In addition to proper nutrition and exercise, proper and conscious breathing can help us maintain our energy, balance and calm in stressful situations. Yoga, at least as I practiced it in India, has a strong focus on the breath and the state of mind, rather than the acrobatic versions you see on Instagram today. The breath is the vehicle on which the mind rides.

There are different types of breathing exercises that can help you calm down or become active, depending on what you need at the time. Pranayama, one of the core practices of yoga, is often translated as "control of the life force" or "breath control." "Prana" means life force (breath), and "yama" means control.

Breathing is a physical act that occurs when the diaphragm contracts. What's special about breathing is that the muscles that cause breathing are controlled subconsciously, even though they are skeletal muscles when you're not thinking about breathing. The part of your nervous system that regulates your breathing as well as the other body functions is called the autonomic nervous system (ANS) because it works independently of consciousness. The interesting thing about breathing is that you can consciously influence your breathing without much effort if you observe your breathing.

The ability to consciously influence the breath turns out to be the key to the breath's power over the mind, because it allows us to use the breath to influence the subconscious. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is responsible for maintaining the body's balance and deciding when to activate your nervous system (making you more alert and, in extreme cases, triggering the stress response) and when to relax.

The connection between the breath and the autonomic nervous system is a two-way connection: the ANS not only regulates the breath, but the way you breathe also controls the ANS, either up-regulating or down-regulating your nervous system. By consciously noticing the breath and consciously changing the way you breathe, you can use your body's skeletal muscles to influence your autonomic nervous system and either increase your alertness or relax you, depending on what you need at the time.

A slower breath, a belly breath, has a relaxing effect. A faster breath, higher up in the torso, has an energizing effect. Breathing high up in the chest is what we call paradoxical breathing because this type of breathing does not use the diaphragm, the most important and efficient muscle of breathing. In addition, this type of breathing strongly and continuously triggers the stress response, thus chronically poisoning your system with stress hormones.

Let's do a self-test -
Breathe in slowly through your nose into your stomach and breathe out slowly. Now think of a stressful situation that you have experienced recently. You can see how your breathing rhythm changes - to short and irregular breaths.

Now breathe in and out quickly and shallowly into your chest. Think of a nice experience you had with your family or friends. How you felt happy and connected to the people around you. Notice how your breathing automatically calms down.

Stressful thoughts lead to irregular breathing and calm breathing leads to calm thoughts. Controlling your breathing is the quickest and most effective way to control your thoughts and calm your mind.

In yoga, there are a large number of specific breathing exercises that either energize or relax the nervous system. And some (like Nadi Shodhana) bring both aspects into balance. It is beyond the scope of this blog to go into the details of the various pranayama breathing exercises, but here are a few basic rules of breathing.

Inhaling vs. Exhaling
Inhaling activates the sympathetic nervous system (which is responsible for fight or flight) and exhaling activates the parasympathetic nervous system (which is responsible for rest and relaxation). Inhaling activates and exhaling relaxes. This is why your heart rate increases when you inhale and decreases when you exhale. The longer you exhale, the more relaxed you are. As a rule, it can be twice as long. You can practice this at any time, whether you are sitting in front of the computer, jogging or cycling. Activities such as singing, humming, chanting om are good for consciously breathing in quickly and breathing out longer.


nasal vs. mouth breathing

The nose is for breathing in and the mouth is for eating! The air that is breathed in through the nose is filtered, warm and moist. Nitric oxide is produced in the paranasal sinuses, which enters the body when breathing in and is transported to the lungs and heart. It is our body's first line of defense against pathogens in the air. It also lowers blood pressure and increases the amount of oxygen absorbed in the blood. Mouth breathing allows cold, dry and unfiltered air to enter the lungs. You should avoid this!

chest vs. abdominal breathing

While chest breathing is short and rapid, abdominal breathing is slow and deep, with the inhalation and exhalation taking longer and more oxygen entering the bloodstream. During chest breathing, the lungs are inflated with the help of the chest muscles by pulling on the chest. This causes the chest to expand and contract with each breath.

Abdominal breathing, on the other hand, uses the full capacity of the lungs by pulling the abdominal cavity downward to fully inflate the lungs. The alveoli in the lower part of the lungs absorb oxygen from the air and release it into the blood, which then carries it to the organs. Deep abdominal breathing helps us take in more oxygen.

In summary, you can control your emotional well-being directly by controlling your breathing. Before doing any complicated pranayamas, it is helpful to keep the basic rules in mind.

- Breathe through your nose and not your mouth
- Breathe out longer than you breathe in (ideally twice as long)
- Use abdominal breathing instead of chest breathing as often as possible

In our next blog post we will delve deeper into activating our diaphragm and simple breathing exercises.

Photo by Motoki Tonn on Unsplash