It’s essential for life – and things can definitely get a bit dodgy if we stop doing it for any length of time.

This morning, as I write this, I was reading the comments on a Facebook post about staying calm during times of stress, and of course, I had to add my opinion about how breathwork really helps – if you can remember to focus when you are under stress.

Breathing is a part of the autonomous nervous system just like your digestive system, your liver function, and your beating heart.  That means that you don’t have to remember to keep taking a breath because your body is perfectly capable of doing that without you needing to be consciously directing every breath – but it is also the only aspect of the autonomous nervous system that you can consciously control.  In fact, it is essential that you are able to take control of your breathing at certain times: for example: when you have your head under water.

When you are dropped into the Fright or Flight Response your breathing can be affected in either way: it can cause you to stop breathing so you don’t drown; or it can speed up your breathing so that your body is well oxygenated ready for your reaction.  And this is what happens when someone does or says something that throws you right out of balance – your breathing speeds up, your body gets ready to react without any conscious thought and anything to do with your logical mind goes flying out the window.

All this reminded me of some work I did a few years ago in our local State School.  I introduced mindful breathing to the teachers and the kids.  It was awesome.  The whole school came together in the morning and practiced the Starfish Breathing technique and the teachers also included it at the start of each lesson.  It was noticeable how quickly the classroom settled down to their work and if a kid got into trouble, the teacher led them through the technique before asking them what the story was. 

It gave them both, teacher and student, a breathing space. 

As adults, we talk about taking three deep breaths before we jump in and before we perhaps say something that is not going to go down too well in response to another persons actions or comments.  But how often do we remember to do this during that time when we are all worked up?  I teach this, yet if something upsets me, I drop into autistic overwhelm and all thoughts of taking three deep breaths fly right out the window. 

Three deep breaths.  Not only do those breaths introduce a time space to allow sanity to regain its foothold, but it allows your physical self to start to get back into balance before you do something, or say something silly.  When you are in the fight or flight response, your breathing increases, your heart races exactly as if you are in danger – and it doesn’t matter if it is your best friend saying something really insulting or if it is a sabre-toothed tiger in the supermarket!  Those three deep breaths tell your brain that you are safe.  If there really was a sabre-toothed tiger in the supermarket you would not be breathing slowly would you?  So, because you are consciously breathing slowly and deeply, your brain knows that everything must be OK, even if your mind hasn’t yet caught up.  Same applies to your friend being insulting, or a kid in the classroom playing up.  If you can bring your breathing down to a calm, deep rhythm, you have not only given your emotions time to get off the boil, but you have given your mind and your body time to stop, assess the situation and plan your action steps.

Being able to do this when you are under pressure is a bit like playing a musical instrument – you absolutely must put in the practice if you want it to work.