Breathwork: Benefits and Techniques of Deep Breathing
Please note: Some health conditions, like COPD, make some of the following breathwork exercises difficult or dangerous. Consult your doctor if you have any concerns prior to breathwork practices.
The Importance of Breathwork
Stress is one of the most prevalent mental health concerns in the United States. According to the APA, stress has been on the rise over the last few years. Long-term stress can lead to additional mental health challenges, make daily challenges feel more difficult, impact your physiological response to stress, and even have impacts on your physical health such as wear and tear on your immune system, heart disease, digestive issues, insomnia, and more (source). There are many ways to help alleviate stress, but we wanted to share one method that, when practiced consistently, can lead to improvements with your overall stress level: breathwork.
Breathwork is any intentional and controlled breathing practice where an individual uses a technique to assist in regulating the nervous system. By this definition, there are many techniques a person can use to practice breathwork. There is not one single technique that is more effective than others. Instead, according to this NIH publication, breathwork is more effective if it follows this criteria: "avoiding fast-only and [shorter than] 5 min practices; and incorporating human-guided training during initial sessions, multiple sessions, and long-term practice."
To understand how breathwork is useful to coping with stress, first it is important to understand how stress impacts the body. As explained in a little more detail here, our brains respond to certain stressors like they are threats. It responds by sending chemicals/hormones throughout the body that sets off an automatic response (commonly referred to as fight or flight). This response is involuntary and adapted to prepare the body for action. Heart rate and breathing increases, while hunger and digestion decreases. Typically, once the “threat” has passed, your stress response should also pass. Some stressors are so severe that they cause trauma, whether from repeated similar stressors or from one major event.
Breathwork helps regulate this nervous system response. It can send signals to the brain and “cues” the body to relax source). To make breathwork a more comfortable and effective experience, try to (source):
Wear comfortable clothing
Position the body that opens up the respiratory system such as standing, sitting with the torso upright, or lying down on your back (choose whatever is comfortable and/or accessible)
Start with an inhale (preferably through the nose but through the mouth also works if that is more comfortable) that you draw deep into your belly, first allowing your abdomen expand followed by the natural inflation of your lungs and chest
Focus on slow and even breaths
Stop if you begin feeling faint or dizzy
Please note: Some health conditions, like COPD, make some of the following breathwork exercises difficult or dangerous. Consult your doctor if you have any concerns prior to breathwork practices.
Common Techniques
Diaphragmatic Breathing
Diaphragmatic Breathing is a type of breathwork that involves using the muscles in your stomach (diaphragm/abdomen) to support your breath. The muscles in your stomach move your diaphragm, a muscle that sits at the base of your lungs. Breathing using your diaphragm strengthens the muscle, decreases the work of breathing by slowing down your breathing rate, and uses less effort and energy (source).
Benefits to diaphragmatic breathing include: helping you relax, improving muscle function during exercise and preventing strain, increasing oxygen in the blood, make it easier on your lungs to release gas waste from your lungs (gas waste comes from breathing in air, which contains more than just oxygen), and reduces blood pressure and heart rate (source).
To take a diaphragmatic breath, sit or lay comfortably and avoiding a posture that squishes your stomach. Then, taking a slow breath through your nose or mouth, pull the air in deep into your stomach. If you place your hand on your abdomen, you might feel your diaphragm expand as you inhale. Continue to inhale slowly as the air fills your lungs. Pause for a second, then slowly release the breath through your mouth.
A lot of breathwork involves engaging your diaphragm. You may notice that it is difficult at first. Since the diaphragm is a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets. Keep practicing diaphragmatic breathing by checking in with yourself throughout the day and taking a moment to do this technique. Strengthening your diaphragm will make it easier to try other breathwork techniques.
For a video guiding you through how to do diaphragmatic breathing, click here.
Box Breathing
Box Breathing is named after the fact that there are four equal parts to this breathing method. Visualizing a square can be useful when doing this practice. To box breathe:
Inhale through your nose slowly for four seconds.
Then, hold your breath for four seconds.
Exhale through your mouth for four seconds.
Hold your breath again for four seconds.
Repeat three more times.
If four seconds is too long, try this exercise doing two or three seconds intervals instead.
For a guided video, click here.
Five Finger Breathing
Five Finger Breathing is an interesting method since it is also multi-sensory and encourages you to focus on more than just your breath (source). This method requires the use of both of your hands, so get comfortable and put away anything that might distract you, then follow these steps:
Ready your hands: one hand will be your “base” and will not move, while the other will be used to trace the fingers on your base hand. It doesn’t matter which hand you use for which job, just pick whichever is easiest for you.When you’re ready, hold your base hand out in front of you with your fingers spread apart.
Tracing your hand: You will begin by using the index finger of your tracing hand. Starting at the base of your thumb where it meets your wrist, start slowly dragging your index finger up your thumb as you inhale. When you reach the tip of your thumb, you will start your exhale as you trace back down your thumb toward the web between your fingers.
Keep going and focus on your breath: Continue tracing your fingers, moving on to the index, middle, ring, and pinky fingers of your base hand next. Do not lift your tracing finger or stop between fingers. Inhale as you go up and exhale as you go back down. Make sure to breathe deeply and slowly.
Change directions: Once you’ve finished tracing your pinky, change directions and start tracing in the opposite direction, starting with your pinky.
Repeat two or three times.
Click here for a guided video.
