Breathwork for Anxiety: Everything You Need to Know
“Breathwork for anxiety” has emerged as a popular search in 2022. And the reason is clear. Concentrating on work can be more difficult for individuals dealing with anxiety.
According to a 2019 study by Wrike, 94% of office workers in the US reported facing moderate to high levels of stress and anxiety on the job. Practicing breathwork can help you turn on the parasympathetic nervous system and keep a tight rein on anxiety.
Many office professionals have no idea what breathwork is and are unaware of its many benefits. If you are one of them, keep reading! In this blog, Ekattva Yogshala - a yoga school in Rishikesh - will tell you everything about breathwork for anxiety. From meaning to mechanism and techniques to the best online program, we will cover all crucial aspects.
Let us understand the meaning of breathwork first!
What is Breathwork?
Breathwork epitomizes the group of yoga exercises that helps you get a hold of your breathing. Based on an ancient yogic technique called pranayama, it helps you regulate the flow of breath to bring awareness and balance the body and mind. Just like any other yoga therapy, breathwork is an all-natural, at-your-fingertips way for office workers, entrepreneurs, and people from all walks of life to get rid of stress and improve overall well-being.
How does Breathwork work for Anxiety?
Remember we told you that doing breathwork can help you turn on the parasympathetic nervous system and keep a tight rein on anxiety? Well, let’s discuss how exactly it works.
We all know that anxiety is good for identifying and responding to problems and essential for fight or flight mode. But having it too much can send our nervous system into overdrive and lead to or worsen our body, mind, heart, and spirit.
It fills our body with the stress hormone cortisol, which in worse cases, can lead to constant high blood sugar. Anxiety also affects our ability to manage thoughts and leads to poor performance in the workplace. Breathwork is like a magic bullet to manage the stress hormone.
Practicing different breathwork techniques activates our vagus nerve - a nerve that is responsible for the stewardship of internal organ functions like heart rate, respiratory rate as well as vasomotor activity, and certain reflex actions - and puts the parasympathetic nervous system into gear. It helps us in retrogressing our physiology to its natural state, calms down our mind, recollects thoughts, and lets us remember who we are.
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What are Other Benefits of Breathwork?
We are certain that by now, you have completely understood how exactly breathwork can help you deal with anxiety. But do you know that this isn’t the only benefit of doing pranayama before heading to work? There are many other potential health advantages of breathwork for office workers, entrepreneurs, and homemakers alike.
Here are some:
#1 Improves oxygen capacity
The quantity of oxygen inhaled through breathing affects the concentration of energy released into our cells without deviation. Breathwork improves oxygen capacity in the blood. It improves our energy levels and boosts immunity. And since your body will be flooded with oxygen, you will also be able to push your mental and physical strength in the workplace to a new level.
#2 Increase self-awareness, presence, happiness, and joy
Breathwork helps professionals witness a long-lasting life change. It allows them to experience deep presence and self-awareness by opening a gate to explore within, where time almost ceases to exist. In simple words, breathwork will help you understand yourself better and lets you take charge of your emotional, physical, and mental well-being. It lets you experience happiness and joy in a better way.
#3 Enhance sleep quality
Someone once said, “A good laugh and a good sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.” Breathwork is all about this! Between spending hours sitting next to office desktops and handling incoming calls, the coffee we drink, and the work stress and anxiety we carry on our shoulders, all of us are negatively impacting our sleep.
Breathwork helps us impose peace on the nervous system. It whittles down the negative effects of stimulants and calms the stress, enhancing sleep quality. It allows professionals to quieten down their minds and allow them to fall asleep quickly and deeply.
#4 Release toxins
Another known benefit of practicing breathwork for anxiety. It helps office workers expand their diaphragms that relax their bodies and massage lymphatic systems that eliminate toxins. Scientists and yoga experts say that breathwork training expels over 50% of the toxins stored in the human body in an efficient manner and strengthens your lungs.
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#5 Improve digestion
Apart from helping you deal with anxiety, breathwork improves the digestive process. It stimulates and increases blood flow throughout the digestive tract and enhances intestinal activity. Got a bloated stomach? No problem! Practicing breathwork regularly eliminates the uncomfortable symptoms of bloating and gas. In fact, it helps you reduce cortisol. Put simply, gut inflammation.
What are Best Breathwork Techniques to Perform?
