Thrive in 2023 Practice #9: A mindful breathwork practice for deep relaxation

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” — Zen Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh

Welcome to the Wells Performance Newsletter for September 2023. This year our focus will be on helping you to get flourishing and thriving by sharing health, wellbeing and peak performance science and strategies that you can easily add to your life!

When we are stressed, anxious and afraid, our breathing gets shallow and fast, almost like rapid panting. This breathing pattern can spark and modulate our “fight, flight or freeze” stress response. While critical to our survival in dangerous situations, this response can be crippling in our modern world. Extreme stress, fighting, running away, hyperventilating, or feeling paralyzed rarely serve us.

When we’re stressed and anxious, the resulting shallow rapid breathing leads to lower oxygen levels and higher carbon dioxide in our blood. This makes it harder to get oxygen to our mitochondria so we can create energy to deal with the life challenge. Poor mitochondrial function affects our mental health. The buildup in carbon dioxide is uncomfortable — we experience this as feeling out of breath — and high carbon dioxide levels in our blood can even lead to symptoms like a panic attack.

Almost all of us instinctively take a deep breath to relax. Yogis use breathing to deliberately activate or calm the body and mind. Meditators use breath to bring their attention into the present moment and change their state of being. Yoga, meditating and practicing breathwork deliberately slow down breathing frequency (how fast we take breaths). We are learning more and more how we can use breathing to elicit the relaxation response and enhance our mindset and health.

Take a moment with me. Place a hand on your belly. Next, inhale deeply and fill your belly with your breath. Pause. Then exhale slowly to the count of seven. Try that once more and let the exhale be gentle and slow. Repeat this cycle a few times.

Congratulations! You just practiced mindful breathing and, in the process, calmed down your nervous system! Your sympathetic system (ready to mobilize for fight/flight/freeze responses) decreased its activity, and your parasympathetic system (keeping us calm and rested) relaxed your internal organs, hormone system, and muscles.

Nice, gentle, relaxing breaths with a longer exhale than inhale increase your energy and decrease the tension in your body and brain. As you now know, the benefits of a breathwork practice like this are significant, so learning this technique can have a powerful positive effect on your health and life.

Here is a super simple but power breathing technique to help you feel more relaxed and calm anywhere anytime.

The 2:4:6 Breathing Technique

First, find a special place that you can sit comfortably or lie down. I love using my yoga mat in the middle of our music room at home.

Bring your attention to your body and breath. Place your hands on your belly.

Now inhale to a count of two, expanding your belly. Pause for a count of four. Then slowly exhale to a count of six. Each time that you exhale, consciously relax your muscles and release tension from your brain and body.

Congratulations! You just completed the 2:4:6 breathing technique. It’s easy to try and easy to remember. Ideally, I’d love you to work your way up to five minutes (five cycles), then 10 minutes (10 cycles), then maybe even 20 minutes (20 cycles). Don’t worry about the time so much as staying relaxed and enjoying the process.

We hope this information helps you get some perspective about breathwork practices that lead you to an upward spiral of wellness!

If you want to learn more about breath, I cover that topic in the first chapter in my new book Powerhouse: Protect Your Energy, Optimize Your Health and Supercharge Your Performance.

If you want to try a cool app that leads you through some breathwork exercises check out “Othership”. You can download it at this link: https://www.othership.us/app.

Have a great month!