Breathwork for Beginners: What To Know and How To Start

What is Breathwork?

Breathwork refers to breathing techniques that purposefully focus and channel the breath. Over thousands of years, Eastern medicine practices, including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, have utilised breathing methods to calm the mind and the body.

Our minds can be very busy, often thinking about the past and worrying about the future instead of living in the present moment. This leads to the activation of stress hormones for extended periods, adversely affecting the body. Chronic stress increases the risk of several diseases in the body.

It's no mystery that mental and emotional stress manifest in physical forms, playing a role in problems like:

• Digestive problems.
• Aches and pains.
• Headaches.
• A weakened immune system.
• Insomnia.
• High blood pressure.
• Sexual dysfunction.
• Muscle tension.
•  

But stress-managing techniques — including breathwork — are one way to help you step away from the chaos and keep your body and mind healthy.

Breathwork benefits

Breathwork assists in calming you down and moves your body and mind out of fight-or-flight mode. You must know about your autonomic nervous system, which consists of two parts:

• Your parasympathetic nervous system is the "rest-and-digest" region of your brain, accountable for relaxing your body after periods of stress or danger.
• Your sympathetic nervous system is accountable for your body's "fight-or-flight" response. This system's activity expands when you're stressed or in danger.

Fight-or-flight mode is helpful when chased by a wolf or escaping a burning building. Many of us are in a cognitive fight-or-flight mode even when our bodies are not under physical pressure — think major work deadlines, upsetting news headlines, financial woes, arguments with your spouse, etc.

We need our sympathetic nervous system to be aware of the danger in our environment. Still, in today's society, we're too often in fight-or-flight mode when we're not in danger. It is important to be able to tune into our parasympathetic nervous system to be able to calm the senses of stress.

Breathwork is a way to activate your body's parasympathetic nervous system and allow you to de-escalate and destress. That can also guide to all kinds of positive feelings.

Breathwork allows us to focus and energy, guiding us to a better quality of life with space for joy and fun. If we're continuously in a state of stress and tension, it is very hard to find those critical qualities in life.

Fun and joy? Yes, please! Plus, breathwork is one of the most convenient wellness practices out there. Anybody can do it, regardless of your medical condition or age.

Types and techniques

You can try a combination of breathwork techniques with an identical goal — to help you destress. It's all about discovering the technique that resonates with you. There are numerous, and trying various ones to see what works for you can be exciting.

Depending on your goal and circumstances, you can tap into different techniques at different times. Box breathing, for example, can be accomplished on the go from just about anywhere. In contrast, 4-7-8 breathing, a bit more difficult, is excellent for helping you fall into a deep sleep.

Look at different kinds of breathwork practices, what they can do for you and when you might try them.

Diaphragmatic breathing

You engage your diaphragm, a strong muscle at the base of your lungs. Also named belly breathing or abdominal breathing, this technique has been shown to assist in lowering blood pressure and heart rate, and it's extremely beneficial for people with lung conditions.

But anyone can do it — it's a useful starting point for breathwork beginners.

This is an excellent place to start, particularly if you're new to breathwork. You can do it either lying down or sitting, just focusing on your belly, gently ascending with your breath in and descending with your breath out. It's a wonderful way to relax and reduce stress.

When to try it: Honestly, at any time. If you're in a stressful situation, no one even needs to know you're practising some slow breathing. Practising for just a few minutes a day will allow you to sufficiently tap into it in periods of stress.

Box breathing

Box breathing is one of the easiest and most common forms of yogic deep breathing.

Like a box with four sides, this method has four steps: Four counts of inhaling, four counts of pausing your breath, four counts of exhaling, and four additional counts of holding after your exhalation.

As you're breathing, you're also counting, a mantra meditation that calms the nervous system and ground you into the present moment. It helps bring us back into our bodies and away from the world's distractions.

When to try it: As one of the most unrestricted forms of breathwork, box breathing is another excellent anytime practice. Do it when you need a quick noontime pick-me-up from your desk or when trying to chill out after someone cuts you in line at the coffee store.

4-7-8 breathing

The 4-7-8 breathing method can be done while sitting comfortably or lying before bed.

