My 5 Favorite Breathwork Practices

About Breathwork

Breathwork has its origins in yoga practice and involves intentional breathing exercises and practices. It involves intentionally directing the breath through various breathing exercises which are useful in enhancing physical, mental and spiritual health. Using breathwork techniques and interventions has been associated with improved mood, decreased stress and anxiety, improved sleep, improved digestion, boosted immunity, stronger respiratory function, better focus, decreased addictive behaviors, improved outlook and mindset, among a myriad of other benefits. Some particular breathing practices are associated with different benefits depending on the type of breathwork technique performed.

Breathwork is a great coping skill, practice and habit to develop as it trains your body and mind to more easily be able to access relaxation states and combat stress. When we are stressed, our bodies sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is particularly active. The SNS is responsible for our bodies fight, flight or freeze responses, and usually should only be activated when we are faced with immediate danger, however, in modern society with everyday stressors, our bodies SNS is activated even in the absence of immediate danger. This is why it is important to be able to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), responsible for relaxation and deescalating the bodies stress response. We can active the PNS and induce natural feelings of relaxation and calm simply by performing breathwork exercises.

Here are my 5 Favorite Breathwork Practices…

Square breathing

Square breathing, also known as box breathing, or 4-4-4-4 breathing, is a breathing technique that uses intermittent breath retention. It involves holding air in the lungs after inhaling and holding the breath after exhaling before repeating the cycle and breathing in again. To practice square breathing, you can sit up straight in a relaxed position with your feet planted firmly on the floor. Begin by exhaling all the air in your lungs through your mouth. Close your mouth and begin inhaling through your nose while counting to four. Hold the air at the base of your lungs while counting to four, and then slowly release the air through your mouth while counting to four. Hold your breath again for a count to four. Repeat these steps again five to twelve times, or as long as comfortable.

The benefits of square breathing include reduced stress and improved mood, improved focus, lower blood pressure, reduced feelings of breathlessness, and improved sleep to name a few. I personally like to do square breathing when I am feeling a bit sluggish and tired in the day and need a quick boost of energy, or I love doing it after someone cuts me off on the freeway or road rages on me (although I wouldn’t recommend doing this while driving as I don’t know how safe that is).

4-7-8 breathing

4-7-8 breathing is also a breathing technique that uses intermittent breath retention. It involves holding air in the lungs for a set amount of time after inhaling. To practice 4-7-8 breathing, sit up straight in a relaxed position. Breathe out through your mouth while making a whooshing sound. Then, close your mouth and use your nose to slowly breathe in through your nose while counting to four. Hold the breath for a count to seven. Then, make another whooshing sound while slowly breathing out to a count of eight. Repeat this process, breathing in for four, holding at the top for seven, and exhaling for eight, for 2 minutes to begin. Gradually increase the amount of time as you become more comfortable and used to this breathing practice.

I love to do 4-7-8 breathing when I am feeling really anxious, worried or stressed and need help calming myself down. It is really effective at getting my mind and body to focus on the breath and the present moment. Having to mentally count 4-7-8 helps me redirect my attention and focus. The benefits of 4-7-8 breathing include aiding in falling asleep, decreasing stress and anxiety, reducing cravings, improving headaches and somatic symptoms, decreased fatigue, and increased endurance.

Diaphragmatic breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing, also known as deep breathing, belly breathing, is a type of breathwork practice that utilizes the stomach, diaphragm, and abdomen. It is probably the most common breathwork practice and is usually what you will find when you go to your first yoga class. To practice the breathing, sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Begin by placing your hands on your belly just below your navel, and as you breathe in let your belly soften and expand into your hands. When you breathe out, let your belly deflate and sink down towards your spine. Now place one hand on the rib cage and the other on your belly below your navel. Inhale, allowing your belly to soften and feeling your ribs expanding. Exhale. Then, move your hand from your ribs to your chest right below your collarbone, keeping the other hand on your belly, and begin to inhale allowing your belly to expand, ribs and chest to expand. As you exhale, let your belly deflate, ribs and chest return to baseline and let everything go. Practice this diaphragmatic breathing doing five to ten breaths after waking up and before going to sleep. Continue to increase the amount of breaths performed as you become more accustomed to this practice.

Breath Focus Technique

Breath focus technique involves using imagery, mantras, affirmations, and phrases while also guiding and directing the breath. It is sometimes referred to as mindful breathing. Usually, the image or word that you choose to focus on is something positive that will make you happy or feel more calm, or it can also be something neutral to you. The key idea with this breathing technique is to utilize the image or word to induce positive feelings and relaxation and be intentional about how you direct the breath in conjunction with directing the word, phrase or image. To begin, sit or lie down in a comfortable position and just breathe normally paying attention to the breath. Then, alternate between taking some deep breaths and normal breaths. Pay attention to how your abdomen rises and falls with the deep breathing. Pay attention to how normal breathing differs from the deep breathing. Now, spend some time focusing on deep breathing for a couple minutes, placing your hand below your navel and observing how it rises and falls with each inhale and exhale. At this point, let out a loud sigh with each of your exhales. As you are accustomed to the rhythm of this deep breathing, begin to utilize breath focus technique by combining this deep breathing with the word, phrase, mantra or imagery you envisioned. You can imagine that with each inhale, the imagery is flowing through you and inducing feelings of calm and relaxation. You may even say during the inhale mentally “I am inhaling calm and relaxation”. Then, while exhaling, you can envision all the stress and worry exiting and leaving your body, mentally saying “I am exhaling stress and worry”. Try this deep breathing and breath focus technique for at least 5 minutes (start out with 2 minutes if that’s all you can do), and gradually build your way up to 10 minutes and even 20 minutes.

The benefits of breath focus technique include improved memory, focus, sleep (it’s great to do it before bedtime!), improved attention span, greater emotional regulation, among others. I personally love to do this breathing technique following a physical yoga practice, or in the evening before bedtime. I have found this breathwork practice to be most helpful in improving my sleep at night.

Alternate Nostril Yoga Breathing (ANYB)

Alternate nostril yoga breathing (ANYB) is a type of controlled breathing exercise in which you use the assistance of your thumbs to apply pressure to one nostril at a time so that you can control the flow of breath through only one nostril at a time. It is a great breathing exercise if you have a hard time sitting still while doing breathwork or need to be more actively engaged. To do ANYB, begin by getting comfortable in a seated position either on a chair or in criss-cross apple sauce. Begin by placing your right hand on your knee and your left thumb on your left nostril to close the left nostril. Begin inhaling slowly through your right nostril with your mouth closed. Then remove your thumb from your left nostril and close your right nostril with your ring finger. Hold for a moment before releasing the air through your left nostril. Now, alternate to placing your right thumb on your right nostril and breathe in through your left nostril. Then remove your right thumb from your right nostril and place your right ring finger on your left nostril. Hold for a moment and then exhale through your right nostril. Repeat this on each nostril 5 to 10 times.

ANYB helps your body and mind become more balanced, which is interesting because you are literally alternating nostrils and sides, mimicking the concept of balance to your body. It also has benefits of reducing stress and anxiety, improving cardiovascular health and resting heart rate, improving lung health and endurance, and sharpening energy and focus. I like to do this breathwork practice before I have to give a presentation, hop on an important zoom call or have some sort of meeting. It really releases the nerves and jitters and relaxes me to feel focused. I also like to do this breathing when I have tension in my shoulders as I feel like it really releases pent up energy and tension.

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Tell me, what do you guys do to incorporate breathing exercises or practices into your life? Do you have any favorites or specific routines or regimens? Would love to hear from you all your favorite or least favorite breathing exercises.

Love, Paige