Breathe

Unfortunately because we don’t have to think about it, we don’t think about it and yet putting some work into how we breathe is one of most transformative and rewarding things we can do.

But why I hear you say. Life is busy enough, why waste time focusing on something that happens whether I focus on it or not?

Let’s start with some science about how our breathing is controlled.

Science of the breath

Our central nervous system is in control of our breathing. It receives signals from our brain and in particular the vagus nerve which sits at the base of our skull in our neck. You know the feeling of hairs standing up on the back of your neck ? That’s the vagus nerve doing its thing.

There are two sides to our central nervous system. Both sides are vital to healthy life but as you will discover, modern life has sent us all out of balance.

Parasympathetic nervous system

If its a family Christmas dinner and your hyperactive nephew who has had way too much sugar is your sympathetic nervous system, then your chilled out uncle who is now asleep in the corner after dinner and oblivious to the world is your parasympathetic nervous system. This is your “rest and digest” response and this is where you want your body to be the vast majority of the time. 

In this state your heart rate and blood pressure reduces, your body releases chemicals to help you relax and digest food and you will feel calmer and more relaxed. Sleep comes easier and will be deeper and more refreshing. 

The problem is our over busy, over stressed, over worried, under rested bodies are spending way too much time in the wrong side of our nervous system. This is a uniquely modern problem. Our lives are thankfully without much actual danger so we have substituted the detritus of modern life in its place and we simply have lost the ability to truely relax as we are over stimulating our brains with streaming, social media and the internet. 

What a mess we have made, how can we fix this?

Conscious breathing 

Taking control through conscious breathing

The answer is deceptively simple but simple does not mean easy. If we become aware of our breath and how we are breathing we can correct it and take control over our Vegus nerve and thus our central nervous system. The challenge here is simply that because breathing is unconscious we don’t think we can control it when the very opposite is true and by practicing conscious breathing we will gradually take back control of our nervous system.

So how to start?

This can seem daunting at first but in reality it’s like eating an elephant, just take little bites and you be surprised how much you have eaten.

Nasal breathing

This may come as a shock to many people but your mouth is not designed for you to breathe through. When you breathe through your mouth all manner of bad things happen.

• You over breathe
• You breathe shallow
• You breathe too fast
• You breathe in air which is the wrong temperature
• You unbalance your blood PH
• You unbalance your oxygen/co2 levels
• You damage your teeth and gums
• You dry your mouth out
• At night mouth breathing leads to snoring, sleep apnea and generally poor sleep
• This list is almost endless by the way

Your nose and the sinus system it connects with is nothing less than a miracle of design.

Breathing through your nose corrects all of the issues shown above with mouth breathing as well as a host of other benefits including;

• Utilising nitric oxide which is produced in your sinuses and helps to disinfect your nasal and sinus system from respiratory issues (might be helpful now maybe)
• Nitric oxide is also a vasodilator and helps your lungs breath deeper into your abdomen
• Breathing nasally also reduces the volume of air breathed and naturally reduces the pace of breathing
• Nasal breathing humidifies and warms the air entering the lungs
• It increases the air flow to veins ,arteries and nerves
• Basically nasal breathing rules.

So now we have established that nasal breathing is the way forward I guess the question to ask is why we don’t nasal breathe naturally anymore?

Well some people do but I would estimate that at least 50% of the population are mouth breathers and there are many reasons for this;

• Nasal blockage — many people (myself included) have noses that are blocked through being broken or just not being used. Surgery helped me and that may be an option.
• Use it or lose it — if you mouth breathe because your nose feels congested it will just get more congested. The nasal system is like a muscle that needs exercise, if you stop using it then it will atrophy and get worse and worse.
• Cultural acceptance — mouth breathing has just been accepted as the norm whilst there is plenty of evidence that civilisations going back thousands of years recognised that nasal breathing was the way we should be breathing.
• Evolution – the shape of our face and jaw has changed dramatically in the last thousand years. The theory behind this is that our diet changed as we became more advanced and we learnt how to cook therefore we ate more soft foods and chewed much less. This has resulted in a narrowing of the jawline, reduced space in our mouth and an over crowding of teeth in the smaller jaw. Comparison with skeletons from the last 500 years shows just how much the shape of our face has changed. 

Your diaphragm is truely an amazing thing. Unfortunately most of us have dispensed with using it to breathe deeply into our abdomen and just breathe in a shallow , rapid fashion into our upper chest. All we are really doing is topping up a water bottle that is already half full and we are never breathing deeply into our abdomen. By breathing deeply we actually slow our breathing down, utilise our lungs more efficiently and start to activate the parasympathetic nervous system which relaxes us.

Light breathing

Unless you are physically exerting yourself your breathing should be almost undetectable to anyone else , quiet and gentle. In reality most of us are gasping for air, sighing, taking over exaggerated deep breaths to calm us down which actually has the opposite effect. Once you become obsessed with breathwork like me you will find yourself doing a breathing assessment on everyone you meet. Try it, by doing this it will make you more attuned to your own breathing.

Stress 

Nothing will jack your breathing up like stress. Stress surrounds us these days, we have done an amazing job of making ourselves stressed and miserable and our breathing is both symptom and cure. There are many strategies to reduce stress in your life but let’s focus on one that is free, effective and abundant , the breath.

Breathing exercises 

As a Buteyko method breath instructor I have learnt many different techniques using the breath to help a myriad of physical and mental issues. All of these are built around the principle of Light, Slow, Deep breathing. Let’s refer to it as LSD breathing.

Light

Undetectable, silent, gentle breath

Slow

Ten-seconds per breath, four-seconds inhale nasally , six-seconds exhale nasally, six times per minute.

Deep

Breathing into the abdomen, up into the ribcage, finishing in the chest and back.

LSD breathing will transform your life.

If you already breathe well the difference will be smaller but if your breathing is really dysfunctional I would be brave enough to say that it is the number one thing you can do to improve your mental and physical health (apart from stopping smoking obviously).

Exercise 2 – preparing to sleep

Start this exercise about an hour before you intend to go to sleep. You could do it while watching the TV but ideally you would be relaxing maybe with a book or a meditation before bed.

Relax and centre yourself, make sure you are in a comfy chair or laying down.

Breathe in nasally from your abdomen to a count of four, hold that breath in for a count of six, now release that breath nasally for a count of seven, brief pause at the end of the exhale then repeat for as long as you need to start feeling tired. It won’t be long if you do this properly and avoid distractions.

Got questions? Email Dave at phoenixholisticwellness@protonmail.com

There are many other exercises that I can teach you that are tailored to your individual need.