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by Veronique Gauthier-Simmons 24 October 2024

Managing stress with breathwork

Véronique Gauthier-Simmons, the founder of Taming the Walrus, is an Advanced Breathwork facilitator. She explains how Breathwork can help you manage stress and anxiety.

Whether you are new to breathwork or ready to explore more advanced practices, there are techniques to suit every experience level. As you begin your journey with breathwork, be patient with yourself and remember that even a few minutes of conscious breathing each day can make a significant difference.

What is breathwork?

Breathwork is an intentional practice of changing your breath to influence your mental, emotional and physical well-being.

Unlike mindfulness meditation, where we observe without actively trying to change, breathwork involves intentionally changing the body’s physiological state through controlled breathing techniques.

Breathwork has roots in ancient traditions like yoga and pranayama, but its modern-day use is supported by scientific research on its physiological benefits. It has become increasingly popular in wellness routines for its ability to enhance relaxation, mental clarity, and overall health. For people with chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS), breathwork offers a low-impact, adaptable practice that can be tailored to individual needs.

The science behind breathwork

Have you ever noticed how your breathing changes when you feel angry, sad, worried or in love? This connection between how we feel and how we breathe is at the core of breathwork. By changing how we breathe, we change how we feel. In other words, when we consciously alter our breath, we’re not just affecting our lungs, we’re impacting our entire nervous system.

By engaging in specific breathing patterns, you can directly influence your body’s autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls involuntary functions like heart rate, digestion, and the stress response. Breathwork can shift the ANS from a sympathetic (fight or flight) state to a parasympathetic (rest and digest) state, promoting relaxation and reducing anxiety.

Studies show that breathwork can improve oxygen delivery to tissues and promote better circulation, lower blood pressure, reduce cortisol levels (the body’s primary stress hormone), stimulate the vagus nerve, induce a shift in brainwave activity from hyper-alert to relaxed and creative, improve immune function, and enhance sleep quality. By practicing breathwork, you’re nurturing your emotional and mental well-being while also supporting your physical health.

For people living with multiple sclerosis, these benefits can be particularly valuable in managing emotional stress, but also symptoms like muscle tightness.

Breath awareness and optimal breathing

Breath awareness simply means becoming aware of the way we breathe. This is essential, and a prerequisite to any breathwork session. Notice how you breathe. Are you breathing through the nose or mouth? How long is your inhale? What about the exhale? Which part of your body moves when you inhale? To practice breath awareness, simply observe your breath throughout the day and learn to ‘read your breath’.

The next question is: Are you breathing optimally? Optimal breathing is the way we should breathe throughout the day while doing ‘normal’ activities. There are three pillars to optimal breathing: nasal breathing, diaphragmatic breathing and slow breathing.

First, breathing through your nose, rather than your mouth, is considered the most efficient way to breathe. The nose filters, warms and humidifies the air before it reaches the delicate membrane of the lungs and ensures optimal oxygen intake. Nasal breathing also triggers the production of nitric oxide, a molecule that helps dilate blood vessels, improving circulation and oxygen delivery. And last but not least breathing through the nose activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping to lower stress and anxiety.

The second pillar of optimal breathing is diaphragmatic breathing, which is also known as ‘belly breathing’. To check if you are using your diaphragm properly while breathing, place one hand on your upper abdomen and inhale. What happens? Is your belly expanding? If it is, then you are using your diaphragm properly. In other words, diaphragmatic breathing means the belly expands on the inhale and releases on the exhale. By focusing on diaphragmatic breathing, we allow our lungs to expand fully, taking in more oxygen with each breath. It also engages the core muscles, supporting better posture and improved physical movement.

The third pillar of optimal breathing is slow breath. Slowing down your breathing has a powerful impact on your body and mind. Research shows that slow breathing (5-6 breaths per minute) optimises oxygen-carbon dioxide balance in the blood, reduces heart rate, and triggers a relaxation response. This is particularly beneficial in managing stress and physical symptoms like muscle stiffness.

Unfortunately, we often ‘forget’ how to breathe optimally due to stress, bad posture or culture (we don’t want to let the belly out on the inhale but prefer to pull it in!). Learning how to breathe optimally is essential before moving on to other breathing techniques.

 

Beginners practices

There are a lot of breathing techniques, which can range from simple exercises to more advanced methods. It’s important to start slowly, the aim is to relax the body and mind, so there’s no rush! Use the following videos to practice some simple techniques to help you slow down and relax. Start with just 5-10 minutes a day of these exercises. Consistency is key, so make breathwork part of your daily routine for the best results.

 

  1. Physiological Sigh

A study from Stanford Medicine suggests this is the most powerful and quickest way to relax. The research from David Spiegel, neurobiologist Andrew Huberman, and Melis Yilmaz Balban demonstrates that this style of controlled breathing for five minutes can lower your anxiety, improve mood, and even result in decreased rates of breathing at rest, which is a sign of overall body calmness.

 

 

  1. Three-Part Breath (also called Full Yogic Breath)

This is a foundational breathwork technique that encourages deep breathing from the diaphragm. It is an excellent exercise to make sure you are breathing ‘naturally’ which can highlight where there might be muscular tension (in your back in particular) or dysfunction in your breathing pattern. Make sure you practice this regularly. It will not only improve your lung capacity and help you relax but it will also release tension in your upper body. You can practice this sitting or lying down.

 

  1. 1:2 Ratio

The faster we breathe, the more stressed we feel, and vice versa. In breathwork, we learn how to slow down the breath and in particular to slow down the exhale – which stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). First check how long your inhales are, then slowly extend your exhales.

Here are some examples:

  • If you inhale for 2 seconds: Inhale for 2, exhale for 3 and pause for 3. Repeat for 5 minutes.
  • If you inhale for 3 seconds: Inhale for 3, exhale for 4 and pause for 4. Repeat for 5 minutes.
  • If you inhale for 4 seconds: Inhale for 4, exhale for 5 and pause for 5. Repeat for 5 minutes.

Once you are comfortable inhaling for 4, exhaling for 5 and pausing for 5, you can move to breathing on a ratio of 1:2.

Intermediate practices

Once you feel comfortable with basic breathwork techniques, you can explore the following practices that offer deeper physiological and emotional benefits. They can be done safely at home.

 

  1. Coherent Breathing:
    This technique involves slow, rhythmic breathing at a rate of about 5-6 breaths per minute. This specific frequency has been shown to improve heart rate variability and promote overall well-being. Coherent breathing is an excellent practice for long-term stress reduction and emotional regulation.

 

 

  1. Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana):
    This technique is rooted in yoga practice and helps balance the body’s energy channels. By breathing in through one nostril and exhaling through the other, you can promote mental clarity, focus, and emotional balance. It is often used to manage stress and anxiety.

Advanced practices

By incorporating more advanced techniques into your routine, you can experience deeper states of relaxation and emotional healing. However, make sure that you are breathing optimally throughout the day and that you can easily do the Three-Part Breath and the 1:2 Ratio breath beforehand.

 

  1. Wim Hof Breathing

The Wim Hof Breathing technique is a powerful breathing technique inspired by the Tibetan Tummo breath. Make sure that you are sitting down or lying down when practising.

 

 

  1. Conscious Connected Breath

Conscious Connected Breath (CCB) is a very powerful and transformative breathing technique that can help release deeply help tension and trauma, and subsequently lead to deeper relaxation. We strongly recommend practising with a Breathwork Facilitator before attempting to practice on your own.

 

Listen to highlights from Veronique’s webinar on breathwork here