Breathing

3 breathing exercises for anxiety and whatnot

I used to really despise it when people would suggest breathing as a way to help with anxiety. Therapists, yoga instructors, “take a deep breath into your diaphragm” they’d say and I’d feel such sudden rage. “I don’t breathe!” I’d claim.

Maybe because I almost died from asthma related asphyxiation as a baby, or maybe because so many types of trauma tend to code deep breathing as inappropriate to continued life. Trauma says “keep breathing quickly and shallowly, we need to be able to move fast, be prepared for fight or flight!”

I’m still not the best breather, but so many people I work with benefit from breathing exercises I thought I would describe some here. If you want to do them along with me you can follow the audio links.

Box Breathing

Breathe in slowly to a count of four. Hold your breath for another count of four. Breathe out slowly and steadily through your mouth, again counting to four, hold your breath again for another count of four. Repeat. Do it with me here

Pursed Lip breathing

This is kind of like my fake joint substack post, but opposite. It is supposed to be one of the quickest ways to slow down your breathing. This is something that might be familiar, you do it naturally when lifting and carrying heavy objects. If you do this type of breathing as a practice - like every day for 5-10 minutes, it can shift the way your lungs take in air, in a good way.

Relax your neck and shoulder muscles. Breathe in slowly through your nose with your mouth closed. You don’t need to take a deep breath; a normal breath is OK. Pucker your lips like you’re going to blow on something hot to cool it down. Breathe out slowly and gently through your puckered lips for four or more seconds. Try not to force the air out when you’re exhaling. It may feel kind of weird and uncomfortable, but over time gets easier. Do it along with me here.

Vooo breathing for coherence

This is the fist breathing exercise I ever was able to do. It’s less about the lungs and more about bringing coherence to all your organ systems in some magical way probably involving the vagus nerve.

 Pretend you are a lighthouse. Take a big breath in, then let it out and make a vooo type noise, using the deep end of your vocal register, sort of like a fog horn. See if you can feel it in your body, other than your lungs. Another deep breath in, another voooooo. This time open and close your jaw gently as you vooo so the vooo turns into a vooooawowwowwow. Another deep breath in. Do it again. It’s kind of hard to explain. You can listen or do it with me here: Vooo Breath.