Physiological Sighs
As told by Andrew Huberman (2021). A brief post to acknowledge how turning to our breath drops us right into the eye of the storm. I’m relatively new to breathwork but have discovered that mindful breathing is one of the fastest tools in my ‘connect-and-calm-my-body’ kit. Huberman’s pattern of breathing is as so:
You inhale twice through your nose.
You slowly exhale out your mouth.
You repeat 1-3 times.
Huberman explains how we breathe like this already when we’re sleeping and our C02 levels get too high. I enjoy the accessibility of being able to access my breath at any point in the day, even in my sleep. I feel like I am now permanently strapped to a life vest.
For those of us who enjoy breathing, but who also find seeing and feeling helpful to regulate the nervous system, here’s Judson Brewer’s (2020) Five Finger Breathing exercise:
“Step 1: Place the index finger of one hand on the outside of the pinky finger on your other hand. As you breathe in, trace up to the tip of your pinky, and as you breathe out, trace down the inside of your pinky.
Step 2: On your next inhale, trace up the outside of your ring finger, and on the exhale, trace down the inside of your ring finger.
Step 3: Inhale and trace up the outside of your middle finger; exhale and trace down the inside of your middle finger.
Step 4: Continue finger by finger until you’ve traced your entire hand.
Step 5: Reverse the process and trace from your thumb back to your pinky.”
I wonder about the experience of doing this with another person and using your finger to trace their hands, and your breath to soothe their rhythms. How this could potentially be a really profound experience for someone unable to trace their own hand’s mountain range. A Collective Exhale.
