Nord Wolf
The Northman
- Messages
- 592
- Location
- New England
We all know how important breathing is, obviously. I’ve been practicing breathing exercises since I was a kid, over 40 years ago. That was when I started to learn them from my martial arts masters. Over the decades I learned more and more, and taught many of them to students through the years. Today struggling with severe levels of dysautonomia, I really only focus on a few. On occasion I practice the odd one from years past, but mostly I stick with a few regulars. The reason being is that these are the ones that I find to benefit me the most in my condition, and take the least amount of energy to perform. And after all, I am a jujitsu grandmaster, so I’m big into gaining the most out of expending the least. And dysautonomia conditions also force us to embrace that philosophy of living.
I thought I’d share the few breathing practices that I work with regularly in case they might assist others here.
1- Cyclic Sighing
-Double Breath In - short breath into the abdomen immediately followed by another fuller breath into the chest… then a long slow breath out - exhale much longer than inhale (point is to see how long the exhale can go)
With practice you will see your exhale time increases without effort. The idea here is also to fully relax the body and mind while breathing. Try not to tense anything unnecessary to breathing in while practicing.
This exercise does the following:
While practicing this breath I can get my heart rate to drop by an average of 15 to 28 beats per minutes, and my blood pressure drops to normal levels as well. My nervous system stress level monitored by my Garmin watch drops drastically, and my body battery increases.
2- Trapezoidal Breathing
inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds and repeat
TEST breath hold:
if can hold breath out for less than 20 secs - inhale-exhale counts should be 3-4 secs
if can hold breath out for 20-45 secs - inhale-exhale counts should be 4-6 secs
if you can hold breath out for 45-75 secs - inhale-exhale counts should be 8-10 secs
Again, relax as much as possible while breathing and holding breath. Don’t force the time. Let it happen naturally.
This exercise does the following:
Like the Cyclic-sighing, with this breath I can get my heart rate to drop by an average of 15 to 28 beats per minutes, and my blood pressure drops to normal levels as well. My nervous system stress level monitored by my Garmin watch drops drastically, and my body battery increases.
Unlike the Cyclic-sighing, which for me is more for relaxation and knocking down anxiety in the nervous system, the Trapezoidal breathing helps to gain better mental focus through relaxation.
4- Nasal Breathing
Close the right nostril with your fingers and slowly breathe fully through the left nostril
Hold for 4-5 seconds
Close the left nostril and slowly exhale through the right nostril
Hold for 4-5 seconds
Inhale through the right nostril
Hold for 4-5 seconds
Close the right nostril and slowly exhale through the left nostril
That is one cycle. I find it best to do 6 to 8 consecutive cycles.
We breathe primarily through one nostril at a time normally, and this fluctuates throughout the day and night. But due to posture, health conditions, habits, etc, most people tend to become dominant in one nostril, meaning we tend to breathe more through one side of the nose than the other. This actually creates asymmetry in our faces.
The left nostril connects to the right brain and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system.
The right nostril connects to the left brain and stimulates the sympathetic nervous system.
By doing this breath we utilize both nostrils equally, as well as both sides of the ANS helping to regain balance. I always find this exercise to be extremely relaxing to my body and mind. It also tends to center me.
4- Cyclic Hyperventilation
-30 quick inhale-exhales (stomach, chest to head & out), hold out for 30 sec, inhale and hold for 15 sec - repeat 30 hyperventilation breaths, hold out for 90 secs, inhale again and hold for 15 secs - repeat 30 hyperventilation breaths, hold out for 2 minutes, inhale for 15 secs and then breathe normally again - relax as much as possible the entire time - don’t force the breathing - inhale and exhale through nose or mouth - you can do 3 rounds and build up to 5 rounds
During cyclic hyperventilation breaths, the body off-loads CO2, thus creating the sensations of tingling, lightheadedness, and numbness. This is the state in which the adaptive immune system drops, inflammation decreases, blood changes from acidic to alkaline, and white blood cell production increases. On the breath holds the body SpO2 levels drop, thus forcing the body to produce more red blood cells to more efficiently carry O2 throughout the body.
This is an intense breathing practice, and though it has great health benefits, I only do this when NOT in a crash state. If I attempt this while in PEM it takes too much energy and elevates my heart rate and blood pressure rather than dropping them. However, if I’m not in PEM this practice always drops my heart rate dramatically, as well as my blood pressure! I can go from a heart rate of 120 down to 58 by doing 4 rounds of this breathing. I can also drop my blood pressure down from 140-93 to 95-53. During the final exhale on the final round my SpO2 can drop as low as 40, which is causing the increase in blood cell production and stimulation of the innate immune system. Then for hours after my SpO2 reading will average 98 as opposed to my normal average of 94!
Well, there you have it.
