Your breath.

It’s not likely something you think about very often unless you happen to be a breath nerd (very cool in my opinion).

Your breath simply happens. Like many of your physiological systems, it’s automatic. Unlike any of them, it can also be completely under your control if you choose. This is one of the reasons breath’work’ is gaining so much attention these days – it enables breath as a tool to purposefully shape your experience of life, once you know how to use it.

Researchers and clinicians in the breath field estimate that as many as 95% of us have a breath pattern that is less than optimal.   Isn’t that striking?  What that means is that some aspect of the breath is restricted, incomplete, or ineffective for the vast majority of us. When you consider that, alongside the reported benefits of breathing well and that breath is central to performance, mood, sleep, and stress recovery, it seems we have some breath’work’ to do.

Curious why so many of us default to a less-than-ideal breath pattern? The short answer: it’s due to the inherent link between breath and the nervous system — and therefore to stored past experiences.

the nervous system and your breath

You’re likely already, perhaps unconsciously, familiar with this link. If a child were to jump out of a closet and give you a fright, your breath would likely catch. You might gasp in a quick, shallow breath and feel your heart rate briefly spike. The impact to your breath would be instantaneous — the result of a message from your nervous system that prompted a startle response. That’s what it’s designed to do.

By extension, all of the situations and experiences in your life that were challenging, particularly impactful, or repeated can remain partially active in the system even if you feel as though you’re long past them. That activation can sometimes become lodged in the nervous system’s fear response, thus finding oneself in a default breath pattern that reflects that fear state, even in perfectly safe moments.

Considering that by the time we reach adulthood, most of us have had some pretty challenging experiences, it becomes less surprising that such a high percentage of us aren’t breathing as freely or optimally as we might.

what I noticed in my own breath

Many years ago, before getting into pranayam, breath practice or breath as a resourcing tool, I noticed that every so often I had to let out a big, extended exhalation as a sigh.  What I didn’t know until later is that it was the physiological response to holding my breath and that effectively my default breath pattern was actually…. not breathing!  

In this breath pattern of not really breathing, CO2 builds up in the blood, eventually forcing a release in that big, extended exhalation.  In most cases, this doesn’t resolve into more steady breathing afterward — it just repeats: hold, build up, exhale, hold again.  Mine was never settling into a full, efficient rhythm.  No wonder I felt worked up so often.  My breath was worked up and my nervous system was worked up — it’s one of the most prolific feedback loops I know of.

where to begin

The good news is that just as your current breath pattern developed over time, you can re-train it through gentle, consistent practice and working with the nervous system.

In my case, I started with a simple breath awareness practice.  Nothing fancy.  What I noticed is that the more I did it, the steadier and easier my breath became, and that seems to be the way of it for most of us.  Simply watching your breath has a remarkable impact on how you’re breathing.  It’s as though the greater operating system says something like “Oh, hey, there’s time to just watch the breath, so I guess nothing big is happening.  We can just chill out”… so that’s what happens.

With that in mind, spend a few minutes simply observing your breath before these practices.  Just watch it come and go, in and out through your nose, relaxed and easy, without any attempt to modify it. Let yourself feel a bit more calm and grounded. If you practice regularly in moments of calm, the wiring will be ready when the pressure is on.

practice 1: breath ratio

Continuing to breathe in and out through your nose, bring 70% of your inhalation into your low belly (beneath your belly button), 20% to your mid belly, and 10% to your chest. Let your belly expand, say yes to a healthy breath and stay in this gentle practice for 3-5 minutes or more.

practice 2: subtle resistance breathing

Breathing easily in and out through the nose, create a very slight constriction at the back of the throat and exhale audibly — a sound like ocean waves, or a quiet version of Darth Vader. Subtle enough that someone could only hear it if standing very close to you.

practice 3: slow and extended

For a minute or two, simply notice your inhalation and exhalation.  Then, gradually invite them to match in duration to whichever one feels easier, more comfortable. Over time (whether that’s weeks or months), very gently extend both, by just a millisecond or two at a time — gently extending both. 

Resist the temptation to accomplish something or to over do it.  Your nervous system is built to be sensitive, noticing small fluctuations so, depending on your life experiences it can become easy to over-ride signals of doing too much.  In this case, that means if you push too hard in your breath practice, your system doesn’t get a chance to learn that breath can be a resource.  It becomes one more thing to brace against. 

going deeper

These practices are a starting place. If you find that breath is difficult to access, if your body tightens or resists, if your mind races — you are not doing it wrong. This is simply information from your nervous system, and it can be worth exploring with support.

Breath practice can be a doorway to significant change — but the approach and pacing matter. If you’re curious about them, take the time necessary to learn about practitioners and their approaches.  You can also learn more here or reach out for a free 20-minute conversation.