Improper breathing can upset O2 levels in your body and trigger anxiety, panic, fatigue, and other physical and emotional disturbances. We highly recommend trying the following breathwork techniques If you are feeling anxious at your workplace:
#1 Deep breathing
One of the most simple yet most effective breathwork techniques for beginners. Deep breathing, as the name suggests, asks you to contract the diaphragm - a muscle located horizontally between the thoracic cavity and abdominal cavity. This breathwork technique enables more air to flow into your body and helps you pipe down your nerves, reducing stress and anxiety.
The following are the steps for performing deep breathing techniques at your office desk:
Relax the tummy.
Place one hand just below your ribs.
Breathe in slowly and deeply through the nose, noticing the hand rise.
Breathe out through the mouth, noticing the hand fall.
#2 Alternate nostril breathing
Dan Brule once said, “The secret of life is right under your nose.” He was 100% right. Alternate nostril breathing involves blocking off one nostril at a time and breathing in and out through the other. Also called Nadi Shodhana, this breathwork technique for anxiety is primarily aimed at cleaning and purifying the subtle channels of the mind and bringing balance to the body as a whole.
In order to perform alternate nostril breathing, all you have to do is to sit straight at your office chair and follow these steps:
Take your right hand and bend your pointer and middle fingers into your palm, leaving your thumb, ring finger, and pinky extended.
Close your eyes or softly gaze downward.
Inhale and exhale to begin.
Close off your right nostril with your thumb.
Inhale through your left nostril.
Close off your left nostril with your ring finger.
Open and exhale through your right nostril.
Inhale through your right nostril.
Close off your right nostril with your thumb.
Open and exhale through your left nostril.
Inhale through your left nostril.
Take a break by releasing both nostrils if you begin to feel lightheaded. Work up to 10 rounds of this breathwork technique for anxiety.
#3 4-7-8 breathing
Another amazing breathwork technique for office workers to deal with work stress and anxiety. The 4-7-8 breathing is a pattern based on pranayama - an ancient yogic technique - that will help you gain control over your thoughts and breathing. Developed by Dr. Andrew Weil, it asks you to sit down with your back straight and place your tongue on the back of your upper front teeth.
Once you get in the right position, follow these steps:
Breathe out through the mouth, making a whizzing sound.
Close your mouth and count to 4 while breathing in through the nose.
Count till 7 while holding your breath.
Breathing out through the mouth, making a whizzing sound again after reaching 8.
Inhale. Repeat the aforementioned steps at least times.
#4 Box breathing
Our list of best breathwork techniques for anxiety will be considered incomplete without talking about box breathing. Also called square breathing, it is a simple yet powerful breathing method that will help office professionals fight back anxiety, stress, and depression and return breathing to its normal rhythm.
Based on counts of four, box breathing can also help you heighten performance and concentration. The following are the steps to perform the square breathwork technique on your office desk:
Start the practice by keeping your spine upright.
Close your mouth and eyes and exhale all the air out of your lungs.
Inhale slowly through your nose, while counting 1-2-3-4 in your mind.
Now close the value at the back of your throat (lower esophageal sphincter) and hold your breath for the same count. Keep a slight lifting gut reaction as opposed to coming down on like a ton of bricks.
Exhale slowly from your nose while counting till 4. Hold your breath again after the exhale.
Repeat the above steps until you feel re-centered.
Join 5-day Online Breathwork Program
Starting a breathwork practice for anxiety is not as easy as ABC. However, by joining online breathwork classes conducted by Ekattva Yogshala, you will be able to create a state of calmness in your mind and body. Available at a one-time fee of US$75 only, our program for office workers brings the best of breathing, pranayama, and everyday wellness.
Webcasted live from Rishikesh, India, Ekattva’s 9-days online breathwork program includes 5 practice sessions of 60 minutes each and can even be joined by your children, spouse, and parents.
Highlights of the online breathwork program:
Interactive sessions with a focus on each participant.
Experienced yoga and breathwork teachers.
The tailored program focused on observe, understand, and resolve approach.
Affordable-for-all breathwork program.
Learn more about our online breathwork program in India!
Breathwork for Anxiety: Final Words
There you go!
We told you everything about breathwork for anxiety. Simply paying more attention to the breath has numerous benefits for the well-being of office workers. It is a powerful tool that can easily help you deal with stress and anxiety and let you transform and heal. Just make sure to practice breathwork regularly. Choose an experienced breathwork teacher if you struggle with kickstarting your breathwork practice.
Got any queries to ask? Send them to info@spiritualpunditz.com and have them answered by our breathwork experts.
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