USING THE BREATH TO SELF-REGULATE.
USING THE BREATH TO SELF-REGULATE.
When our heart is beating fast, our mind goes blank, our stomach is in knots, our mouth is dry, palms sweaty, pupils dilate……we have been triggered and we’re in our stress response. Our physiology is in a state of chaos and we feel out of control and unsure of ourselves. It’s an awful feeling that we’ve all experienced.
To self-regulate means to gain control over your physiology so you can move from a chaotic state to a more balanced state.
The incredible and most empowering thing is that you can do this in a matter of minutes through your breath.
The breath is the mediator between the body and the mind. The body slows down to the breath and the mind slows down to the body.
The breath is so powerful because when we focus on the breath it lands us in the NOW. You can’t be in breath in the future or past — it is your link to the present moment.
When we take slow, deep and rhythmic breaths with awareness we;
Connect to the present moment and stop catastrophizing.
Interrupt the amygdala gland - the alarm bell of the brain, which is on overdrive when we’re stressed or anxious.
We downshift the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and dial up the parasympathetic nervous system (tend and befriend).
When we breath into the lower lobes of the lungs we communicate to the body we are safe and there’s more O2 saturation.
We create a pause between the stimulus and our response.
We bring greater coherency to our entire body.
Once a state of calm has been achieved, you can address the concern with a clear-minded, whole-brain response, instead of just reacting from a place of fear.
We don’t need to be in a complete state of chaos to tap into the breath. I often connect to my breath throughout my day to slow down, and to feel more balanced.
As well as breathing slowly and deeply we want to breath rhythmically e.g. inhale for 4 and exhale for 6 or inhale for 6 and exhale for 6.
You might like to try ‘Breath For Coherency’ below, which is a 6x6 breath.
Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash