Breathwork Basics

What breathwork means + some easy practices to try

Photo by Bob Osias on Unsplash

Hi friend! 👋 Today, I’ll be breaking down what mindful breathwork means, as well as how you can try out breathwork as a beginner. Take a deep breath (ha) and let’s get started! 🫁😮‍💨🧘‍♀️

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How many times have your parents, friends, and partner told you to “take a deep breath” during times of stress? Before I learned about the theoretical foundations of breathwork and saw its positive effect on my anxious brain, this sentiment drove me crazy. What would one deep breath do? I’m spiraling here, mom! Just tell me I’m perfect and get me ice cream!

Of course, one deep breath won’t cure an anxious spiral or a stressful situation—but the people we love *actually have a point* when they steer us towards the breath to calm down. Notably, the breath helps us activate our body’s neutral resting state, called the parasympathetic nervous system.

Dr. Melissa Young at the Cleveland Clinic explains this association well¹:

“When we’re anxious, we breathe shallowly and quickly, which actually creates more anxiety within your body. We can use breathwork to move out of the fight-or-flight state and into [the] parasympathetic nervous system.”

In other words: mindful breathing actually works for many stressed-out people, and there’s a physiological + scientific basis for why it’s effective. Breathwork practices are a handy tool that we can use to come down from a state of anxiety, stress, and heightened emotion.

Keep in mind that individuals who have experienced trauma may have a more difficult time with breathwork, since the breath is intertwined with our fight/flight/freeze response and nervous system. If these practices are stressful rather than stress-relieving, another mindful practice may be more suited to your needs—I’ll be writing more about other practices and modifications in subsequent articles!

Here are my two of my favorite, easy breathwork practices to get you started:

Box breathing

Box breathing consists of 4 steps— 1) the inhale, 2) holding the breath, 3) the exhale, and 4) holding the breath again. This technique is commonly visualized as a box because each step lasts 4 seconds. 4 is the magic number here, people! 4 steps + 4 seconds per step = you’re on your way to becoming a box-breathing baddie 💁‍♀️

When you’re first getting started, it can be helpful to print out the below diagram and skim your finger along each line of the square as you inhale, exhale, and hold. Using a diagram helps me stay on track with each step’s 4 second interval. I like having a small printout of the box breathing technique on my desk for easy access during the workday, and I also keep one in my wallet.

Infographic courtesy of Maeve Schumacher

Alternate nostril breathing

Alternate nostril breathing is a great technique to get us breathing through our noses. Nasal breathing is a small shift that packs a punch—our noses help us regulate our nervous systems and land in a resting state (rather than a “fight/flight/freeze” state).

Remember when I discussed hot and cold cognitive processes in my “too hot, too cold, just right” article? We often breathe shallowly and through our mouths during high physical exertion and fight/flight/freeze moments, like when we’re doing a tough workout or on the brink of a panic attack. Re-focusing on some deep nasal breathwork has the opposite effect: it slows our heart rate and distances us from our “too hot,” fight/flight/freeze physiology. Accordingly, a nasal breathwork practice like alternate nostril breathing queues your nervous system to return calm neutrality.

Alternate nostril breathing is a bit jumbled to explain on paper, so I’ve linked a quick video on the technique below. You can skip to minute 5:11 for a quick tutorial, or watch the whole video for an extra mindful boost!

We can tap into other mind-body exercises to practice mindfulness, too, such as mindful walks and using our senses in a noting exercise. However, I think breathwork is a great place to start; especially because you already take ~20,000 breaths a day, and you can implement these practices anywhere (including meetings at work, tough conversations, etc!).

Xx, Maeve

1. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/box-breathing-benefits