There's four major components of a healthy breath.
One is that it's diaphragmatic.
The lungs are kind of pear-shaped to the diaphragm muscles at the bottom,
Attaching to the lower ribcage.
As we breathe in,
The diaphragm comes down and brings the lungs with it,
And the lungs fill with air.
And as we breathe out,
The muscle comes up,
It softens more like a mushroom shape,
And the lungs empty of air.
So the lungs don't have muscles,
It's the diaphragm muscle that does that.
What that feels like in our body when we're breathing diaphragmatically is as the muscle flattens and we breathe in,
There's not any room for the stomach there,
So there's an expansion in the stomach area.
And as we breathe out,
The stomach tucks back in under the lower ribcage.
It feels like the stomach flattens.
Just as you're breathing right now,
You could notice,
Am I breathing diaphragmatically?
When we train ourselves to watch our breath and to breathe diaphragmatically,
That happens on its own.
If we have a lot of freeze in our body and in our gut area,
We might hold our breath.
If we're feeling fear right now or anxiety,
Often holding our breath is our way to kind of control things.
And so jumping right into the breath might not feel 100% comfortable either.
So if that's the case,
You can always focus on the breath in your nose as well.
So that's the first is that we're breathing diaphragmatically.
And then that the breath is continuous and smooth,
So we're not holding our breath.
And that we breathe through the nostrils so that we're not breathing through our mouth.
Unless we're doing a practice,
We're going to do cyclic sighing in a moment.
But just generally speaking,
24 hours a day,
We're breathing through our nose.
The breath is continuous,
And it's about the same length on the inhale as the exhale.
So if you think about a time when you might feel really overwhelmed or depressed,
That's often where the pause comes at the end of the exhalation.
We breathe out,
It's like,
Oh,
I can't possibly breathe in again.
We feel so overwhelmed.
So we might just wait there for a bit.
If we're feeling steadier,
Though,
We come to the end of the exhale,
And we're ready to breathe in.
We're ready for the influx of oxygen,
For the energy of an in-breath.
It can be very helpful just to track what's happening with the continuity of the breath.
So as we finish our exhale,
Move into the inhale.
And then sometimes if we have a lot of anxiety,
It's hard to breathe out,
It's hard to let the breath go.
So we might hold on the end of the inhale.
Now,
Once this becomes a habit,
Then that becomes familiar.
When we're doing these practices of watching the breath,
We can build that resilience,
That comfort,
That ease in our breath over time.
If you are not breathing diaphragmatically,
You might have a habit of breathing mostly in your chest,
But it can be something then to maybe put a hand on your belly and a hand on your chest and let your belly soften as you breathe out.
These are habits,
And they formed because of some conditions that we were in.
They didn't form because we decided to breathe a certain way,
They formed in response to what was going on.
A baby will be automatically breathing diaphragmatically,
And we can train ourselves to come back to that healthier breathing pattern.
And also we often don't have very much volume in our breath.
We just barely breathe enough to survive,
Which isn't really great for our tissues,
Our organs,
Our brain,
Our system.
But it's also a signal to our nervous system that things aren't okay.
If we were really comfortable,
We'd be breathing fully.
And if we make a little noise,
Or if our body moves a little with the breath,
That feels fine.
Whereas if we're feeling kind of scared or shut down,
We get really contracted.
So let's do some cyclic sighing to see what that does in our system.
So cyclic sighing,
A deep double inhale through the nose,
A long exhale through the mouth,
Like you're breathing out through a thin straw.
So deep double inhale.
As you're breathing out,
Really let go,
Let your whole body soften from head to toes.
As soon as you finish your exhalation,
Smoothly into the inhale,
Deep double inhale.
The lungs are quite full.
And then release.
Soften your forehead,
Your face,
Your mouth and jaw,
Your neck and shoulders.
Long exhale.
And as you're breathing out,
Let everything soften.
And then right into the inhale.
And then again,
Letting go,
No hesitation.
We don't need to hold on to that stale air,
We could let it go.
I find that by the end of the inhalation,
My collarbones are up a little with that extra inhale.
It feels good to release the shoulders and neck.
And then check your whole body.
Could you soften something a little bit more?
One of the things that happens as we come into a more relaxed state is that we might let our body accept the support that's here.
So maybe you can settle into your chair,
Floor.
And look around and notice,
Is there anything here that is supporting your relaxation?
Our brain will automatically look for what might be dangerous.
But what are you noticing that is lovely or nourishing or nurturing?
It might be plants or pictures or another being.
And let your breath come back to whatever pace and rhythm that it's wanting to do.
And watch the breath for a moment.
For qualities of the healthiest breath,
Physically as well as emotionally and for our nervous system,
We're breathing diaphragmatically,
The stomach is softening as we're exhaling.
We breathe about the same length on the inhale and the exhale.
Breathing through the nose.
And then our breath is continuous and smooth.
And our nervous system has a long memory and a lot of perseverance.
So if you have developed patterns of holding your breath or breathing in your chest,
Keep at it as a practice.
When we bring our awareness to it,
Often just our awareness will allow our body to soften and our breath to become smoother.
