Who hasn’t had the mind freak out?? When there’s a change in plan, if there’s uncertainty, or if you’ve felt wronged, angry, embarrassed, worried, dread, etc. Yes, the mind is highly reactive. It relies on our memory banks to make sense of ‘right now.’ If anything reminds the mind (and body) of past distressing events, it will start to go into fight, flight or freeze mode to protect us. The mind often mistakes common challenges as life or death threats. Change your state of mind. Use the MOST accessible tool we have in the moment – the breath. It really can be as simple as ‘just breathe,’ but it takes practice.

Our mind and body are wired to be able to meet life or death situations without thinking, just reacting. This part of the system does remarkably well when there actually is an emergency or a life or death situation. The thing is, daily stress isn’t life or death…it can just feel like it sometimes.

DAILY STRESS

Deadlines, running late, forgetting an appointment, having too much on the ‘to do’ list are all daily stressors. (And there are many more). But, we aren’t going to die because of them. We just might feel guilty, embarrassed, frustrated, etc. Since most of us have conditioned ourselves to label these uncomfortable feelings as “bad,” our system signals the emergency alarms prematurely…overreacting. It would be like calling 911 to put out a house fire because you see smoke. And when the fire crew gets there, it’s actually just a fire burning in the fireplace…oops!

This is no way to live. It sucks to have our mind and body revved up so much of each and every day. In fact, it’s detrimental to our health. If you go throughout your day from one stressor to another, overreacting, the body has no way to recover and get back to homeostasis. Homeostasis is calm and relaxed. (If you can’t remember the last time you felt this way, please prioritize changing this). Long-term chronic stress over time can lead to heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, depression and anxiety disorders just to name a few. 

THE ONE COPING TOOL YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT

There is one coping tool, that if used properly throughout the day and consistently, not only calms the mind and body but can help to increase protective factors in the body to stave off and reverse some of these chronic diseases. That is simply the breath.

The mind and breath are highly connected. When stressed, breath becomes, short and shallow, causing us to breathing at a higher breath per minute rate. When we are relaxed and calm, the breath deepens and slows down. Since the breath is one of the body’s systems we can manipulate, we can influence our mind by changing our breath. 

There are four simple breath practices to do throughout the day to start to regulate the breath and thus, change the state of the mind: Become aware of the breath, slow the breath rate down, lengthen the exhale, and breathe in and out through the nose. That’s enough to change your mind state, decrease the stress response, and meet life stressors more effectively. Plus, help your overall physical and mental health. The breath is ALWAYS with us. You don’t have to search for it, pay for it, or wait for a supply issue to be remedied.  So why not learn how to use it to help yourself?

4 SIMPLE BREATH PRACTICES

1. Become Aware of the Breath. You don’t even need to change the breath or manipulate it in any way. Just becoming aware of it brings the mind to the present and increases overall mental awareness of the body. Bring awareness to your nostrils. Just watch the breath come in and leave through the nostrils without effort on your part. What do you notice happen in your body and mind?
2. Slow Down Your Breath Rate. There are a number of studies that show decreasing the rate of breaths per minute activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the calming part of our autonomic nervous system. One study showed, “8 breaths per minute shifts the balance to parasympathetic nervous activity.”  No need to stress yourself to get to 8 breaths per minute right away. Simply start, when you notice the breath during the day, to consciously slow it down just a little bit. What do you notice happens to the body and mind?
3. Lengthen the Exhale. When we breathe, on the inhale the heart rate increases and on the exhale the heart rate decreases. Every breath we go from sympathetic nervous system arousal and parasympathetic arousal. So, lengthening the exhale increases the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. Try this by inhaling for a count of 4 and exhaling for a count of 6. One study did just this and measured Heart Rate Variability concluding, “Using HRV as an index, this study showed that moderately prolonged expiration results in parasympathetic dominance, whereas rapid breathing leads to sympathetic dominance.”
4. Breathe In and Out Through the Nose. I’ve known through personal observation that breathing in and out through my nose activates my parasympathetic response because my mouth starts to water. Breathing in and out through my mouth dries it up, a sympathetic nervous system response. Then, reading James Nestor’s book “Breath” about his personal experiment with nose versus mouth breathing, each for a month, it was astonishing to see how each affected his physical and mental wellbeing. It affirmed my commitment to nose breathing as much as possible. When you’re aware of your breath, consciously move to inhaling and exhaling out through the nose and notice what happens to your mind and body.

NOTICE WHAT HAPPENS OVER TIME FOR YOU

In order to change the state of your mind, start practicing changing your breath. Do this throughout the day by setting an alarm, pairing it with other activities, or every time you change a task. When this is done consistently, over a period of time, you may start to notice lasting changes in how you meet challenges and your reactions. I know, having focused on these four areas of breathing over the past decade, I have decreased the intensity and duration of my reactions. I also react less to challenging situations overall. Consistently using these breathing techniques has been a big contributor to this change.

Enjoy your breath!

Namaste.