Especially after hot yoga! Counting the inhales and exhales makes all the difference for me, though I never thought "counting" meditations were my thing. Experiences, stories and instruction relating to the practice of meditation. It activates "rest and digest" mode, so your body relaxes and your guts go into overdrive to digest food. For sleep, you can do it lying down. I personally just try to breath quietly enough so I can't hear my breathe. I feel like if I'm trying to go to sleep, I should already be lying down. Hi thank you a lot for this summary of this technique. It helps me to relax my muscles and focus my mind. Tuck your tail bone down and under your bottom, to lengthen and relax the spine. One of the therapies he mentioned that helped him was HRV training via Dr. Leah Lagos's book. I’m up on Reddit at the moment well past my “bed time” because I’m feeling stressed/anxious. Notice any tension, using the breath to relax the tension as much as you can. It's basically what hypnobirthing is. The key is to start counting wherever you think you left off. I’ve been playing around with a bunch of breathing patterns for sleep lately so I’m glad you posted this! I inhale and exhale through the nose, but if you find other breathing styles work for you (in through the nose out, out through the mouth), by all means make it your own!! So long as you are not forcing your breath, you should be able to slow and deepen the breath to some degree. Definitely going to try it. Take a balloon and blow it up using the 4-7-8 breathing technique ~ 10x per day. Breathing exercises should be more known, they just help so much. Roll your shoulders up and back, so that your chest is lifted, bringing your shoulder blades together comfortably. Different methods work it’s more of whatever I’m feeling at the time, but I find that lying symmetrically on my back makes it work best. Community for users of the Oura Ring wearable. Press J to jump to the feed. Might sound odd at first, but the way that I’ll think about it is as if I’m flexing and relaxing a particular muscle, without actually doing it. I think I should add that to the article. Coming off substance (that I depended on to sleep) and staying in a hospital without privacy where nurses checked on patients every 15 minutes (!!! Good for before and after meals, before bed to relax the mind and body, to clear your thoughts and focus on the moment. Settled with Wim Hoff and coherent breathing. Or in and out both through the nose? If you want to get calmer, more grounded etc, inhale from the nose and exhale from the mouth. And then he will actually breathe with me to get to a better pattern. I wouldn't recommend the hyperventilation type breathing that is in some wim hof techniques because it depletes the body of carbon dioxide and activates the sympathetic nervous system. Roll your shoulders up and back, so that your chest is lifted, bringing your shoulder blades together comfortably. In through the nose and out through the mouth? Its hard because your body is in a certain mode of breathing regulated by your nervous system, but if you do a slow breathing excercise even if its just 4/2/4 second cycles then your nervous system will start transitioning and after a few minutes you will be able to exhale slow and even get to 4/4/12 breathing pretty easily. I discovered 4-7-8 breathing years ago through an article by Dr Weil while looking for something to help me deal with panic attacks - and have been using it when I notice I’m anxious ever since. If you’re partial to Joe Rogan, he had a good episode recently with a guy called James Nestor who wrote a book all about this stuff and the importance of breathing through your nose called ‘breath’. Thought it was too intense or something, but im gonna keep doing that at least. Reddit's automated bots frequently filter posts it thinks might be spam. He will say:Nilki may take a deep breath. This is just what I needed at exactly the right time (though an hour ago would have been okay too ;)), New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Will it still work well for insomnia if I do it lying down? Which one is the right technique and does it make any difference if both in and out is through nose and vice versa? Such a yummy pose! And as you learn to exhale for longer, you'll also learn to control your body better. I needed this right now! I try to use the nose for both in and out but if I’m blocked up I just do what I can. Thank you! I find it's a simple way to stay connected to the most important part of the exercise: slow, full belly breaths. I use the same technique while scuba diving, sans the 7s hold. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. I’ll work my way through my whole body until I’m just air going in and out with the lungs. Breath is power. Not everyone can do it, and the ability to cope depends on a lot of factors, but when it is working.... Man, it's a beautiful sight, and a beautiful birth. I just started reading Breath (after JRE had him on) and holy crap the power of the information James lays down really synthesized new understanding in my body about breathing! I like wim hof, and "inverse wim hof" where you exhale as much as possible and see how long you can extend your low oxygen state. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Any suggestions? Other times I’ll imagine the weight of all the air pressing down on my top countered by the bed pressing back up on me. Don’t know why I feel so calm doing it, does it tap into parasympathetic nervous system? Is that normal? And then from there I continue to take controlled slow breaths, hold them very briefly, let out and hold until it become uncomfortable. Don’t know why I feel so calm doing it, does it tap into parasympathetic nervous system? I think any form of breathing which slows down your respiratory rate should be good. Sometimes I’ll start with my toes by imagining them being stretched back and forth individually, before working my way up my feet, ankles, legs, and so on. I find it easy to inhale slow, but very hard to exhale slow. They can't hold as much air as 'healthy' people's lungs can. Personally, I've done this technique for years breathing out my mouth and it's always worked well. So yes for me they have been very helpful. I usually go back one or two breaths, to get back on track and lengthen the exercise rather than cut it short. Not much luck so far, hoping this method will work well. Usually afterward, I can roll over and I am relaxed enough to doze off, or I am pretty close. I've been searching for a before sleep exercice recently, and will sure try yours :D Strange how counting sheeps, breathe or steps of a stairway can makes you fall asleep. I usually notice quite a bit of tension in my face and neck/shoulders, between the eyes and in my jaw, etc. Not OP but I do something very similar and I can attest to its success. The only question i would have is how is it possible to exhale for that long? Those slow belly breasts are also great for labor or coping with pain! Thought it was too intense or something, but im gonna keep doing that at least. If you’re exhaling through your nose, yes. I like counting backwards. If you want to use 4-7-8 breathing to get calmer, more grounded, or reduce your anxiety you can do it sitting straight. Mmmm ☺️. If you want to fall asleep, both from nose is advised. (I do these steps to simulate "corpse pose" which is a more comfortable, breathable position for me - Feel free to omit these steps or lay however works for you!). Do what's comfortable for you. I start normal, speed up my breathing consistently and get highly oxygenated, and then let out all breath and hold until it becomes uncomfortable.