Why Breathing is the Answer (but probably not the way you do it)!

Just Breathe A simple solution for managing your stress, anxiety or anger. But do you know the most effective way breathing can manage your emotions?

In an age where experts tout meditation as a panacea for all things mental, emotional and physical, you might be surprised to learn that the neuroscience research supports regulated breathing over meditation for anxiety and stress management.

Dr. Stephen Porges, author of Polyvagal Theory, writes that any regulated breathing that tones the Vagus nerve, “tricks” the brain into moving away from the flight, fight, freeze reaction (the parasympathetic response at the core of stress and anxiety) and into a rest, relax and digest mode.

Porges explains that the key to toning the vagus nerve is to exhale longer than you inhale.

A popular example of proper regulated breathing comes from holistic physician, Dr. Andrew Weil. He champions the 4-7-8 breathing technique. 4-7-8 breathing is “utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires no equipment and can be done anywhere.”

4-7-8 Breathing Exercise

• sit with a straight back
• clear your lungs with an exhale through the mouth
• inhale through the nose for a count of four
• hold your breath for a count of seven
• exhale through the mouth for a count of eight

Weil recognizes that the 4-7-8 ratio is more important than rigidly adhering to the count. You may be more comfortable with a longer or shorter count. In his instructions, the exhale is twice as long as the inhale. Porges and Weil agree on this crucial point.

I’ve worked successfully with clients that had anxiety, panic, anger and even dissociation. All have benefited from this regulated breathing technique. It is both an intervention and a practice. I recommend that clients take time out everyday to practice from fifteen to thirty minutes of regulated breathing. But you can also use it to manage your central nervous system as it accelerates into panic or rage.

Porges encourage us to be creative with our vagus nerve toning. For example, he points out that the practice of humming also uses a brief intake of breath, holding and slowly breathing out. So does singing, playing a kazoo and blowing bubbles. Perhaps being playful everyday for thirty minutes is the fun and easiest way into the serious business of emotional regulation.

So now that you know how, Just Breathe...Out Longer than you Breathe In.