3 Stress-Busting Breathers to kickstart a mindful habit
Focus and calm can be found quickly 😌
And our breath provides powerful ways to de-stress. But to make this a sustainable habit? It requires 1 vital ingredient.
Your mindful attention.
And investing this 👆 more often to enjoy:
- Less stress reactivity
- Deeper mind and body calm
- Regulated mood and emotions
- Sharper focus and cognitive function
Because most of us can breathe. And counts our breaths!
But coming back each day 🤔
With patience and trust when it’s tough?
Without judgement when we forget?
This needs mindful attention.
“Great but how do I get started?”
With these…
“3 Stress-Busting Breathers”
1️⃣ Box Breathing
It has roots in ancient yogic practices and was made popular by the work of Dr Andrew Weil and used by the US Navy Seals.
A reliable shortcut to calm, stress relief and sharper focus.
How does it work?
- It activates your “rest and digest” response, calming the nervous system and easing amygdala reactivity, meaning you’ll be able respond mindfully in difficult moments.
- It increases activation of your pre-frontal cortex - your ‘executive function’ meaning you can focus without distraction on the tasks in front of you.
2️⃣ 4-7-8 Breathing
It’s based on principles of controlled breathing (Pranayama) and popularised by Dr Andrew Weil.
The increased vagus nerve stimulation is like a an urgent “Calm Needed Now” DM to the brain, kickstarting a rest and digest response:
- Lowering heart rate
- Easing stress and anxiety
- Promoting calm and wellbeing.
3️⃣ 6 Second Breathing
Known as "Coherent breathing" it’s a controlled breathing practice brought to modern popularity by the author Stephen Elliot and Dr. Richard Gevirtz (a pioneer in the field of biofeedback and heart rate variability research).
The 6-second rhythm promotes heart rate coherence, and optimal autonomic nervous system functioning, increasing:
Calm +
Balance +
Mood regulation +
The ‘coherent’ part?
It’s a rhythm that promotes heart rate coherence, a state of balanced “Heart rate variability (HRV)” and optimal functioning in the autonomic nervous system. 6 seconds is the sweet spot.
And HRV? It’s a measure of the variation in time between heartbeats. The higher our HRV, the more flexible and responsive our autonomic nervous system.
Waves of Transformation
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