Recently, I’ve been seeing many articles and posts about ratio breathing that includes holding the breath at the top of the inhale and bottom of the exhale (known as kumbhaka). This gives me some red flags, so I wanted to take a moment to share my recommendations for breathing techniques that help calm the mind.

Why Holding the Breath May Not Be a Place to Start

I want to take a ‘Couch-to-5K’ approach to breathing techniques. If you want to start running, you’re not going to get off the couch and go run a 5K. Same thing with the breath. If you haven’t even been aware of the breath, you’re not going to start with more challenging ratios. I don’t recommend starting to practice manipulating the breath with techniques that involve holding.  Here’s why:

• Most of us have active minds and if you jump into holding the breath, especially at the bottom of the exhale, it can create MORE tension and anxiety.
• Most people aren’t fully using their respiratory system to begin with, so this needs to be addressed first…again, so more anxiety isn’t created.
• One aspect of the breath that has been shown to activate the Parasympathetic part of the nervous system, which is responsible for calming the mind, has nothing to do with holding the breath.

WHERE TO START

If you’re ready to start using the breath as a tool to calm the mind, regulate emotional reactions, and relax the nervous system (which I HIGHLY recommend), let’s start at the beginning.  The wonderful thing about using the breath as a coping tool, is that simply by being aware of the breath, not even changing it, helps to calm the mind. Awareness is so powerful!

One breathing practice I recommend to everyone is 3-part breath. It is a respiratory workout! It helps the mind to become aware of the different parts of the body that are involved with breathing, it works on engaging the lower, mid, and upper parts of the lungs, and it is an excellent practice of observing with curiosity instead of judgment. Here’s a link to my video on how to do this breath: https://youtu.be/BdDrdCuwMGo.

RATIO BREATHING

If you like ratio breathing, I recommend starting with a 1:1 ratio of inhale to exhale. Once that feels comfortable, then move towards a 1:2 ratio. 

A 1:1 ratio breath is also known as Coherence Breathing. I recommend starting with a 4:4 ratio, which means inhale to a count of 4 and exhale to a count of 4. If that’s too much, i.e. you are short of breath, the body becoming tense, or feel anxious, reduce the count to a ratio of 3:3. The important thing is that you don’t get caught up in a ‘larger-numbers-are-better’ mentality. 

Over time, if you practice regularly, you will find more space and may increase the ratio. Research I’ve seen about Coherent Breathing shows that somewhere between a 5, 6, or 7 count with equal inhale and exhale can increase heart rate variability, which is wonderful for calming the nervous system. If you want to learn more about Coherent Breathing, I highly recommend the book, “The Healing Power of the Breath.”

Once a 1:1 ratio breath becomes comfortable, start moving towards a 1:2 ratio of inhale to exhale. First, you may start by lengthening the exhale by one count, then 2 counts, etc., until you come to the 1:2 ratio. Again, it’s important if you feel tension in the breath, like you’re gasping for breath, or feel more anxious, to back off.  You are pushing the breath too much. The breath should feel smooth and done with ease. There’s no rush to get to the 1:2 ratio, so just take your time and keep practicing. 

Just by lengthening the exhale, even just a little, activates the calming part of the nervous system. How will you know this is happening? The mouth starts to salivate. This means the Parasympathetic Nervous System is being activated. It correlates with ‘rest and digest.’  Here’s a link to my video on these ratio breaths.

Pause Instead Of Hold

And if you are determined to use holding, start with the inhale. I recommend thinking of it as a pause rather than a hold. One of my teachers, Kristine Weber of Subtle Yoga, has a great image for this. When you shake out a sheet as you’re placing it on a bed, there is a slight pause at the top of the shake before the sheet slowly starts to descend on the bed. Think of this as you inhale, pause at the top of the breath and then slowly exhale. Pause for 1, 2, or 3. And, one more time, this should be done with ease, not pushing the breath. If you want to do more than this, I highly recommend working with a teacher so that you aren’t creating any harm to yourself.

One last point is nose breathing versus month breathing. There are nerve endings in the nose that activate the Parasympathetic Nervous System. So, breathing in and out through the nose really helps slow the breath rate down and calms the nervous system. James Nestor’s book “Breath” gives his personal account of experimenting with mouth breathing versus nose breathing. While I don’t recommend all of the breathing techniques he shares, his account of this personal experiment is wonderful.

KEY POINTS

Key points to remember about working with the breath:

• There are no ‘have tos’ with the breath.
• There’s no ‘perfect’ with the breath, it’s a practice.
• Ease.
• Cultivate curiosity with your breath.
• Simply taking time to notice your breath throughout the day is a powerful tool.
• Lengthening the exhale activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System.

Enjoy your breath!

Shanti.

P.S.