Back at it 😅with a simple practice: humming!
Hey friends! Looks like I needed an unplanned sabbatical but I am back in it. My body and spirit were telling me to keep chilling after I took a knee when I had that bad bout of bronchitis, and go into relax and recuperate mode, which is kind of the whole point of this newsletter. Ha, universe I see what you did there 🤪. Now I am refreshed and ready to go again!
Getting back into it, I have a deceptively simple practice for y'all to try out. This is going to sound wild, but humming is an excellent way to relax and bring some calm to your current mind-body weather. Yogis have known this for thousands of years, with the practice of bhramari breath - bhramari is Sanskrit for "bee"! 🐝Traditionally you practice by closing the ears, pressing in the cartilage. It definitely works with or without that! In my experience I feel a shift or arrival of calm with just one bee breath - a nice long humming exhale, and a much deeper shift with five or so minutes of humming.
It's a remarkable enough practice that there have been multiple research studies on its benefits. In a 2018 review of all the existing studies, researchers found that overall the humming practice boosted the parasympathetic system- lowering heart rate and blood pressure as well as reducing perceived stress and anxiety (1). In 2024, a similar review confirmed this, adding the increasing of heart rate variability (HRV) as a benefit of the practice (2). HRV is an excellent indicator of your nervous system being in a good balance of calm/parasympathetic and thus lower heart rate, and activated/sympathetic and thus elevated heart rate.
So how long should you practice for? In the two research reviews, the practice duration was anywhere from five to 45 minutes, so really - try it out for yourself! The practice I recorded is about five minutes for you try it out with me doing some light guidance. Also, hum along to music, or the tune in your head - no need to formally practice to reap the benefits. This is also a great transition practice, before you do some meditation or yoga, or even before you settle in for some deep work. Also give it a shot if you wake up and are having a hard time going back to sleep 😉😴
Quick nerding out/diving in before I close out....so why does this work?? One of the reasons could be that humming really activates the parts of the vagus nerve associated with our social engagement system- what we need to interact and connect with our fellow humans, which we are all super hardwired for. In polyvagal theory (the theory that we have more than just parasympathetic and sympathetic states in the nervous system), that social engagement system aka the ventral vagal state - when we are operating in that mode, as opposed to stressed out in fight/flight sympathetic or checked out/done-zo dorsal vagal- is our optimal state of being. It entails being relaxed, but also "online"- alert and engaged, ready for connection.
Think of what it feels like to be in a flow state of work, or in a deep conversation with a close companion. It feels good right? So the humming - and all that activation of the vagus nerve around the vocal chords and ears - really supercharges that ventral vagal state. Neat huh??
In closing, a quick anecdote. A while back I did the humming practice, alternating not closing the ears and closing them, for about ten minutes. My Garmin buzzed shortly after, and it said "Congratulations! This period of activity has added three points to your body battery!" A 30 minute nap the week before had added one point. So - recharge and calm with a humming practice. If you want to try it the traditional yogic way, here is a good resource but really any humming you do will benefit your nervous system! 😎
If you know anyone who would benefit from this practice or newsletter, I'd be delighted and honored if you shared it with them!
In deepest gratitude,
Carly 💕🙏
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