The Power of Breath
Written By Kyle Ligon - MovementLink Head Coach
To some it may sound like woo-woo, but science has has shown that you can actually influence your physiology in very positive ways through different breathing patterns.
For me, I regularly use breathing techniques to break stress cycles, either to re-focus my work day or to help reset my hormones when I’m feeling high anxiety.
The key here is to experiment with different strategies to see what resonates with you. For some, different meditation styles will work, for others, prescriptive breathing patterns like 4 seconds in, 8 seconds out, or hyperventilating followed by breath holds, and for others simply spending 10 minutes quiet with their eyes closed does wonders.
There are tons of websites and apps dedicated to meditation and breathing, so, in this article, I am going to focus at a higher level, just so you get some insight on 1) the different styles of breath work that I have found to be effective, and 2) possible practical applications of each style.
Here are some common breathing techniques to experiment with…
Exhaling twice as long as inhales or Box Breathing to calm down, enhance effectiveness of mobility work, and right after workouts to get out of fight or flight mode that comes from intense exercise and into rest/recovery mode.
Note, the structure of our classes include mobility work in our cool-downs with a major reason being that mobility work and cool-downs can both benefit from the same breathing pattern.
Hyperventilating to rev up for high intensity efforts by taking 5-30 very big, quick inhales and exhales.
Double inhale(s) to dump carbon dioxide. Most people think that the only thing that matters is getting oxygen in, but getting carbon dioxide out is equally important.
Hyperventilating + breath holds to reset emotionally during the day. Lay down and perform 1-3 rounds of:
30 Hyperventilating Breaths
Exhale all of your air and hold your breath. For me, the first 10-15 seconds are the toughest, but then I settle in and over time I have been able to hold my breath like this for 3+ minutes.
When you can’t take it anymore, hold on just a little longer and then take a big breath in and hold that for as long as you can.
Repeat this cycle of 30 hyperventilating breaths + 1 exhaled breath hold + 1 inhaled breath hold 1-3 times.
Breath Hold to reset my mood. My guess as to why this helps me break anxiety is because when we are starving for air, we my primitive brain goes into survival mode and doesn’t worry about the nit-picky things in my life. Afterwards, I typically feel drastically different and much better.
I make sure I’m sitting or laying down in case I accidently pass out.
I hold my breath and make it very challenging. The terribleness of it is what I contribute the benefits to.
Take a max inhale of breath with a quick pause and then attempt to fill the lungs even further to get rid of hiccups.
10 minutes meditation to be more mindful, destress, and gain back focus. There are a few different mediation techniques, so started with apps that provide guided meditations can help your journey.
Having tried more formal meditation techniques that are more actively focusing on my breath, I have actually found that simply closing my eyes, sitting still, and being silent for 10 minutes, actively not thinking about stressful things, but also, letting my brain wander into whatever else it wants, does wonders for me. Sometimes I even fall asleep. After the 10 minutes is up, I typically am re-focuses, re-energized, and ready for whatever’s next.
Breath work can be extremely powerful in resetting your mood and it is absolutely worth experimenting with, so even if you don’t make it a daily habit, you’ll have it in your toolbox for when you need it.
