Breath as Resource ~ Harnessing life force for healing and transformation

In an earlier topic where I wrote about the Window of Tolerance, I talked about how moving  out of reactive arousal states of fight /flight/freeze or collapse, requires, 1) consciousness that you’re approaching the edge of your window, so that 2) you can hold the tension between following the well-trodden reactive path, and choosing a new response. Can I just flag this is not easy! Changing habits of a lifetime is not easy!

When you step onto the path of becoming conscious, and transforming out of old habits, there is a slow, cumulative process that requires you to access better ‘resources’ that will support you in your attempt for new and adaptive ways of relating to yourself, to your relationships and to situations that you find yourself in. Pat Ogden highlights how resources can be thought of as either INNER RESOURCES (they reside within you) or OUTER RESOURCES (they reside outside of you) and so encompass a range of skills, abilities, objects, relationships, and services.

However even with the best intentions, there can be a shortfall between where you are and where you want to be mentally-emotionally-energetically-relationally. Either you don’t have the resources to take you where you want to go, or don’t know how to access these resources if they’re available to you. So when you step on the path of healing and transformation, part of that journey will require you expand your repertoire of (inner and outer) resources, and develop some mastery over practicing, accessing, and applying them, so you can draw on what you need in the moments that you need them.

Your breath can be one of your most powerful resources for regulating your nervous system. As an inner resource it’s quite literally available at any time, so if you’re able to understand a little of how breathwork works, and gradually learn even a few techniques, you may start to experience a sense of empowerment as you notice shifts in your state that directly arise from the practices.

In the yoga tradition, working with the breath is called pranayama. And while this word is often translated as “control of the breath”, Swami Satyananda Saraswati refines the practice of pranayama to be the expansion or extension of the vital energy or life force.  In this sense, your breath becomes the vehicle that moves subtle life force energy throughout all your systems, so effecting your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well being. So beyond just moving oxygen into the body, and carbons dioxide out, we can consider how our breath has an important role that supports our complete physical-metaphysical selves.

In the following, I’ll talk you through a few simple breathing practices that can help you shift your state from under-or-over aroused and into a more regulated state. There are literally hundreds of different breathing / breathwork / pranayama practices to learn and explore, so I hope these I suggest will offer you either a foundation to start with, or a reminder of some basics if you’ve forgotten. I’ll also begin by a brief discussion on an important concept of “meeting your mood”. But first, there’s an important caveat some of you should consider.

Paradoxically, sometimes contacting calmer states within the nervous system can actually make some people feel overwhelmed and frightened. This is particularly for those who are working through trauma. If this is like your experience of working with breath, it may be because “calm” feels unfamiliar and dangerous, as being heightened or vigilant, or detached and collapsed, is both more familiar and historically a necessity to remain safe.  In this case, working with the breath (and the body for that matter) could be a terrifying prospect, and may need to be done with an experienced and informed therapist or body worker. Adjusting expectations toward being patient and willing to go very, very slowly and titrate (ie briefly dip in and out of states) means you’re not being asked to linger too long in any one state and so help your nervous system, mind and body to adjust in time.

Meet your mood

If you’ve ever been overwhelmed, panicky, in a rage, or flap of some kind, you’d know that directives from either yourself or others to ”calm down” are not helpful and feel impossible. Similarly, advice to just “get up and get going” when feeling low and down can feel just as out of reach.  

When you find yourself at the more extreme edges of your window of tolerance, or out of your window, Amy Weintraub suggests you ‘meet your mood’ first. That is, recognise where you’re at emotionally/energetically, acknowledge it, and use practices that start at that level, and then gradually use additional practices to bring yourself energetically up or down toward homeostasis. To use an analogy of shifting gears in a car, imagine flying along at speed in the highest 6th gear, then slamming on the brakes. Or being at a full stop then being asked to immediately jump into fast moving freeway traffic. Both scenarios would be jarring and end in failure. Best to be where you are, then gradually shift yourself up or down “gears” to get to where you’d like to be.

Breathwork to Balance

These practices are best used when in a calm state (inside your window of tolerance) and as a way to develop familiarity and mastery of your breath. When you think of your breath, consider it to have 4 parts; the INHALATION, the PAUSE at the end of inhalation, the EXHALATION, and the PAUSE at the end of exhalation. A lot of breathwork is adjusting the quality or emphasis on these parts.

Conscious breathing – noticing the natural breath or counting the breath.

