2. “Most men live lives of quiet desperation.” Breathwork and anxiety.
When I was homeless in Los Angeles, I had all my belongings in my car, and was couch surfing between friends places. My anxiety was through the roof, and my weak mind at the time was consistently trying to remind me of how low my situation was. I’d like to draw the attention and conclusions to a Breathwork study done in 2023 by the National Library of Medicine labelled:
“Breathwork Interventions for Adults with Clinically Diagnosed Anxiety Disorders: A Scoping Review” (Study link Below)
One of the key aspects to my anxiety, and to be clear from the start, everybody’s triggers are different, but a common functionality with anxiety disorders, is the way we breathe. Shallow breathing. It’s a cause of numerous mishaps in our body. When we breathe shallowly, our oxygen levels can potentially decrease, our sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive, we operate for the majority of the day in our fight or flight mode and our breathing patterns develop dysfunctionalities.
Now as the study found, deep breathing, which in this study the patients practised combinations of slow deep diaphragmatic breathing as well as Pranayama breathwork, also can be known as hormetic breathwork, showed signs of improvement with various patients. Pranayama or hormetic breath is very deep breathing for short period of time, usually between 30-60 breaths, followed with breath holds after exhales, with multiple rounds, sometimes followed with a meditation.
So, what’s the conclusion as to why this is?
When we practice slow deep diaphragmatic breathwork firstly, what were doing is slowing the heart rate, our body shifts into the parasympathetic nervous system, and allows our muscles and nervous system to relax. Hormetic breathwork, or pranayama, we also shift the focus of our body from majority of the focus and operating in the sympathetic nervous system, to also activating the parasympathetic, allowing our body to utilize a healthy and more adequate shift between the two nervous systems. Not only does shifting the focus off of your fight or flight or sympathetic create more balance, but it also gives temporary rest to our mind, body, and through out the practice, alkalizes our blood.
The conclusion of this study follows with the notion that breathwork can be utilized as a potential treatment option for people suffering from anxiety or panic disorder with individual protocols depending on the person.
Now for me, back to being homeless. I’ll be honest. I didn’t want to be alive anymore. I was drifting between friends places, without purpose, without passion, without direction, without hope. I set out to head to the wilderness mountains, no food, no water, with the intention to not return.
I got to the trail and begun to walk, taking trails I’d never done before because I wanted to get lost out there, I wanted to never return. But low and behold, I ended up finding this waterfall which was part of the original trail I started that day. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stay lost.
I sat down on a flat clear out of dirt area and began to practice slow deep breaths whilst listening to the waterfall. I was alone. The only sounds I could hear at first was my negative self-talk, my breath, and the water running. As I begun to breathe deeply, I slowly began to shift my focus from my thoughts, to my stomach, expanding and releasing with each breath. 20 breaths in, my negative thoughts started to fade, first time in weeks. I started crying. Why? Because I finally had some of the dark cloud that was covering my life lift.
At times, we can get so caught up in our heads, that we forget to breathe. I don’t know about you, but for me, overthinking as well as negative thinking can be my biggest challenges. But the beauty of life now is, if I find myself reverting to those old thoughts, I bring awareness to how shallow and restricted my breathing is. I’ll pause whatever I’m doing, sit down, close my eyes, and take 10-20 slow deep breaths, and bring my attention to my physical body, how it feels to bring breath into my stomach and lungs, fully incorporating my diaphragm, and focus on breathing in healing and positive breaths, and breathing out negative thoughts and stress. This has helped me through countless anxiety attacks.
Reminding myself also that this too shall pass, and that I’m going to be ok. As will you.
Until next time.
Breathe in, Breathe out.
Joshua
Disclaimer: Before practicing any form of breathwork, make sure to clear it with your doctor or healthcare provider first.
PubMed central study link:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9954474/#sec5-brainsci-13-00256
Ready to harness the power of your breath? Start your breathwork journey with me today and discover how small shifts in your breathing can lead to big changes in your life! Reach out now!