Breathwork
This Section Includes:
Breathe in, Breathe Out: Intro to Breathing
Common Forms of Breathing
Let’s Practice It
The Power of Breathing
Breathe In, Breathe Out: Intro to Breathing
We do it all day, every day. Breathing is an automatic process that happens without any conscious effort on our part. But much like thinking, we don’t realize how important our breathing is in relation to how we feel emotionally and physically. We can go three weeks without food, three days without water, but only three minutes without breathing.
Fun fact: We take in a fresh breath of air about every 4 to 5 seconds or 22,000 times a day. That’s enough air to fill a normal-sized swimming pool!
The Process of Breathing
Inhaled air is approximately 80% oxygen and 20% nitrogen (& a small amount of other various gases).
Exhaled air is approximately 79% nitrogen, 15% oxygen, 5% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gasses like hydrogen.
Hydrogen in exhaled air comes from the metabolic activity of microorganisms in the gut, and carbon dioxide comes from the breakdown of certain proteins in the body.
When we take in a breath correctly, our diaphragm moves downward and pushes on our internal organs as it pulls oxygen into our lungs. This moves the kidneys and other internal organs around a few centimeters, helping to keep them healthy.
We have 100 times more carbon dioxide than oxygen in our system. Healthy breathing is maintaining a healthy balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide. Breathing slowly will increase carbon dioxide levels, which attract oxygen and allow for more efficient transportation of oxygen throughout the body. Carbon dioxide also relaxes blood vessels so they can carry more oxygen. Heavy breathing will lower carbon dioxide too fast, so slow and steady breathing with long exhales is better for maintaining proper balance.
Your breath and heart work together to keep the blood oxygenated and help blood move more efficiently through the body. Healthy breathing will lower blood pressure and reduce the workload on your heart. The chest cavity works like a respiratory pump to help the heart. As the diaphragm descends during an inhale, pressure in the (upper) chest cavity is reduced, and pressure in the (lower) abdomen increases. This helps move blood up from the abdomen into the upper chest cavity. The diaphragm's movement also changes the heart's physical size, influencing the speed at which blood passes through the heart's chambers, which also changes the heart rate.
In the process of breathing, when we inhale and exhale correctly, it should feel like (a 360-degree expansion of the torso).
Correct breathing removes most of the air from the lungs, while breathing incorrectly only removes a portion of the air in your lungs before taking in another breath, so you have a mixture of old and fresh air. Your breath and heart work together to keep the blood oxygenated and help blood move more efficiently through the body. Healthy breathing lowers blood pressure and reduces the workload on your heart.
So, when you take a strong breath, your torso expands 360 degrees. When you boost your breathing, you boost your body's power to detoxify itself. By breathing correctly, you can provide your body with better nutrition than you do with your diet!
Common Forms of Breathing
Hyperventilation, or when we start to over-breathe or under-breathe (hypoventilation), causes an
increase or decrease in the pH levels in our bodies. If we want to be able to maintain a
proper pH balance, it is crucial that we breathe properly.
Diaphragmatic breathing or deep breathing causes the abdomen to rise and fall. This is a
deeper level of breathing that exchanges more air and helps balance respiration. This
automatic process happens as our body monitors changes in carbon dioxide levels
released into our body, like when we exercise.
How Our Brain Monitors Breathing
Our brain is always monitoring our breath and notices even the slightest changes in our
breathing:
• When we inhale, our heart rate increases
• When we exhale, our heart rate decreases
• A long slow exhale will lower our heart rate and blood pressure
If we aren’t breathing correctly, our brain notices and sends signals, releasing stress hormones into the body. When we get stressed or excited, our breathing changes to maintain or balance carbon dioxide levels.
We activate our parasympathetic nervous system by consciously taking deeper breaths and longer exhales. This system calms us down after our fight-or-flight response is activated. It triggers our body to slow down our breathing and heart rate and cools us down.
It’s good practice to do this manually several times a day: take a few deep, long breaths, clear out the stale air left in your lungs, and calm your nervous system. The STOP procedure is a good model: Stop, Take a deep breath, Open yourself to all possibilities, and Proceed with the best option for the situation.
The nerves that stimulate the chest cavity wall are triggered by taking a deep breath, signaling to the brain that everything is fine. This is known as the “sigh of relief,” which usually happens after an emergency or crisis is over. Our brain responds by lowering the flow of stress hormones released when we are in that fight, flight or freeze mode.
“Dysfunctional breathing is the respiratory equivalent of eating fast food 23,000 times a day.””
Let’s Practice It
•Sit in a comfortable, upright, and alert posture; focus all your attention on the sensation of breathing.
•Select a region of the body to focus on.
•Maintain attention to the sensation of breathing. Notice the sensation of the air entering through the nostrils or the movement of the abdomen in and out.
•When your mind wanders from those sensations to other topics, thoughts, or memories gently bring it back to the sensation of breathing; it stands out
Story by Richard Dismukes
A friend shared a story with me that highlights the connection between breathing and heart rate. He was exercising on a treadmill and maintaining his heart rate at 120 beats per minute. He had been walking for about 20 minutes when he received a routine text message that took his attention away from his breathing. He briefly responded to the text while walking at the same pace. When he returned his attention to his breathing and the monitor, his heart rate had climbed to 160 BPM in the 10 seconds, or so it took to look at the message.
