In yoga teacher training we focused on anatomy quite a bit and a big part of every conversation was around breath. It’s funny to think we could spend so much time discussing something that we don’t even think about doing, especially when do it constantly. However, I’ve learned that our breath is our compass for our next step. It helps control our emotions, decision making, and each move our body will make. Stay with me here…

Try this on. Sit up straight and take a deep breath in for 4 counts, out for 6 counts. Inhale for 4, exhale for 6. Repeat 3-5 times with your eyes closed. Continue a few rounds of normal breath on your own rhythm.

Take a minute to reflect what you felt, whether it be relief, calmness, uncertainty, weirdness. We tend not to mindfully breathe as we go about our days, whatever they may look like, so if it felt unnatural that’s okay, just know that it doesn’t have to.

When we take deep mindful breaths even just a few times a day, it helps our central nervous system relax and slow down. Not only does this supply fresh oxygen to our entire body including our muscles and cells, but it also helps remove toxins from our body. Mindful breathing can help with stress responses such as tension and anxiety.

When your exhale is a few counts longer than your inhale it can calm or “turn down” your sympathetic nervous system and elevate or “turn up” your parasympathetic nervous system. One more time, stay with me! I’ll break this down as best I can.

The sympathetic nervous system is your flight or fight response. Think of what your reaction would be if you were standing in an elevator and it dropped slightly and stopped. You would probably feel your heartbeat increase and your breath get faster. Do you get the same feeling when someone in traffic cuts you off? (For you west coast folk, don’t judge me, okay? New Yorkers aren’t as passive!). Sometimes, we need our fight or flight, but most of the time we don’t. When we turn this on too frequently it creates an imbalance of our body’s hormone production by elevating our cortisol.

Oppositely, your parasympathetic nervous system controls your response to rest and relaxation. Think of the blissful moment right before you’re about to fall asleep. You feel calm, at ease, and peaceful. Your heartbeat is slower, blood pressure is lower, and breath calmer. When else do you feel this way throughout your day? We typically don’t spend a ton of time turning up our parasympathetic nervous system because we are a society of go-go-go and “always tuned in”.

Mindful breathing helps us enter that state of rest and relaxation and it has tons of benefits for not only your mind but also your body. Next time you begin to turn to your fight or flight response, I challenge you to stop and take 5 deep breaths first. Does your response change? Do you feel less stressed? Is your body connecting with your mind and staying calm? Take note of the changes in your body. Continued practice of mindful breathing can pay off in the long term, plus it won’t feel so weird eventually!

J-