Making the Most of Your Breath

by Dae Evans, BYTT 200 2013

This is a talk I gave to three Hospice volunteer groups, totaling 75 volunteers who visit 155
patients, in Wayne County, Ohio, in August 2013.

We are constantly arriving somewhere and though our bodies are present, we are attempting
to bring our minds into the present moment, the only moment in which we can really live.
Awareness of breath can help to bring our focus to this moment allowing us to be fully present.

The mind is capable of creating a busy super-highway of thoughts, with worries about the past
and the future, leaving one in a state of stress resulting in shallow breathing, causing anxiety.
The breathing techniques I will share with you serve to keep your mind focused and free from
attaching to every thought that crosses your mind. The slower the breath, the calmer the mind,
the more the body is able to relax, and the better you will feel.

My purpose for being here is to expand our focus and concentration on breath, and to share
some yogic breathing techniques that may be useful in easing your patients suffering, and your
own as well. The ways in which it can help are limitless, but here is a list of some of them:
improving concentration and memory (just like it helps in playing an instrument), enhancing
thinking and problem solving skills, attention training (especially for attention deficit), reducing
anxiety (to help with public speaking and test taking), managing stress and anger, decreasing
fatigue, increasing alertness and readiness, reducing muscle tension, diminishing physical pain,
facilitating relaxation and sleep, helping with inner directedness (when you pray or meditate),
improving ones physical condition, and many other things of which we may not be aware.
Attention to breath basically helps us be healthier and happier.

Shallow breathing is an unconscious habit, one that is not readily detectable, where you are
taking in small amounts of air that do not have a chance to go very deep into the lungs. This can
happen at stressful times of the day, during times of defensiveness and emotionality, when you
are driving, during information overload, or with instructions from an authority figure. Some
individuals take short, shallow breaths without a known reason, and may do so chronically and
even all day long without knowing it.

Let us take a moment so that you can think about your normal way of breathing. Close your
eyes if you would like to, and let your next breath be a bit slower and deeper. Breath is not just
an inhalation, but it is also an exhalation. Focus on exhaling slowly and completely at this time.
Breathing changes us at the cellular level, its physiology is a chemical process in the lungs
where oxygen gets circulated to the cells for use throughout the body, and then carbon dioxide
moves from the cells to the lungs. There are so many physiological things that can occur due to
the way we breathe.

I wish my mother had known yogic breathing techniques early in her life, as I have had a
lifetime of observing her suffer with general anxiety, agoraphobia, and panic attacks. Her
anxiety activated her sympathetic-nervous system, elevating her heartbeat, causing her to
breathe faster and supporting her evolutionary adapted means of being able to fight or flee.
Thinking that she was going to die during these attacks, as she literally could not breathe, she
eventually learned that breathing in and out of a small paper bag would return her to
homeostasis. Focusing on filling the paper bag with expired breath, it slowed her breathing; and
breathing in from the bag allowed her carbon dioxide level to replenish, thereby calming her
body and mind.

Her anxiety attacks caused her to be fearful of not being able to breathe, thinking she needed
more oxygen; she would over-breathe, or hyperventilate. Hyperventilation cannot only have
profound effects on thinking and perception but also on the emotions manifesting as
apprehension, anger, fear, frustration, stress, vulnerability, fatigue, weakness, and feelings of
low self esteem. Failure to understand the source of physical sensations resulting from over-
breathing, such as light-headedness, irritability, tingling of the skin, tightness of the chest,
diarrhea, sweaty hands, dry mouth, headache, and muscle spasms, and many more, can cause
more confusion and lead to false conclusions. These symptoms may indicate other issues to be
investigated, but breathing well is sure to help in any case.
During the week of my brothers funeral last year, when we were all concerned for her well-
being, I worked with my mother in her being aware of her bodily symptoms before she felt they
were beyond her control, and she was able to function with less fear and without panic attacks.
The following is what I taught her to do, and I invite you to do this now: place the soles of your
feet on the floor at hip distance apart, and shift your upper torso forward and off the back of
your chair. Level your chin parallel with the floor, and find a spot on the floor on which to focus
your gaze, such that your eyelids can relax. Feeling your feet planted firmly on the floor, lift the
muscles of your pelvic floor at the base of your pelvis and continue to lift the muscles up
through the inner belly, pulling the navel slightly closer to the spine. Press the crown of your
head skyward, and relax your shoulders. Let your next breath be a long, slow inhalation to the
point of not being able to take in more air, and hold it for a couple of seconds. Let your
exhalation also be very slow, releasing all of the air you can. Now, take a refreshing breath or
two. Focus your gaze on your spot again, and this time at the end of your long, slow inhalation
wait until your body tells you to exhale. Then exhale until your body needs to inhale again.
Lets practice this. Slowly inhale fresh, new, live-giving breath, and then when your body is
ready, exhale the old breath letting all holding and anything you want to be rid of leave with
the breath you are exhaling. As you breathe in, think loving, and as you exhale think
kindness.

