We all know how important it is to have a calm mind, yet most of us find such a state utterly elusive. Either we are jacked up on adrenaline or feel dull, drained and lethargic. To grasp how to create such a state, we need to learn something about the nervous system. Our autonomic (automatic) nervous system has two modes: sympathetic and parasympathetic.
When confronted with a threat, whether real or imagined, adrenaline courses through our blood, flooding us with the necessary energy to fight or flee. The release of cortisol makes it hard to sit still. We are on high alert, listening for sounds of danger.
In such a state, we misread facial cues, mistaking neutral faces for angry ones. In this sympathetically charged state, the world is an unfriendly and dangerous place. Trusting others is too risky. Long-term sympathetic arousal can lead to permanent, harmful physiological changes.
Just as the body has a mechanism built to help us put out fires, we also have a counterbalancing mechanism that tilts us into a state of wellbeing. The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for the calm needed to rest-and-digest. Harvard Medical School professor Herbert Benson famously labeled this counteracting state the relaxation response. His research found that routine stimulation of the relaxation response could prevent disease and sometimes even treat it.
One of the most reliable techniques that can elicit the relaxation response originates from various yoga traditions. Thousands of years ago, yogis recognized that the relaxation response was an integral part of stimulating concentration. As a result, they experimented with a myriad of techniques that elicited deep relaxation.
Over the years, various yoga lineages have developed and passed on highly nuanced breathing routines, because they discovered they could stimulate a quality of mind by merely mimicking—and even exaggerating—the quality of breath associated with it.
They noticed, for example, that when the breath was shallow and rapid, that they were agitated, irritable, and unfocused when it was full, slow, deep and rhythmic, they were calm, energized and, at the same time, grounded in the present moment.
It may seem hard to believe that anything special could happen by rhythmical breath. Still, research shows that it has a remarkable ability to balance the two opposing modes of the nervous system, increasing both our capacity to find calm and, at the same time, be energetic.
In a study including 21 soldiers (an active group of 11 and a control group of 10), those who received a one-week training in mindful breathing techniques showed lower anxiety, reduced respiration rates, and fewer PTSD symptoms. This practice is so effective that it works even in the most chronic and intractable cases.
Belly Breathing Exercise
Try this easy, two-minute diaphragm breathing exercise:
1. Find a posture that is both steady and comfortable.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Take a moment to note the quality of your mind.
4. Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly, just below the navel.
5. As you breathe in, attempt to make the hand on the belly move while keeping the hand on the chest immobile. Doing so will activate the diaphragm. As you exhale, the belly hand will fall.
6. Once you get the hang of expanding the diaphragm, start to regulate your inhale and exhale by inhaling for a count between 3 and 5 seconds. Make sure that:
a. both inhalation and exhalation are equal.
b. you manage to take a full in-breath and out-breath.
c. you do not strain.
7. Once you’ve completed 20 slow, rhythmic belly breaths, compare the quality of your mind to the quality you noted when you began this exercise.