Connection between breath and anxiety
Have you been to a yoga class and heard the teacher saying the Sanskrit word ‘prana’ ? Wonder what it means? Loosely translated it means ‘life’s force’. Prana is brought into the body with breath; it is essential for living. Bringing in breath, life’s force, and exhaling what we don’t need, happens automatically. It is an unconscious practice of the lungs that sustains us, just like a beating heart and a throat that swallows. These unconscious life supporting actions are managed by our vagus nerve. This nerve is our longest and is connected to organs, glands and systems from our brain, down through our torso and into our bellies. It is an information super highway delivering messages from external and internal sources.
If the vagus nerve picks up external or internal messages of a perceived threat it directs our autonomic nervous system to engage in ‘fight or flight’. This physiological state, properly known as sympathetic nervous system, gets engaged to help protect you. The wiring that carries messages to protect us is what has helped keep our species to survive through all kinds of dangers. While our modern world has different dangers that our ancestors, the wiring still works the same way. If our breath is unbalanced, slightly held because we are scared of a tiger or a phone notification, the body responds in the same way. Your heart beat gets faster, your muscles contract and other protective mechanisms show up without your knowledge. Increase heart rate, muscle tightness, clammy hands and worrying thoughts can also be labeled as anxiety.
Why we bring breath into therapy
We hypothesize that reversing homeostatic alterations with meditation and breathing techniques rather than targeting neurotransmitters with medication may be a superior method to address the whole body changes that occur in stress, anxiety, and depression.
For example, shallow inhales followed by minimal exhales can send signals to our body that we are either encountering a perceived threat in the here-and-now OR something similar to what is happening ‘now’ has occurred in the past and our body is preparing for the unpleasantness that it experienced years ago.
Breath is a three-way bridge that connects our nervous and limbic systems to our bodies AND the present moment. Words and thoughts can NOT make our body disengage from its survival wiring but breath can; it is one of the mechanisms that can shift our physiological state. The vagus nerve can notice full inhales and long exhales and send (unconscious) signals to the body indicating a state of safety.
By being mindfully aware of anxiety, panic, or discomfort in our bodies or minds we can shift our body’s response to the present moment by doing a breathing exercise. Simple, right?
Not really. It is only simple if we have practiced breathing exercises when we felt comfortable, grounded, or ‘fine.’ But if we are experiencing anxiety, panic, overwhelm, PTSD, or catastrophic thoughts, it is really challenging to try a breathing exercise for the first time if we have not practiced it several times. When we are not fine our heart rate is usually elevated and bringing on a new and slow breathing pattern that is unfamiliar will not work out very well. So, what can we do?
Breathing Exercises
Practice one or all of the breathing exercises below everyday. Not just when you feel anxious. The more you practice them, the easier it is to put them in action when you need them. Actively participating in breath can be a great way to start your day. Similar to meditating it can calm your nervous system and bring resilience to your day.
Basic Belly Breathing
Learning and practicing Belly Breathing (or Diaphragmatic Breathing) is the foundation of all breath work and can quickly bring calm to the mind and body when done properly. Cyndi & Peyton guide you through this important exercise which can also double as a meditation.
“Cyclic Sighing” – Exhale!
Meditative exercises and/or mindfulness meditation can be the first step to learning Mindfulness. Focusing attention and curiosity on breath and our five senses can cultivate the brain’s ability to attend to the present moment. If practiced daily, this breath exercise can improve mood and focused attention.
Experiencing anxiety, panic attacks, feeling overwhelmed, or intrusive thoughts that won’t stop?
All of our therapists at Flourish! can help you explore patterns thatfrequently contribute to anxiety, panic, and cycling thoughts. Talking about your past can help bring awareness to how it is influencing behaviors or physiological states that show up today, in the here-and-now.
We like to bring breath exercises into the therapy session. Practicing with your therapist can shift your nervous system, and/or thought patterns. Experiencing the shift in session can help you experience the relief you are looking for.
Our therapists can guide you towards building awareness of your heart rate, breath, and nervous system state. Your awareness can significantly improve your ability to bring in the tools and techniques to calm the mind and body.
Reference
Jerath, R., Crawford, M.W., Barnes, V.A. et al. Self-Regulation of Breathing as a Primary Treatment for Anxiety. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 40, 107–115 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-015-9279-8
