When we are in a situation where we feel threatened or scared, our body is quick to give us signals to alert us to the potential danger.
If you stopped to think about what those danger signals were, you would probably come up with some of the following:
- Breathing rate increases
- Racing heartbeat
- Feeling like your heart is jumping out of your chest
- Knots in your stomach
- Dry mouth
- Sweaty palms
- Mind going blank
There are good reasons your body does this. It’s preparing you to:
- face the danger and fight,
- flee from the threat
- or freeze and hide.
In evolutionary terms, this makes sense. If you spotted a sabre tooth tiger on the hunt, this physiological response would help you survive, mobilising you to avoid or confront the danger. However, in the modern world, this response is not so helpful. Threats nowadays may be a meeting with the Boss, content we read on social media or the shadow of covid lockdown, which can leave us feeling panicked or overwhelmed.
Breath Work
Breath work is an example of a technique we can learn to help control and wind back the ‘flight, flight, freeze’ response so that we can face our ‘threat’ in a calmer, clear headed way. The ability to consciously vary the breathing rate helps the body to shift from a state of stress to a state of calm. This is repeatedly proved in studies that have found that specific breathing exercises can lower levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.
Square Breathing
Square breathing is a simple yet powerful way of resetting the breath. It involves breaking down the breath into four basic steps with each step lasting for four seconds:
- Breathe in through your nose for the count of four seconds. Notice the air flow through your nostrils and enter your lungs.
- Hold breath in for four seconds.
- Breathe out through your mouth, as if you were blowing through a straw, for four seconds.
- Hold breath out for four seconds.
Do three to five rounds of this exercise, and then continue breathing normally. Check in and notice how you are feeling now. Hopefully you are breathing in a more relaxed pattern, your mind feels clear and calm, and your focus is improved. You can repeat this as many times as you need to until you feel calm and more regulated.