There are many breathing technique which have shown to affectively improve mood, stress and anxiety. The 4-7-8 is quite famous followed by modified Valsalva maneuver. Here I introduce another method which I have found to be more effective than the others. I will outline the basics and you may experiment and fine-tune it accordingly.

  1. Start by sitting in an upright position, preferable in a chair, legs down on floor

  2. Start inhaling slowly into your chest filling it with air, take as much air you can with your mouth closed

  3. Once done, pause half a second and take another small breath in. Take as many breaths as possible until you can’t

  4. Now tilt your head in front slowly so your chin touches the chest, keep holding your breath

  5. In step 2, you may have straighten your back to take more air in, now relax the back

  6. Count to 15 seconds holding your breath in this position while trying to expand your chest in all directions

  7. Blow air through the mouth slowly while tilting your head backward

  8. If you did it right, you’ll feel a bit light headed and whatever thought had you in control should be under your control

Why does this work?

The breathing technique resets the vagus nerve which results in relaxation. Please read about it so you can improve the experience. Some incomplete popular reading;

  • https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/vagus-nerve-stimulation/about/pac-20384565

  • https://health.clevelandclinic.org/vagus-nerve-stimulation/

  • https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking/resetting-hype-around-vagus-nerve

  • https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/well/mind/vagus-nerve-mental-health.html

  • https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2021/04/15/what-the-vagus-nerve-is-and-how-to-stimulate-it-for-better-mental-health/?sh=538b75f96250

Why sit upright?

This isn’t mandatory, the goal is to make taking the long slow breath easy so the experience requires less effort.

Why breath slow and through nose?

Slow breathing calms people down especially when through the nose. Lots of content available on it.

Why take the extra breath when I have already filled up my lungs?

The lung isn’t a bag. It is a bag of bags and the sacks on the bag get fully filled when you take that extra breath. That also have a calming effect. You may have noticed animals like dogs do this double breathing or a crying baby will take the second breath. The extra oxygen has a calming effect.

Why tilt head to front?

So it is easy to keep holding breath in next step while you are trying to pump your chest outward.

What does expand your chest mean?

It means you try to get the air out of the lungs while holding your breath increasing the pressure in your lungs. It is modification on Diaphragmatic Breathing. Try NOT to pump your abdomen as well.

Why blow air though the mouth?

If done right, you won’t have the patience to blow though the nose. The effort for blowing through the mouth after the pressure is the path of least resistance.

Why did I feel light headed?

Your body’s pressure just got reset aka high to normal/low, it gives such an experience because the flow of blood into your head changed. If you feel dizzy drop the count from 15 to 10. If you faint, please check your pressure or visit a doctor. If you have pressure related issues start small and do not exert further complications.

Why did my heart rate drop?

Stress and anxiety increases the heart rate, as this resets the stress, your heartbeat goes down to an appropriate resting heartbeat of 60-65. The effect is a result of Bezold Jarisch reflex which was discovered in 1800s but is mostly not understood well till date. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezold%E2%80%93Jarisch_reflex

Why do this when I meditate?

Meditation takes a lot of effort and the results take ages to show up. Also this might have better efficacy than meditation based on this study https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(22)00474-8. Their technique was different.

If anywhere during the exercise you feel uncomfortable, just release and start again. Repeat as many times you like and enjoy the glow and flow like I do.