Among the millions seeking answers just like you are soldiers, police officers, firefighters, and the organizations they work for. Because lives are at stake, they need training to help them perform their jobs in critical incidents. It should come as no surprise to learn the U.S. Military is at the forefront of much of the research to develop training that increases resilience because soldiers—both active-duty and veterans—suffer the worst effects of stress, hands down. What may surprise you is the inclusion of breath-centered practices from Hindu yoga, Buddhist meditation, and Oriental martial arts. While some programs focus more on training the mind and others emphasize training the body, they all include some type of breath training. Why? Because breathing is the only autonomic function anyone can learn to observe, monitor, and control.
If you’re not convinced of the power of breathwork—it’s effectiveness, and therefore, it’s value to you—after reading their stories, then I cannot imagine what would convince you. However, the focus of this book is on simple, easy techniques anyone can practice. Anywhere. At any time. Because we could all use more resilience. Even if it’s merely rush-hour traffic we’re confronting.
Shortly into my presentation the woman’s hand shot into the air and waved; her face twitched as if she would burst if she didn’t get a chance to share. At first, I tried to ignore her and pretend not to be anxious speaking in front of so many strangers. Especially a couple of Hindu-looking men. Who am I to lecture to them about “Ancient Secrets of Longevity” when Hindus have practiced yoga, meditation, and breath-centered practices for millennia?
But when she continued to jerk her arm around like a fluttering flag in a hurricane, I invited her to speak. Her eyes looked as big as saucers and her voice betrayed desperate hope underneath its surface tone of incredulity as she blurted out:
One yoga instructor actually told me that if I would practice a certain way of breathing it would lower my blood pressure!
Preposterous yet far too exciting to dismiss, she seems to be saying.
Suddenly I regret all those times I’ve challenged the expert with a ’stump the chump’ question. But this woman obviously wants it to be true. Needs it to be true, perhaps.
I notice several others’ faces nodding in agreement; one elderly Hindu man actually smirks. He smiles at me as if to say, “Let’s see if you know what you’re talking about!” After all, it has now been 43 years since Swami Rama’s famous demonstrations that, as far as I am concerned, settled this very question. Taking this interchange as an indicator of the listening I was speaking to, I decided to alter the order of my presentation. So I answered:
Excellent question! Thank you. Your teacher was right: breathing slowly and quietly—especially if you make your exhale longer than your inhale—will reduce your blood pressure. It will also slow your heart rate. And much more. The reason it works is that when you change your breathing when you make it slower, deeper, quieter and more rhythmic, the autonomic nervous system, the ANS, responds by reducing the stress response, the over-activation of the sympathetic nervous system. You may know it as the fight-or-flight response. But all you really need to know is that breathing directly affects your nervous system. When you calm your breathing, you calm your nervous system. That’s what actually lowers your blood pressure. Does that answer your question?
Yes. Yes, it does. I’ve never heard it explained that way before. Thank you so much!