Extended exhale breathing for when you need to get it together

While I am a big fan of allowing myself to simply be with myself when I am feeling activated (anxious, frustrated, stressed, angry, despairing, etc etc) there are some times where that's just not the best move. Even if I feel great after several minutes of being uncomfortable and letting that wave of emotions pass over me, sometimes, I have a presentation to give. Or it's the middle of a meeting. Or I am about to teach a yoga class and need to put my stress on the shelf for a bit. "I just had the best yoga class, the teacher was so stressed!" said no one ever.

The practice: extended exhale breathing

This practice I am sharing - extended exhale breathing - is my go-to for those moments when I really have to get it together while feeling sympathetically activated: heart racing, breath short, heat in my face, a vague feeling of shakiness, usually some sweat in very strange places too. Those are my cues for me to try an extended exhale practice. I like this one especially for when you are in public- in a meeting, on camera, etc - because the beauty of it is no one can tell you are doing it! Many a time before I had to brief dozens of people in person and usually hundreds more dialed in virtually, I have used this technique and it works. Sometimes I am shouting the count in my head, willing my nervous system to chill the f out, and even in those times I feel enough of a shift I can focus and put on a great presentation or deliver a solid briefing. It is also a great practice to do any time you are feeling activated, not just when you are under pressure to do something else. It's even helpful for falling asleep or getting back to sleep when I've woken up in the middle of the night! 😴

How to do it

So! How to do it. Super duper simple. All you have to do is make your inhale longer than your exhale, two counts longer is a great place to start- you can always go from there. Start with inhale for three, exhale for five. Then you can go 3:6 (inhale to exhale), or 4:6, or 4:7. Experiment to see what ratios help you the most, then practice them to create some muscle memory and make the practice more accessible when you really need it. Depending on your level of activation, a few rounds of breath cycles over just a minute or so might be enough to shift your activated state. If you are more activated, it might take another few rounds/additional minute. So definitely keep going if you don't notice a shift right away.

There are lots of guided practices of different lengths out there on YouTube and the meditation app Insight Timer, so I invite you to poke around and find one that works for you 😊

How it works and its effects

Why do this practice- how does it work and what changes in your body and nervous system? An inhale to exhale ratio where the exhale is longer than the inhale is a sign of a nervous system in which parasympathetic (aka rest, relax, and digest) is dominant. When the breath cycle (total count of inhale and exhale) itself lengthens, this is also a a sign of parasympathetic activity. When the ratio is equal and short - that is a sign of sympathetic (aka fight and flight) activity dominating the nervous system. Think about the last time you had a good workout where your heart was elevated - what was your breath like? Short, equal inhales and exhales I bet!! 😤

Because you are giving your mind a task (counting inhales and exhales) this practice has the added benefit of giving your mind a break from thinking about whatever you are thinking about. It activates your executive network and makes it harder for your default mode network to come online. For more info on the three major networks in the brain, check out my previous post here🤓

For the video, I added a rocking component. Rocking soothes the nervous system. We rock babies right?? I've been doing rocking exercises a lot recently in trauma-centered sessions in my yoga therapy training as well as somatics training, because it can help to regulate the nervous system when stress is present. It's felt really lovely and settling for me, and I hope you give it a try too. You can try this breathing exercise with or without the rocking. Sometimes when we have all that extra energy going in our system, it feels good to move a little before sitting still(er) and breathing. This goes for any practice that requires you to slow down, like yoga or meditation, so give it a shot - rock, or just shake it out, or wiggle for a little bit to help ease into your quieter, still or slow practice. A little movement can be a lovely transition. 🪱 (that's a worm emoji for "wiggle like a worm" in case you were wondering 😂)

So...here it is...the short (6 min total) extended exhale breathing practice!! Let me know what you think, and thanks for taking the time to check out my stuff. Also, apologies for the peacocks that started honking in the background around the 5 min mark 🦚🙄 I'm so used to them as they are co-residents of my neighborhood, they didn't even register while I was recording!!

In deepest gratitude,

💕Carly

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