The digits refer to how long you breathe in (four counts), hold (seven counts) and exhale (eight counts.) This breathing can help us focus our mind and body away from worries and repetitive thoughts.

When to try it:  4-7-8 breathing has been revealed to support you in getting a good night's sleep by calming the mind, decreasing anxiety and reducing heart rate and blood pressure.

Alternate nostril breathing

Also named channel-clearing breath, alternate nostril breathing, understood in Sanskrit as Nadī Shodhana, this has historically been stated to clear energy blockages and bring back inner balance. Studies show that it may help sharpen your focus and energy, calming and revitalising you.

To do it, isolate each nostril, inhaling only once at a time and then exhaling through the other. It takes some practice to get it right, but it can be a powerful relaxation tool once you get the hang of it.

When to try it: Give this one a go during a stressful workday or before a big meeting to get yourself feeling clear-headed and ready to conquer the world.

Pursed lip breathing

Pursed lip breathing can slow down your breathing and decrease your stress. To "purse" your lips, pinch them inward, the same way you would do to blow a kiss, then you gradually inhale through your nose and gently exhale via pursed lips.

It benefits people with lung conditions, like pulmonary fibrosis and asthma, who experience breathing troubles. 

When to try it:  

The Pursed lip breathing method can help make physical exertion a little easier, so you may want to use it for climbing stairs and lifting. But it's best to practice it while you're at rest, first, to get the hang of it. It can also help you prolong your exhale, for example, in the 4-7-8 breath exercise.

Lion's breath

There's very little research on the science of this one. Still, lion's breath, also called simha pranayama, helps reduce anxiety and bring a sense of tranquillity.

When you do lion's breath, stick your tongue out as you exhale and make a large, whooshing 'haaaa,' sound.

When to try it: If you are suffering from social anxiety before (or even during a gathering, sneak off by yourself to do a few rounds of this breathing technique.

Five-finger breathing

Five-finger breathing is a simple, powerful technique that induces deep relaxation. This one is a multisensory practice. In addition to your breathing, focus on the motion and feeling of one of your fingers, slowly and intentionally outlining your other hand.

When to try it: Some healthcare providers advise that patients do five-finger breathing before heading into surgery, as it helps your brain penetrate a state of deep relaxation and release endorphins — which are your body's natural painkillers.

Holotropic breathwork

Holotropic breathing uses rapid, controlled breathing sequences to help you enter an altered state of consciousness. This dream-like experience can help you manage mental health ailments like anxiety, depression and chronic stress.

When to try it: This method is a behavioural health therapy employed to help individuals cope with trauma, so it's one you should not try without a trained facilitator. If you are new to breathwork, try one of the other alternatives on this list instead, and bring your questions regarding holotropic breathwork to your mental health provider due to safety.

Breathwork meditation

Breathwork and meditation do not always have to pair together — but they can. If you hear the term meditative breathwork or breathwork meditation", they refer to blending aspects of both practices.

There are many techniques for assisting to calm the body and the mind. Both meditation and breathwork can serve as an interface between the mind and the body, and we can separate or merge them.

Body scan meditation harnesses deep breathing and mindfulness to aid you in feeling grounded, aware, and united with your body.

When to try it: Accomplish a body scan meditation during a stressful day or after a challenging workout to become more in tune with your body and feelings.

Tips for starting a breathwork practice

• Find somewhere quiet. You can do breathwork anywhere, but it's best to carve out a peaceful time and space when you start.
• Do not pressure yourself to empty your mind. As you begin paying close attention to your thoughts, you'll likely begin to realise how busy they are. This can be frustrating to people who think the point of meditation or breathwork is to free themselves of all opinions — but that's just not realistic. The mind is active, so you can't truly make it stop thinking. Part of learning these methods is to become aware of when your mind is wandering.
• Focus on a word or mantra. So, what should you think? It can help you choose a phrase or a singular word to consider as you breathe. Returning to those anchors, as we call them, helps to retrain the nervous system and the tracks in our brain and nervous system to create new patterns.
• Practice five to Ten minutes a day. Practice doesn't make perfect, but it really does help. When you practice breathwork regularly, you retrain your nervous system to go into that relaxation response much more easily in the future.