Reclaiming Your Body #2: Breathing Strategies

Welcome to Part 2 of our Reclaiming Your Body series where we’ll be looking at our first tool: your breathing.

One of the simplest but most powerful ways to bring you back to Rest and Digest is through your breath. However, most clients seem to have a difficult relationship with breathing as a strategy for dealing with anxiety, panic or triggers and this seems to be for a couple of reasons

1. They have only been told to ‘breathe deeply’ and haven’t been introduced to different ways of breathing that suit them
2. They have only been encouraged to use it whilst in the grips of an anxiety attack or when severely triggered which can feel like trying to light a candle in the midst of a storm, leaving them with the belief that breathing doesn’t work for them

There are so many different types of breathwork and like with everything in life, finding the ones that work for you is really important. This may also depend on whether you have fallen out or your Window of Tolerance into hyperarousal or hypoarousal (check out the post about the nervous system to recap).

This short post will introduce you to some client favourites to either calm or energise your nervous system and most importantly, how to incorporate breathwork into your daily routine so that when you do find yourself out of your Window of Tolerance, you will find that the simple act of breathing can support you to climb back inside to safety.

Breathing Tools to Energise

If you have fallen out of your Window into hypoarousal (freeze or flop states) and feel flat, heavy, empty, numb or disconnected from your body, you need a breathing tool to help energise you; slow deep breathing with an elongated exhale will not as feel beneficial as these 4 energising breathing tools. Why not try them out? Repeat each one as needed until you feel your body and mind awaken.

Breathing Tools to Relax and Calm

If you have fallen out of your Window into hyperarousal (fight or flight states) and you can feel your heart & mind racing, your breathing is shallow, fuzzy headed, shakiness etc) then these two nourishing breath tools will help slow everything down. Long, slow, deep breaths can help turn off the Stress Response and move your body quickly into Rest & Digest.

Breathing Techniques for Anxiety

I personally love techniques that incorporates breath holds and many of my clients find these two breathing strategies really powerful tools for decreasing anxiety and creating safety in their bodies. Often clients tell me they like the visual of the sqaure breathing and it helps them to bring to mind a square of draw one on the palm of their hand as they breathe.

Top Tips for Breathing Strategies for Stress & Anxiety

*Adapt the techniques to make comfortable for you. For instance, if you feel your can’t hold your breath comfortably, make the inhale and exhale shorter as required e.g. 4,7,8 breathing can become 3,5,7 Box Breathing can be adapted to make the holds for 2 counts.

*Incorporate words of safety. As you breathe in tell yourself “I am safe”

*Be aware of places of tension, pain or discomfort in your body. As you breath, focus on that area and imagine you are taking your breath there and visualise the discomfort releasing

*Visualise the ‘in’ breath as a colour, such as gold, filling your body. Visualise the ‘out’ breath as a colour that symbolises the anxiety, trauma or discomfort leaving your body

Incorporating Breath Work into Your Daily Routine

Being able to move your nervous system from the Stress Response into the Rest & Digest Response takes time and practice. When you regularly practice breathwork you bring a flexibility to your nervous system and will have more control over it.

If we only use breathwork in a crisis we don’t have the flexibility to fully access the power that breath can have on our vagal nerve; it’s a bit like trying to run a marathon without training. That’s why most clients don’t believe breathing works for them.

It takes approximately 4 weeks of doing breathwork for at least 10 mins every day for us to begin to see the daily health benefits and for us to fully feel the powerful effects when anxiety takes hold.  That’s not to say that breathwork without practice in a crisis won’t impact at all, it most certainly can, but to feel in control of your body and have the confidence that you can support yourself back into your Window of safety, incorporating breathing into your daily routine is key.

Top Tips for Daily Breathwork

*Start and end each day with 5 to 10 minutes of breathing as you lay in your bed. Set your alarm earlier and enjoy the comfort of your bed whilst your gently wake yourself up / wind down for sleeping and notice the difference this brings to your overall wellbeing

*If you are in the middle of a challenging patch, consider setting a reminder to breathe for 5 to 10 minutes throughout the day once mid morning and once mid afternoon. You may even need to do this once an hour during times of great distress. Apps such as Ibreathe and breathing zone can be helpful as they provide a visual structure for your to follow. You can also set intervals within the breathing techniques and set alarm reminders

*Use as needed throughout the day when you encounter stress, overwhelm or tiggers. Continue for as many rounds as necessary until you experience a sense of slowing down and calm, or energising uplift