaling for eight seconds), can be a simple yet powerful way to engage the vagus nerve and enhance cognitive and emotional well-being. This practice can improve decision-making and reduce stress even with just a few minutes of daily practice (Bergland, 2024).

 Benefits of breathwork

• • Balanced blood pressure: helps maintain healthy blood pressure levels.
  • Improved sleep: promotes more time in deep sleep.
  • Reduction of PTSD symptoms: can alleviate feelings of trauma and PTSD.
  • Enhanced respiratory function: strengthens respiratory health.
  • Boosted immune system: supports a stronger immune response.
  • Stress hormone release: aids in the release of stress hormones from the body.
  • Reduced depression and anxiety: helps diminish feelings of depression and anxiety.
  • Improved mental focus/arousal: enhances concentration and mental clarity, and arousal states.
  • Decreased addictive behaviours: may reduce dependency on addictive behaviors.
  • Emotional healing: facilitates the healing of emotional scars.
  • Positive outlook: encourages a better outlook on life, leading to feelings of contentment and joy.

Practicing mindful breathing

Here are some breathing exercises to self-regulate, manage pain and overall health, and promote peace. These exercises are designed for everyday situations, especially when feeling stressed, anxious, disconnected from your body, or seeking to cultivate arousal in your mind and body.

Some breathing techniques

There are many breathing techniques and variations. I recommend you explore them and find the ones that are useful to you. These exercises can help promote mindfulness, relaxation, and a deeper connection to your body and its sensations.

• • Body awareness breath: begin by noticing your facial and jaw muscles, then relax them. Focus on breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, tuning into the sensations of your body.
  • Breathing awareness: pay attention to your natural breathing rhythm without attempting to control it, simply observing its pattern.
  • Relaxation breath: inhale deeply for 10 seconds, filling your belly, then exhale slowly for 10 seconds or longer, releasing any muscle tension on the out-breath.
  • Sigh breath: inhale for 5 seconds, then exhale with a deliberate audible sigh over 8 to 10 seconds, focusing on the breath’s sensation. The sigh breath is scientifically super important, allowing you to regulate your mind and body. Sighs help our brain to monitor changes within us, induce arousal, and reset breathing variability. In hypoxic conditions, sighs trigger arousal, becoming crucial for survival (Ramirez, 2014). Many of us do it without noticing. But be sure to consciously try it.
  • Staccato breath: take a quick, forceful inhale for 4 seconds followed by short, abrupt exhales for 2 seconds, then return to normal breathing. This can increase the feelings of arousal. Be sure not to hyperventilate.*
  • Circular breath: maintain a continuous flow between inhales and exhales without pause.*
  • Faster than normal breath: speed up your breathing momentarily before returning to normal. Be sure not to hyperventilate. Experiment with this breath when exploring hyperarousal states.*
  • Pelvic floor (PF) breath: engage the pelvic floor ‘pubococcygeal’ (PC) muscles as you inhale, hold for 4 seconds, then release as you exhale for 5 seconds.
  • Arousal or orgasm breath: experiment with any breathing techniques to enhance arousal, whether through self-pleasure or a focus on bodily sensations, noticing your breath’s rhythm leading to orgasm. You may even like to use the pelvic floor technique.
  • The three-part breath: For the three-part breath, you need to consider three parts of the body: your abdomen, diaphragm, and chest. Begin by fully expanding your lungs and chest, inhaling deeply as if filling your belly, rib cage and upper chest. Then, exhale fully, reversing the process, and repeat this cycle a few times.
  • Box breathing: inhale deeply through your nose, counting to 4 slowly as you feel the air fill your lungs. Then, hold your breath for 4 seconds, maintaining a steady pause without inhaling or exhaling. Release your breath slowly through your mouth over 4 seconds, feeling the tension ease away. Continue cycling through until you feel a sense of calm within your body.

*A note on hyperventilation

Hyperventilation occurs when you breathe too rapidly or deeply. This can happen during a panic attack, but in breathwork practices, it should be controlled to a point. Be aware of any symptoms such as numbness or tingling, and watch out for carpopedal spasms (which are involuntary muscle spasms in your hands, feet, even your neck). If you experience these symptoms, you have gone too far. Stop and slow your breathing down. The aim is not to induce panic or spasms in the body.

References

Bullock, B. G. (2019, October 31). What focusing on the breath does to your brain. Greater Good Magazine. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_focusing_on_the_breath_does_to_your_brain

Gerritsen, R. J., & Band, G. P. H. (2018). Longer exhalations are an easy way to hack your vagus nerve. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201801/longer-exhalations-are-an-easy-way-hack-your-vagus-nerve

McQuillan, S. (2022, April 14). How your breathing patterns affect your brain. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/202204/how-your-breathing-patterns-affect-your-brain

Ramirez, J. M. (2014). The integrative role of the sigh in psychology, physiology, pathology, and neurobiology. Progress in Brain Research, 209, 91-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-63274-6.00006-0

Russo, M. A., Santarelli, D. M., & O’Rourke, D. (2017). The physiological effects of slow breathing in the healthy human. Breathe, 13(4), 298-309. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5709795/

Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignani, A. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psycho-physiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353/full

Zelano C., Jiang H., Zhou G., Arora N., Schuele S., Rosenow J., Gottfried J.A. (2016). Nasal respiration entrains human limbic oscillations and modulates cognitive function. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(49), 12448-12467.