Coherent Breathing
Ilana Friedman, Advanced Clinical Fellow
Imagine you are an elegant zebra, resting peacefully with your herd by a watering hole, stripes glinting in the moonlight. Suddenly you notice a female lion low to the ground, stalking you, her dark eyes fixed on you. In an instant, your sympathetic nervous system lights up and sets off a chain reaction as you take off across the plain. Your senses are heightened to be able to sense danger, your heart starts pumping harder and faster which brings oxygen-rich blood to your muscles and away from your digestive system and skin, and your respiration rate increases. Your primal instinct to survive takes over.
This is the same system that lights up for us humans when we sense danger. It is vital for our survival. Unfortunately, this system has not been upgraded much over the millennium and runs with the specificity of my undergraduate Macbook. Our nervous systems frequently misinterpret signals as, “DANGER! THERE IS A LION CHASING YOU AND YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!” when in reality it is more like, “I have to give a speech in front of my colleagues...”
Now imagine you outran that pesky lioness and you are again safely with your herd gently grazing under the stars. Your parasympathetic (or “rest and digest”) system activates and brings your heart and respiration rates back down, your blood pressure lowers, and you come back to baseline.
Zebras are really, really good at slowing back down, but we humans...not so much. When we are in sympathetic arousal, we often struggle to slow down and get back to that baseline. If you experience anxiety, you know viscerally what I’m talking about!
One of the best ways to come back to “rest and digest” is through our breath. Our breath rate is intrinsically linked to these nervous systems, and one simple way to balance your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems is through coherent breathing.
Coherent Breathing
Come to a comfortable seat, eyes open or closed
Begin by inhaling through your nose for a slow count of three
Imagine breathing the air in as low as possible, filling from the bottom to the top, like water into a vase. Allow your stomach to expand out as you inhale and gently come in as you exhale.
Exhale for a slow count of three
Continue inhaling and exhaling for the same length of time
The goal is to slowly work your way up to a count of six.
The beautiful thing about this practice is its simplicity. It can be done anywhere, anytime you need to come back to rest and digest. As with all breathwork, go at your own pace and pause if you experience any dizziness. I have been practicing this myself when I get in bed at night and it has really been helping me drift off to dreamland with ease!