• Thich Nhat Han simply guides us to observe the breath and breath cycle just as it is and offers the phrases “I notice the breath coming in …. I notice the breath going out ….” Or more simply …  “ … Breathing in… breathing out ….” Or even more simply “ … In … ... Out … ...  In …. ... Out … ... ”

• “Inhale …. 2, 3, 4 ….. exhale  … 2, 3, 4 …”.

• Notice any natural pause between the inhalation and exhalation.

Even inhalation and exhalation

• Count the breath and notice your natural rhythm first … notice whether it is your inhale or exhale that’s longer, and “stretch” the shorter part to match the other. Start with a low count e.g 3:3 (3 count inhale : 3 count exhale) and extend to 4:4, then 5:5, 6:6 etc up to 10:10 if you can without stress

Ocean breath (uijai)

• Slightly constrict the glottis in your throat. As you breathe in and out through this softy restricted airway, the breath naturally is slowed and smoothed out. You should hear a slight hushing or wavelike sound inside. You can practice this for several minutes on its own, or in combination with other breathing practices.

Full yogic breathing (Dirga Pranayama)

• Imagine your lungs as divided into 3 parts; lower lungs by your diaphragm and belly, middle lungs in line with breasts and sternum, and upper lungs  by upper ribs and collar bones. Breath IN and down to you lower lungs/belly, slowly filling to middle chest, then upper chest …. Breathe OUT by releasing upper, middle, then belly slowly … repeat x 3- 10 rounds

Alternate nostril breathing (Nadhi Shodhana)

• Practicing this subtle pranayama regularly can have a profound regulating effect.

  With your right hand, use your thumb to softly press your right nostril closed, and breathe in 4-6 counts through your left nostril, pause for a moment to release your right thumb at the same time, use your left ring + little finger to block your left nostril as your breathe out your right nostril for 4-6 counts ….Now keeping your left nostril closed, breathe in through the right nostril 4-6 counts … pause briefly as you now close the right side with your thumb once more, release fingers from the left nostril, and breathe out the left 4 – 6 counts. That is 1 round of breath. Experiment with completing 3 rounds (gradually up to 11 rounds) and observe the effect on body-mind-energy.

Breathwork to Calm

If you find yourself close to the edge of your window of tolerance, these sorts of breathing practices can help to keep you calm whilst staying conscious and responsive. If you’re more on the overwhelmed side of the window, try more energising breathwork first, then turn to these.

Extend / Lengthen / Emphasise the EXHALATION

• Breathe in for 3 or 4 counts and gradually lengthen the exhale to double the inhale count, ie. 3:6 or 4:8 or 5:10

• Breathe in, then breathe out through the mouth with a long “haaa-a-a-a”

Abdominal / Diaphragmatic breathing

• Breathing in and down to the lower lungs to stretch the diaphragm and sense the belly expand, release on the exhalation by drawing belly gently back to your spine. Repeat 3-10 rounds

Square breath

• The INHALATION – PAUSE – EXHALATION – PAUSE  are all the same count, eg. 4:4:4:4, or 6:6:6:6 or 8:8:8:8

Left nostril breathing

• when you breathe in and out of the left nostrils it’s thought to activate the right hemisphere through the nadis (energy channels – remember the breath is a vehicle for energy) and so the, creative, intuitive, spatial and more compassionate ‘feminine’ qualities. Repeat x 3-10 rounds

Breathwork to activate and energise

These will help you if you’re on the low, collapsed, apathetic end of your energy window. To meet your mood, begin with more balancing breathwork to help move you toward these more activating practices.

Emphasise the INHALATION

• Take a more conscious and active breath in, particularly pulling breath and attention  into the mid and upper chest and lungs, then let the breath out be passive or easy. Repeat x 3 – 10 rounds

Mid and Upper chest breathing.

Right nostril breathing

• when you breathe through the right nostril it’s thought to activate left hemisphere and so linear, logical, language based and ‘more active masculine’ energies. Repeat x 3 – 10 rounds

Stomach pumping breathwork (eg. kapala bhati/ breath of fire/ bastrika)

• A simple way to experience this is to breathe in easily, then breath our forcefully through the mouth with a sharp “HA!” , at the same time reflexively pull your navel back sharply and quickly toward your spine so the stomach “pumps” the exhale out. Let the breath come back in naturally without force, then “force” the breath put again with a “HA!” . Repeat x 3-10 rounds

With all of these exercise, just start with one practice and learn it to some level of confidence and mastery before deepening or extending it, or introducing a new one. A helpful process might be to check in with where you are energetically, emotionally, or on your window of tolerance a couple of times a day (eg waking up and before you goto bed), then experiment with the breathing that fits with your system, and where you’d like to bring it towards. You might find you begin to have favourite practices that you can turn to like old friends for support and resource.