When we first learned about belly breaths, it really caught our attention. It may sound New Age, but it has ancient roots. And its benefits have been scientifically verified (3). This simple act of controlling your breathing can improve your life in meaningful ways.
How belly breaths can improve your health
Dr. Nicole LePera explains the importance of breathwork on her Instagram. She describes breathing and its impact on 2 of our nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system responds when we are in “fight or flight.” The parasympathetic nervous system takes over when we are in “rest and digest.” When we’re relaxed and feeling happy, our breathing deepens and slows automatically. And, we take shallow, quick breathes when we’re stressed and full of anxiety. Our breathing pattern is an automatic response to our mental state and mood. But, most people don’t realize that we can choose to activate our parasympathetic nervous system by controlling our breathing, reversing the cause-and-effect relationship (1).
Ideally, we’d live in the parasympathetic system, but we usually don’t. Because of today’s external stresses and our over-stimulated mental states, we exist in stress response mode most of the time. Living in crisis mode harms our well-being. It makes us jumpy and emotionally reactive, which is not desirable. And if it is prolonged, we become numb and dissociated. Controlling your breathing has two immediate benefits. First, it shifts you out of “fight or flight” mode and into “rest and digest” mode. Secondly, it forces you to focus on your breathing rather than the stressor. It doesn’t eliminate the stressor. Instead, it puts you in a better state of mind to deal with it.
In other words, breathwork is our manual switch to activate our parasympathetic nervous system. It clears our minds and connects us to our bodies returning us to mental equilibrium. It benefits both our minds and our bodies.
How to do belly breaths
Dr. LePera instructs us to start with one hand on our belly. Take a long deep breath and consciously send it deep down to your belly or your diaphragm. Then slowly exhale. She recommends taking at least 5 deep belly breaths sometime during our day. Deeper breaths help us experience being in the relaxation state of the parasympathetic nervous system. Familiarizing yourself with feeling relaxed helps you recognize when you are not in this state.
She demonstrates belly breaths here. Try it out and let us know what you think. These simple belly breaths have had a profound impact on our lives. So, we had to share.
You can follow her on Instagram @the.holistic.psychologist
Read more posts about Mind where we discuss strategies for maintaining mental balance.
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Publications
(1) André, C. (2019, January 15). Proper Breathing Brings Better Health. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/proper-breathing-brings-better-health/
(2) Ma, X., Yue, Z., Gong, Z., Zhang, H., Duan, N., Shi, Y., . . . Li, Y. (2017, June 6). The Effect of Diaphragmatic Breathing on Attention, Negative Affect and Stress in Healthy Adults. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5455070/
(3) Zaccaro, A., Piarulli, A., Laurino, M., Garbella, E., Menicucci, D., Neri, B., & Gemignani, A. (2018, September 7). How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Retrieved January 24, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6137615/