I thought I’d share the few breathing practices that I work with regularly in case they might assist others here.
1- Cyclic Sighing
-Double Breath In - short breath into the abdomen immediately followed by another fuller breath into the chest… then a long slow breath out - exhale much longer than inhale (point is to see how long the exhale can go)
With practice you will see your exhale time increases without effort. The idea here is also to fully relax the body and mind while breathing. Try not to tense anything unnecessary to breathing in while practicing.
This exercise does the following:
- Increases moods
- Lowers heart rate
- Lowers blood pressure
- Enhances a relaxed calm state
- Activates the parasympathetic nervous system
While practicing this breath I can get my heart rate to drop by an average of 15 to 28 beats per minutes, and my blood pressure drops to normal levels as well. My nervous system stress level monitored by my Garmin watch drops drastically, and my body battery increases.
2- Trapezoidal Breathing
inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds and repeat
TEST breath hold:
if can hold breath out for less than 20 secs - inhale-exhale counts should be 3-4 secs
if can hold breath out for 20-45 secs - inhale-exhale counts should be 4-6 secs
if you can hold breath out for 45-75 secs - inhale-exhale counts should be 8-10 secs
Again, relax as much as possible while breathing and holding breath. Don’t force the time. Let it happen naturally.
This exercise does the following:
- Lowers heart rate
- Lowers blood pressure
- Increases focus
- Activates parasympathetic nervous system
Like the Cyclic-sighing, with this breath I can get my heart rate to drop by an average of 15 to 28 beats per minutes, and my blood pressure drops to normal levels as well. My nervous system stress level monitored by my Garmin watch drops drastically, and my body battery increases.
Unlike the Cyclic-sighing, which for me is more for relaxation and knocking down anxiety in the nervous system, the Trapezoidal breathing helps to gain better mental focus through relaxation.
4- Nasal Breathing
Close the right nostril with your fingers and slowly breathe fully through the left nostril
Hold for 4-5 seconds
Close the left nostril and slowly exhale through the right nostril
Hold for 4-5 seconds
Inhale through the right nostril
Hold for 4-5 seconds
Close the right nostril and slowly exhale through the left nostril
That is one cycle. I find it best to do 6 to 8 consecutive cycles.
We breathe primarily through one nostril at a time normally, and this fluctuates throughout the day and night. But due to posture, health conditions, habits, etc, most people tend to become dominant in one nostril, meaning we tend to breathe more through one side of the nose than the other. This actually creates asymmetry in our faces.
The left nostril connects to the right brain and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system.
The right nostril connects to the left brain and stimulates the sympathetic nervous system.
By doing this breath we utilize both nostrils equally, as well as both sides of the ANS helping to regain balance. I always find this exercise to be extremely relaxing to my body and mind. It also tends to center me.
4- Cyclic Hyperventilation
-30 quick inhale-exhales (stomach, chest to head & out), hold out for 30 sec, inhale and hold for 15 sec - repeat 30 hyperventilation breaths, hold out for 90 secs, inhale again and hold for 15 secs - repeat 30 hyperventilation breaths, hold out for 2 minutes, inhale for 15 secs and then breathe normally again - relax as much as possible the entire time - don’t force the breathing - inhale and exhale through nose or mouth - you can do 3 rounds and build up to 5 rounds
- Increases mood
- Lowers heart rate
- Lowers blood pressure
- Increases alertness
- Energizes and Relaxes
- Increases red blood cells
- Increases white blood cells
- Makes blood more alkaline
- Turns down the adaptive immune system, thus increasing white blood cells & lowering inflammation - this in-turn increases over all immunity and strengthens the first line of defense, the innate immune system which fights pathogens
- Activates both sympathetic (cyclic hyperventilation) and Parasympathetic (breath holds)
During cyclic hyperventilation breaths, the body off-loads CO2, thus creating the sensations of tingling, lightheadedness, and numbness. This is the state in which the adaptive immune system drops, inflammation decreases, blood changes from acidic to alkaline, and white blood cell production increases. On the breath holds the body SpO2 levels drop, thus forcing the body to produce more red blood cells to more efficiently carry O2 throughout the body.
This is an intense breathing practice, and though it has great health benefits, I only do this when NOT in a crash state. If I attempt this while in PEM it takes too much energy and elevates my heart rate and blood pressure rather than dropping them. However, if I’m not in PEM this practice always drops my heart rate dramatically, as well as my blood pressure! I can go from a heart rate of 120 down to 58 by doing 4 rounds of this breathing. I can also drop my blood pressure down from 140-93 to 95-53. During the final exhale on the final round my SpO2 can drop as low as 40, which is causing the increase in blood cell production and stimulation of the innate immune system. Then for hours after my SpO2 reading will average 98 as opposed to my normal average of 94!
Well, there you have it.