You’ve probably heard someone tell you to ‘just breathe’ and thought to yourself “yeah right” or “that’s not going to help!” I thought the exact same before I learned the science behind conscious breathing and how powerful it can be.
Before trying any breathing exercises, it’s important to understand exactly HOW and WHY breathing works. Breathing is like a muscle, when we train it, it becomes stronger and it’s our bodies built in emotional remote control.
The Science Behind Conscious Breathing
Breathing IN: Sympathetic Nervous System (The ENERGY Response)
Breathing in is our bodies way of giving us energy. It’s like our bodies accelerator pedal. Our body breathes in oxygen which gives us the energy to face challenges, danger or stress.
Breathing in triggers our sympathetic nervous system- the system that tells our body to get ready for action.
Breathing OUT: Parasympathetic Nervous System (The RELAXATION Response)
Breathing out is our bodies way of calming down. It’s like our bodies brake pedal. Our lungs and brain communicate with each other; when we breathe out, our bodies relaxation response is triggered.
Breathing out triggers our parasympathetic nervous system- the system that tells our body to relax and feel calm.
Sometimes the communication between our lungs and brain can become dysregulated such as when we frequently find ourselves in situations where we feel threatened (such as in PTSD or when we feel anxious or angry a lot of the time).
How do we repair this communication
When we practice conscious breathing, it’s like going to the gym, training to become better at a sport, or practicing a hobby like knitting or drawing. The more we do it, the better we get.
If you’re somebody who spends a lot of time feeling angry or anxious, the best form of training to reduce and control this is conscious breathing. Let’s look at how we can start doing this;
Try the following steps in your own time;
Step 1: Interlock you finger and place your hands over your belly.
Step 2: Take a deep breath in; you want to feel your belly inflate like a balloon.
Step 3: Breathe out more slowly and feel your belly slowly deflate.
Once you feel comfortable with this, begin counting each in-breath and out-breath, making sure the out-breath is LONGER than the in-breath. Here’s a good guide to follow;
Count to 7 as you breathe in.
Count to 11 as you breathe out.
If this feels like too much, start slowly;
Count to 3 as you breathe in.
Count to 5 as you breathe out.
Then start increasing the length of your breathes until you’re at 7 in and 11 out.
If you practice this for 5 minutes per day, you’ll soon have control over your emotions. You’ll be improving the communication between your lungs and your brain until, soon, you can take one deep breathe and feel instantly calm again when something stresses you out.
By doing this, you are training your bodies emotional remote control which can help you stay calm in stressful situations without people even realising.
