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From the Archives: If You Don’t Know What To Do, Breathe · We Didn't Plan for This Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to another episode of We Didn't Plan for This, a special series from How Yoga Changed My Life, a podcast.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is Adrian.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: On the regular podcast, we talk about how practices like yoga, meditation, breath work, movement, and journaling can change people's lives.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: But this series asks a different question.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: What practices stay, evolve, or become essential when life takes a turn that you never planned for?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Over the past few months, I've learned something really simple.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: When I don't know what to do, I breathe.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: After Brian died in January, I never thought that breathing and meditation would be the two tools that I would lean on the most.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a mover, and stillness can be quite challenging for me.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yet movement took a few weeks to settle back into.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And breath work and meditation have been my primary tools to get through each day without Brian.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't had a chance to listen to Nora's story from a few weeks ago, episode 172, go back and listen.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Nora was diagnosed with breast cancer, and this week she is undergoing a major surgery.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: After her surgery, Nora's physical movements will be extremely limited.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: For her, she knows prioritizing her breath work practice is going to support her recovery from the inside out.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because breathing does help you recover.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Breathing supports your nervous system, your circulation, and can calm your body down after something traumatic.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Breathing isn't just a yoga thing.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Breathing is a life thing.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's a recovery tool and a coping skill.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need a yoga mat props or a quiet, serene setting.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: You don't even need a teacher.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Breathing is one of the few tools we have that is free, always available, and travels with you everywhere you go.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can simply breathe in your car at work in the hospital rooms, in a kitchen, when you awake in the middle of the night or before difficult conversations.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes you can't fix what's already happening and you can't leave.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can't solve the problem.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you can't control anything that's happening around you.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: But you can always control how you breathe inside of it.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have a few breathing techniques for you, but before we get into those, I want to talk a little bit about why breathing matters so much.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because breathing is actually the largest communication tool you have between your body and your brain.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Most things in your body are automatic.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Your heart beats, your digestion happens, your hormones release.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: You don't really control those things directly.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: But breathing is interesting because it's automatic and you can control it.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, breathing is like a bridge between your nervous system, your body, and your brain.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Your breath changes when you're stressed or scared, crying or calm.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: But it also works the other way.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you change your breathing, you can actually change how your body and brain feel.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: So breathing isn't just air in and out.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's information, it's communication.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it provides feedback to your nervous system about whether you're safe, stressed, overwhelmed, or calm.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: So here are a few tips to help you harness your breath.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, count your breath.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Counting gives your brain something to do so it doesn't run off and start planning your entire life while you're trying to breathe.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can count your inhale up to four, five, six.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Take your exhale, count it the same.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can match it, exhale longer than your inhale.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: All of these little skill sets help.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, tap into your visualization skills.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Your brain likes something to look at or picture.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: It'll make it so much easier to stay focused.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you could watch the second hand on a clock, you could watch a candle flicker.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I even tell people to imagine their breath as a color coming in on the inhale and going out as you exhale.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Another really helpful trick is to pair breathing with something you already do every day.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're sitting at a red light in your car.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're waiting for your coffee.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing dishes, making dinner.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Breathing doesn't have to be a 20-minute meditation.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: It literally can be three breaths while you're sitting at a stoplight.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lastly, think about tactile skills.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Feeling your breath is sometimes easier than thinking about your breath.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you can put your hands around your ribs, kind of cup your rib cage.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can then actually feel your breath moving throughout your body.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So now that we've moved through why breathing matters and a few ways to stay focused on it, I'm going to walk you through three simple breathing practices that I use all the time in real life.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is one of my favorites.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's really simple.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Make your exhale longer than your inhale.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you can inhale for a count of four, and exhale for a count of six or eight.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Longer exhales.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Tell your nervous system that you're safe.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: I use this breath practice when I'm feeling overwhelmed or anxious.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And when I feel like I have too much to do and don't know where to start.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hold your breath for the count of four.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then exhale in the count of four.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hold at the bottom of your exhale when your lungs are empty for a count of four.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then just repeat that a few times.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four, hold for four.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, lastly, this is probably one of the fastest ways you can calm your nervous system down, is a physiological sigh.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: You take two short, fast inhales through your nose, followed by one super long exhale through your mouth.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: It almost feels like a sigh.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really good one when you feel like you're about to cry, panic, or just feel overwhelmed out of nowhere.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: The three different breath techniques for you to practice wherever you are.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, largest communication tool that you have to communicate between your body and your brain.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: You can control how you react and respond simply through your breath.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: So as we like to end our we didn't plan for this series, our little pause before you get out of the car, before you walk into your home or work, before you open your computer, and before you get back into your life.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take a few breaths together.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Inhale through your nose and take a long exhale out of your mouth.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Again, inhale through your nose.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And a long exhale out of your mouth.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: You might not be able to fix it.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: You might not even know what to do yet.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: But you can always control how you breathe inside of it.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that's where we start.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to have it figured out.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't plan for this.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: But we're here.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening today.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in a season of life that you didn't plan for, you're not the only one.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Email or DM us to share your story.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're always listening.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if breathing is something you want to explore more, we actually have a lot of breath work and meditation episodes on how yoga changed my life that you can go back and listen to anytime.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, if this episode helped you, or if you know someone who might need this right now, share it with them.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the best thing we can do is give someone just a little reminder to breathe.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for listening, and we'll speak with you next week.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.