Breathing to relieve stress & anxiety
Oct 18, 2021
2 minute read
How we breathe matters.
Bringing true diaphragmatic breathing into your self care routine can greatly change anxiety you are feeling, as well as bring your system back into a healing, regenerative state.
We have more control over our stress and anxiety than we realize.
When we breathe properly through diaphragmatic breathing, our nervous system resets and moves out of the flight or fight pattern.
We are born knowing intuitively how to move, grow and heal. Sometimes we just need to pause and relearn.
There are countless different breathing techniques. True diaphragmatic breathing stimulates our vagus nerve (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318128) , reawakening a calm state in our bodies. This stimulation allows our nervous system to move out of anxiety and stress.
True diaphragmatic breathing also strengthens heart health, aids digestion, rebalances our pelvic floor, heals low back pain, frees head and neck tension, relaxes TMJ, and overall reorganizes our bodies into a beautifully balanced state. I could truly go on and on about the benefits of diaphragmatic breathing, but let’s continue by taking a foundational look at what it actually is.
In diaphragmatic breathing, we are looking for a gentle inhale down, where neck muscles and shoulders do not become involved. If our shoulders are lifting during our inhale, we are actually reverse breathing, where our diaphragm lifts up under our ribs versus dropping.
This reverse breathing actually puts our body into a fight or flight response.
When most people take a deep breath, they are lifting their shoulders and inhaling into their chest, bringing their bodies into a deeper panicked state.
After our diaphragm drops, (which sits under our ribs), our organs are massaged down, and the pelvic floor is able to gently widen and open.
On our inhale, our ribs also expand in a 360 degree shape, then we begin our slow exhale. Our exhale slides up and out of our body, removing stagnant breath. Our exhale is slow, long and luxurious, further creating a calming of the system.
This is the foundational movement that takes place throughout our bodies during diaphragmatic breathing.
Using true diaphragmatic breathing alone can change the course of anxiety.
We can then go even deeper into each individual’s personal breathing patterns to see where in their body the inhales and exhales need to be addressed.
This is a very detailed, very powerful look into a personal breathing pattern that incorporates the pelvic floor, hips, glutes, abdominals, necks, shoulders. There are many fun layers to play with! This can make great changes in a person’s life and provide our body with a powerful healing tool.
Please do note that diaphragmatic breathing is very different than belly breathing, which is a common breath pattern most people rely on.
Belly breathing focuses on abdominal movement, does not involve getting oxygen deeper into our system and does not allow for our ribs to expand. When our ribs expand, we know we are filling our lungs with oxygen.
Belly breathing also does not provide the same benefits as diaphragmatic breathing. In belly breathing, the abdominal muscles lead the body. In diaphragmatic breathing, the breath leads the body. It is a very different experience with very different outcomes. With so much forward intra-abdominal pressure, belly breathing can also keep diastasis from healing, as well as increase chances of hernias and prolapse.
Our bodies can do magical things.
When we reintroduce true diaphragmatic breathing patterns back to our bodies, our bodies reawaken into a beautiful healing state.
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