The Physiological Sigh, (aka Cyclic Sighing); instructions and a 5-minute session

Calm down and take a breath! How many times have you heard this advice? How many times was is helpful? The answer depends on how you were breathing. When we’re feeling stressed, our body’s autonomic nervous system primes us for action. This is the fight, flight, freeze response you may be familiar with. Before you’re aware of what’s happening, your heartrate has accelerated, and your breath becomes fast and shallow in order to deliver more oxygen to your blood. Or your action of choice could be the freeze response, where you find yourself holding your breath or barely breathing. So depending on whether you’re revved up in anxiety or frozen in fear, taking a deep breath may either make you feel more anxious, as in the sped up response, or calmer if you were holding or restricting your breath. Which is why you can learn to control your breath to manage your stress response. When you’re anxious, this 2-sip breathing technique is the fastest way to calm. Introduced into the mainstream by Stanford researcher Andrew Huberman, the Physiological Sigh is a super simple breathing method has been called the fastest path to stress reduction. Especially helpful because you can do it anywhere! This practice works to reduce stress by decreasing the CO2 levels in the lungs, bringing the autonomic nervous system (ANS) into balance and downregulating your emotional state. #Physiologicalsigh 5-minute demonstration video, #CyclicSigh video, #AndrewHuberman video #breathwork #breathingtechniques #breath #mindfulness #mindbodywork #mindbody #breathing #mindset