A full inhalation will come easily as the natural result of a full exhalation, but when a person
prematurely cuts off the exhalation and initiates an inhalation without using the diaphragm,
this curtailing the exhalation can lead to serious lung and heart problems over time. In lung
disorders such as emphysema and asthma, the ability to exhale fully is diminished. When you
breathe through a straw, it takes longer to exhale, and you are more intentional about it. Count
how many breath cycles you take per minute to establish a baseline number. Drinking straws
were provided at the beginning of this talk. Place one end of a straw between your lips and hold
it gently with one hand. Relax. Breathe in through your nose, and then breathe out through
your mouth into the straw. Before your next breath in, lightly place your tongue on the roof of
your mouth to prevent breathing in through the straw. Continue this way, counting your breath
cycles for one minute. How has your number of cycles changed? Over time you can increase
your straw breathing sessions to 10-15 minutes, thereby exercising the diaphragm, and bringing
vitality to your whole being through healthier breathing.
Extending the tongue outside the mouth is another way of lengthening the breath and it serves
to cool the body as well. Stick out your tongue, and on an inhalation bring the breath across the
top of your tongue, or in through the straw you create by curling the sides of your tongue.
When your body is ready to exhale, do so in the same manner as your inhale. Let your
inhalations and exhalations be very slow and deep, relaxing the shoulders. These cooling breath
techniques can assist in cooling ones frustrations, as well as body temperature.
On your next inhalation, breathe through your nose, and constrict your vocal chords, raking the
incoming air across the glottis or back of the throat, creating an ocean sound as heard through
a seashell. Upon exhaling through the nose, use the same technique, creating the audible sound
of the ocean. Ocean breath helps with focus and allows one to remain self aware and grounded
as well as regulating the heating of the body. The friction of the air passing through the lungs
and throat generates internal body heat. Ocean breath can release tension and tight areas of
the body, it aides in diminishing pain from headaches, relief of sinus pressure, decreasing
phlegm, and strengthening the nervous and digestive systems. This type of breathing allows
you to direct the breath so that it fills the lower lobes of the lungs, stimulating your circulation.
You can use this to self-soothe, riding the breath in and out like ocean waves.
In the therapeutic yoga class which I instruct for homeless veterans, one of the men told me
before a session that he wouldnt be doing much movement because he had experienced chest
and back pain to the point of needing to call an ambulance the previous evening. He has had
two previous heart attacks and he is only 60 years old. At the hospital they kept him waiting for
seven hours, and then eventually sent him back to the shelter without medical treatment,
because they were unable to get the necessary information from the Veterans Administration.
He was very frustrated and was still experiencing pain in his shoulder and back, but he wanted
to be in the yoga class. I advised him not to do any of the movements, but to just sit
comfortably with good alignment and use the ocean breathing techniques, and to let me know
if his pain got worse. I placed a rolled up yoga mat behind his back for support allowing his front
ribs to open taking pressure off of his heart, and allowing his ribs and lungs to expand. After the
class, he told me he felt better than he had in two days. The following day he came to class
smiling, and said all the pain was gone and he was able to fully participate.

Lets experience another breathing technique which helps to balance the left and right
hemispheres of the brain (and the arousal and relaxation phases of the involuntary nervous
system). Sit comfortably aligned with your shoulders relaxed. Take a refreshing breath and after
an exhalation, close your right nostril with your right thumb and gently inhale through the left
nostril. Then lift your thumb, close the left nostril with your ring finger, and exhale through the
right. Reverse the pattern, inhaling through the right nostril and exhaling through the left.
Repeat this pattern four times, then close your eyes, and ask yourself how you are feeling. This
can be repeated for five rounds, stopping after each four breaths for a couple of refreshing
breaths, and checking in with how you are feeling. Most people report feeling more relaxed,
mentally alert, and invigorated. This will ease many problems including sinus infections and
balance issues.
Another calming technique I shared with my Mother in order for her to relax and to slow her
breathing is one of self-soothing by giving oneself a hand massage. Start by slowly and gently
massaging the fatty tip of each finger and thumb, starting with the pinky finger. Then move to
the middle segment between the joints of each finger, and then to third segment between the
knuckle and palm. Continue the massage into and around the palm, allowing the shoulders to
relax.
So how do we initiate relaxing breathing with our patients? First, be in your own place of
relaxation with slow, deep breathing, and then start by asking them if you can massage their
hands. If they say no, please accept and respect their response. You might ask them to let you
know if they change their mind. Then ask if you can practice some relaxing breathing
techniques with them. Again accept and respect their response. If they say yes, begin with
talking them through straightening their spine (if they can), and relaxing their shoulders, and
then invite them to take a long, slow inhalation, breathe with them, asking them to focus on
the breath entering their nostrils, and then focusing on the long, slow exhalation.
All of this is done in the spirit of compassion and loving kindness, both for yourself and for your
patients. I invite you to experiment with these breathing techniques yourself, and perhaps you
will share them with your patients.
May you be well and go in peace.
The yoga methods of breathing in this talk help to calm the nervous system and the mind. They
help reduce stress by stimulating the parasympathetic response of the central nervous system
instead of the fight-or-flight response. Raising the crown of the head skyward assists in proper
alignment which opens the shoulders and ribs, allowing more space for the lungs to expand, and
facilitating pranayama. These yogic breathing techniques aide in opening all seven chakras,
especially the fourth chakra associated with air, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh chakras
associated with space (I am particularly aware of an opening in the seventh chakra after yogic
breathing techniques). With breath awareness, purification, and integration our level of
awareness moves from physical to subtle especially noticeable in these koshas:
Vijnyanamayakosha (transformation via our observer self), Anandamayakosha (inner joy our
true nature), and of course Pranamayakosha (energy and the chakras).


References

The breathing Book, Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work, Donna Farhi,
1996, St. Martins Press.

Yoga Mind, Body, and Spirit, A Return to Wellness, Donna Farhi, 2000, St. Martins Press.

Relax and Renew, Restful Yoga for Stressful Times, Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., P.T., 2011,
Rodmell Press.

A Brief Overview of the Chemistry of Respiration and the Breathing Heart Wave, Peter M.
Litchfield, Ph.D. in California Biofeedback. Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring 2003).