Breathwork - What is Box Breathing and Why It Works

Transcript

if I had to guess what breathing technique is the most well known I'd like to say it's boxed breeding made famous by yogis and Navy Seals alike I'd speculate however that most people don't know how or why it works so today I'll guide you through three minutes of the practice giving you the chance to feel it for yourself and then if you want to stick around for just a few minutes I'll shed some light on the Watts the whys and the hows of boxed breathing so in a moment I'll offer you to close your eyes if you prefer to do this I'll continue to talk the whole time so you can simply listen to my voice if you'd rather not close your eyes you'll see an animation on the screen that you can follow along with at the same time wherever you are whatever you choose to do I recommend that you sit down for this one and make sure you can sit up nice and comfortably tall you're not trying so hard to be told that your body is really stiff and then go ahead and if you're choosing to do so close your eyes or keep your eyes open take a soft breath in and out through your nose if you can but use your mouth if you have to [Music] take a breath in for one two three four hold your breath two three four breathe out slowly two three four hold your breath out two three four that's one round inhale two three four hold two three four exhale two three four stay empty relax three four keep it going inhale three four hold two three four exhale two three four hold two three four breathe in nice and gently hold your breath exhale softly make it last two three four hold on empty and relax into this bit three four inhale hold exhale and hold start to draw a box in your mind inhale two three full hold your second line [Music] exhale draw the third line and hold complete the Box keep tracing those lines inhale hold [Music] exhale and hold inhale hold [Music] exhale [Music] and hold [Music] inhale [Music] hold [Music] exhale and hold [Music] inhale [Music] hold this is the last one exhale [Music] stay empty two three four finish with a nice full breath in hold your breath relax and breathe out although the perceived experience may be different between each of us physiologically the effects are very likely to be similar as you inhale you take in a nice fulfilling amount of air slowly and steadily this is good breathing is always good don't stop doing that free advice for you beneath the surface and a little less well known is that your nervous system is getting signals of activity movement Focus think get ready something is about to happen that's why you might have felt a little buzz at that moment in your fingers toes face or skin the hold at the top well now we're really getting to the good stuff your body is absorbing the oxygen you've breathed in it's getting sent around to your brain your organs your muscles your cells because we're holding the breath we've given the body enough time to actually do this and this isn't always the case in often seen modern day rapid and shallow breathing now it's time for the slow and gentle exhale releasing the built up carbon dioxide from the oxygen being burned and used up in our body too much carbon dioxide will always at some point make us feel stressed almost like we're suffocating it's worth noting the amount is different for everyone and importantly it can be trained using this technique regularly over time as we release the hell breath we send signals of calm safety and rest to our nervous system have you ever noticed how stress seems to dissolve away when you take a nice breath out that's exactly why and lastly the hold on empty ish often this is the most challenging part for people for me this was impossible for a long time it can take you from calm to panic in a split second and if you hold it just a little too long as the carbon dioxide builds up in your body the alarm Bell starts to ring breathe breathe breathe and so we do with the increased CO2 from the exhale hole we now absorb even more oxygen than we did the last time we breathed in and that means we feel great oxygen good no Oxygen Bad sometimes to wrap up the nervous system aspect here this technique slowly and gently trains your system to handle a little bit more stress than normal but as you stay conscious in control and relaxed you don't hit that fight or flight response that can so often be triggered by the lack of oxygen in that space there is developmental goal to be found training this is something we'll dive much much deeper into in later videos and it can be life-changing and in fact it changed mine there you have it an experience the What the how and the why I guess I should leave you with the win box breathing is fantastic for when you require calm Focus preparing for deep work studying or getting into a flow State it's an excellent primer to public speaking performance moments like presentations nerve-wracking experiences like driving tests or even a difficult conversation for the best benefits practice this five or ten minutes prior to your big moment finally as with any breath work never practice whilst in a situation in which you could hurt yourself if you lost Consciousness so let's not drive or do this whilst we're swimming right and that's it thanks for watching and remember this next time you feel you could use a bit of calm Focus if you enjoyed this video be sure to like and