Breathing Lesson

Here’s a gift for you: a powerful tool to calm your nervous system. You can learn it in five minutes.

Sometimes we need to run from the tiger, sometimes we need to sleep. The problem is, we were not designed for nonstop stimulation.

When you were a kid, did you hold your breath when your parents drove through tunnels? We did, and then one day, our parents took us to New York through the Lincoln Tunnel. Halfway through, we were gasping and choking. We couldn’t make it. We couldn’t control our breath.

As you read these words, you are breathing shallowly and, I’ll wager, high in your chest. Wait, now you’re observing your breath and it’s gone deeper, wider, am I right? Or maybe you’re holding your breath. If you hold your breath long enough, you will lose consciousness and start breathing again—your brain is that smart.

Involuntary breathing is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. In other words, you don’t need to think about it; it just happens. When you’re upset or stimulated, your breathing automatically becomes shallow and quick, and your auxiliary breathing muscles (neck, scalenes, pecs) kick on to help drag more air into your lungs. Think of running for a train—your body pulls the extra air in so you can make it to the platform on time. When you’re chilling in front of the fireplace with a steamy mug of cocoa and a cat on your lap, your breath grows slow and deep. Or, at least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. The problem is, your phone’s in your hand, and it’s chiming, and you have ten new notifications, and you’re allergic to the cat, and suddenly you realize this cocoa is probably full of microplastics, and there’s that deadline next Tuesday, and now you have two more notifications.

Did that description make your pulse speed up?

Your autonomic nervous system has two branches: sympathetic (“fight or flight”) and parasympathetic (“rest and digest.”) Both are essential for survival. Sometimes we need to run from the tiger, sometimes we need to sleep. The problem is, we were not designed to live in an environment of nonstop stimulation.

Right now, it’s all tigers, all the time.

No wonder we get stuck in the sympathetic nervous system, which speeds up our hearts, raises blood pressure, slows digestion, makes us sweat, dilates our pupils, and diverts blood flow away from our center and to our limbs.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever lain awake at night, eyeballs drilling straight ahead behind closed lids, utterly exhausted and unable to sleep. You, my friend, are stuck in the sympathetic nervous system.

But if you take control of your breath, you can change your mood, shift into the parasympathetic nervous system—and get the rest you need.

Here’s a powerful breathing technique that will change your life.

• Read the directions through once before you start.

• Lie on your back, feet on the floor or bed, knees pointed to the ceiling. Use a pillow under your neck for comfort, and place your fingertips behind your head at the hairline to lengthen out your spine. (You can also do this exercise seated tall.)

• Place your tongue lightly on the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. Inhale to the count of 1 - 2 - 3 - 4. Pause at the top.

• Open your mouth and exhale “haaaa,” as if fogging a mirror with your breath, to the count of 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1. Pause at the bottom.

• Repeat 10 times with a pause each time at the top and the bottom. Your job is to spend your exhales carefully so you don’t run out of breath. If you start to feel any breath-hunger or panic, just calmly take a breath and start again—try increasing the cadence of the counting so you can get through a cycle with ease. Over time, as you continue to practice this technique, you will be able to count slower.

• After ten cycles, if you’re still awake, relax and let it go.

You can use the audio below to guide you:

Why it works: In 4/8 breathing, the length of the exhale is double that of the inhale, which deepens and slows your breath and raises the carbon dioxide level in your blood. The long, audible “haaaa” exhale constricts the back of your throat and stimulates the vagus nerve, which slows your heart rate, stimulates digestion, and reduces inflammation. This technique will effectively and efficiently bring you into your parasympathetic nervous. It works so well that I feel I need to add the caveat: don’t practice this one while driving. (But if someone else is driving, feel free to do it in the Lincoln Tunnel.)

There’s so much more to write about breathing—neurological, postural, muscular, chemical, and psychological angles to consider. Follow me for more.

Meanwhile, start with James Nestor’s Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, an elegantly written cultural and physiological history of breathing, as well as an account of Nestor’s own personal transformation through his breath.