Hello and thank you for joining me for this short breathwork practice.
If you have an existing breathwork practice you might already know about the physiological sigh.
It's a very simple breathwork technique that I first came to know about through neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and I've since heard many people talk about it on podcasts and on social media.
The reason that it is so widespread is because it is so effective and I'm going to share with you the technique for doing the physiological sigh at any time during your day when you need to reduce stress,
Feelings of overwhelm,
Feelings of anxiety or maybe you want to stop ruminating thoughts in their tracks.
Whatever the need is,
The physiological sigh helps you take the awareness away from the busyness of your mind and sink it deep down into your body and that alone helps you slow down your heart rate,
It helps you return to a feeling of wholeness and it helps your body come back into regulation.
It's a three-part breath which is made up of two inhales followed by an exhale Now before you think that I'm confused,
Let me explain.
The first inhale is filling the belly and then you're going to take another little sip of air just to top it up and I like to take that little top up of air into the chest area and then the exhale is a simple letting go of all of that air.
So an inhale into the belly to fill the belly,
Inhale to take another sip in and fill the chest and exhale just to let go of it all.
Now because you're focusing on this technique,
You'll slowly start to realize that all of the things that were pulling you off in all directions,
Your to-do list,
Your stresses,
The things that are making you feel anxious,
All of those things start to fade away into the distance as you bring full awareness to the breathwork technique.
So again breathing into belly,
Breathing into chest and exhale to let it all out and you can let that exhale out through the nose.
So I recommend breathing in through the nose,
Topping up the air through the nose again and in either breathing out through the nose or through the mouth,
You can decide which feels most comfortable for you.
So let's practice together again.
Inhale into the belly,
Top up that air into the chest and then exhale just to let it all go.
So that second inhale,
You're almost taking into your max capacity.
So breathing into the belly to fill the belly and then just finding as much capacity that might be remaining with that second inhale and then as you exhale you're just letting everything go,
Letting it tumble gently from the body.
Breathing in again to the belly,
Inhale into the chest and exhale just to let everything go again.
Breathing into the belly,
Breathing into the chest and exhale just to let it all go.
Now the beautiful thing about the physiological sigh is that you can use it in an environment when you're surrounded by people and maybe you're feeling a bit inadequate,
Maybe you're feeling anxious,
Maybe you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed.
You can use it in social environments if you're feeling a bit of social anxiety,
You can use it in business environments if you're about to give a speech in front of your entire team.
Whatever the need is,
The physiological sigh is a wonderful way to take your focus from the thing that is stressing you out and bring that energy and awareness back into your body so that you can feel safe,
You can feel grounded,
You can feel that sense of calm start to wash over you and bring your nervous system back into regulation.
Use it as often as you need to in any environment.
It's an incredible breathwork tool to keep in your back pocket for when you really need to find a state of calm and regulation.
I hope that you enjoyed this little practice and I hope that this is something that you can take into your everyday life to support your well-being.
My name is Kat Stott from The Physical Evolution,
Go gently into your day.
