Ep.49 Mental Health Mini Series #2 Box Breathing

Can We Talk About This?

Box Breathing, also known as square breathing or four-square breathing, is a structured breathing technique with roots in ancient yogic practices. This technique involves a rhythmic pattern of inhalation, holding the breath, exhalation, and holding the breath again, each for an equal count of time, typically ranging from four to eight counts.

As a mum, you wear many hats—nurturer, chef, chauffeur, teacher as so on. With all the love and joy also come moments of overwhelm, anxiety, and exhaustion. That's where Box Breathing steps in, offering you a lifeline to regulate and feel more balanced. Whether you're juggling tantrums, soothing tears, or simply stealing a moment for yourself amidst the chaos, simple things like Box Breathing can support you.

Tune in and come take a breath with me at 8:20.

Disclaimer: While the content of this podcast is intended to provide support and guidance, it is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice. The techniques and practices discussed here are general in nature and may not be suitable for everyone.

If you are experiencing significant distress, mental health concerns, or trauma, I encourage you to seek support from a qualified mental health professional. Additionally, if at any point during this episode you feel overwhelmed or triggered, please turn it off and talk to someone or do something that is helpful to you.

Finding Support in Australia:

PANDA.org.au

1300 726 306

COPE.org.au

Beyond Blue 1300 224 636

Gidget Foundation

Black Dog Institute 1300 851 758

More resources to check out:

Episode 9: How Implementing Breathwork in Your Life Can Change Your Life with Nicola Laye: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/episode-9-how-implementing-breathwork-in-your-life/id1572162194?i=1000525309231

Nicola Laye: https://www.nicolalaye.com/

I also use Insight Timer or other meditation apps that incorporate the breath and I highly recommend!

References:

Zaccaro A, Piarulli A, Laurino M, Garbella E, Menicucci D, Neri B, Gemignani A. How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life: A Systematic Review on Psycho-Physiological Correlates of Slow Breathing. Front Hum Neurosci. 2018 Sep 7;12:353. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353. PMID: 30245619; PMCID: PMC6137615.

TRANSCRIPT:

Amber-lee (Host): All right. Another miniseries episode for your mental health. I'm very excited about this one because this one is all about breath work.

I'm going to tell you a little bit about the physiological mechanisms that are influenced by the breath. And that's just for those interested in knowing how your breath affects your body. Then we're going to get into some box breathing, which is a really simple yet powerful technique that you can use to shift your body from stressed, intense. To that sort of rest and digest and calm.

So you can listen to me blubber on for a bit, or you can just fast forward straight to the box breathing.

Our breath is connected to the autonomic nervous system. So that's what regulates our involuntary bodily functions, right? So as you go about your day, there are things that your body's doing that you're not consciously making it do; your heart rate and your heartbeat digesting your lunch and just breathing as you walk down the street.

There's many more functions, but those are like the big ones, right? So through specific breathing techniques, we can actually influence the balance between our nervous systems. We have our autonomic nervous system and two nervous systems branch off from that. The sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system, and you've probably heard me talk about this before so the sympathetic nervous system is a branch that's responsible for your body's fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. This is activated in times of stress or perceived danger and actually tries to help protect us when the sympathetic nervous system is more dominant, our heart rate increases, our breathing becomes rapid and shallow, and our stress hormones like cortisol are being released to help us in those stressful moments. Now sometimes this nervous system can flick on when we recognize that, okay, I'm feeling stressed, but the stress is actually unhelpful to me in this present moment. That's when we want to flick back to our parasympathetic nervous system. In contrast, the parasympathetic nervous system is a branch responsible for the body's rest and digest, promoting relaxation, restoration, repletion, all those good nourishing things.

So activation of the parasympathetic nervous system leads to the decreased heart rate, the slowed breathing and a reduction in those stress hormones so box breathing is a really simple technique that can help shift your body from that sympathetic dominant state to the parasympathetic dominant state.

And by consciously manipulating the breath in a specific pattern of inhaling, holding, exhaling, holding, like a box. That's four steps, each for an equal count. So I usually start with four, but you can do six or eight or 10 depending on the stretch of your breath, mine's not very good so I sit at about four and six, but this is when we can engage that parasympathetic nervous systems relaxation response, which is what we need more of in motherhood.

If you ask me, because being a mom can be very stressful. I don't do or say anything without some kind of evidence. So I looked up a couple of research articles and found an amazing systematic review. I'm going to say the name wrong, Zaccaro et al. This was a 2018 study and they examined the psychophysiological effects of slow breathing techniques. Through a thorough analysis, where they look at lots of different existing literature on the same topic. They looked at experimental and observational studies in their study, and the researchers found the significant impact of breath control practices on various aspects of human physiology and psychology. Their findings revealed that slow breathing techniques exert profound effects on the autonomic nervous system activity.

Promoting increased parasympathetic tone and decreased sympathetic arousal. Facilitating a shift towards a more relaxed physiological state. So that's what they found. That's what we know. And that's what I've already discussed with you, right? But what they found was slow breathing was associated with favourable changes in cardiovascular function, including reductions in heart rate and blood pressure contributing to improved cardiovascular health and these practices were found to enhance respiratory efficiency and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, leading to better oxygenated and carbon dioxide exchange in the body. So this is important because slow breathing techniques were also linked to enhancements in psychological wellbeing with the reductions in stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, as well as improvements in mood, attention, and cognitive function.

What they actually found was that A tool like the breath, something that you do without even thinking about it, actually has the capacity to change your physiological state, but also your psychological state. And I just think that's incredibly powerful. And that's one of the reasons I'm doing this miniseries is to offer you this information to offer you these tools because they are free and you can use them anywhere and anytime.

I'm going to be doing a box breathing with you. So just the idea about a box breath, if you're unfamiliar with it, it's just basically where you're inhaling for a count of 4. So inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4, inhale again for 4.

This kind of deep breathing stimulates what is known as the vagus nerve. And that's a key component of the parasympathetic nervous system, which leads to that decreased heart rate and blood pressure.

No matter where you are, you can try this technique right here, right now with just your breath. That's all you need.

Close your eyes if you feel like doing so. Otherwise, if you're still busy doing things and you just want to be doing this box breathing with me while you're doing them, that's cool too. We're going to be inhaling, and I'm going to be counting to four while you fill your lungs with air, and then you're going to hold your breath on the next four, then exhale on the next four, and then hold again on the next four. So that's the pattern.

Okay, you ready? Inhale.

Hold. Two, three, four. Exhale. Two, three, four. Hold. Two, three, four. Inhale. Two, three, four. Hold, 2, 3, 4. Exhale, 2, 3, 4. Hold, 2, 3, 4. Inhale, 2, 3, 4. Hold, 2, 3, 4. Exhale, 2, 3, 4. Hold, 2, 3, 4. Inhale, 2, 3, 4. Hold, 2, 3, 4. 2, 3, 4, exhale 2, 3, 4, hold 2, 3, 4, inhale 2, 3, 4, hold 2, 3, 4, exhale 2, 3, 4, hold 2, 3, 4. You can stop now if you like.

We didn't do it for a very long time today, but I just want you to be able to see if you can practice this for just a few minutes. If it feels too forced, just simply sit there and focus on whatever natural breath you're doing, but maybe add a hold in where you can because it's about that controlled, slow breath.

There are so many situations that you can use breath work in and when I was thinking about different situations that breath work is really helpful for, I was thinking as a mom, it's in those times of feeling overwhelmed or anxious or stressed where we want to quickly bring down our nervous system back into that calm, regulated state. There are so many moments, but I remember particularly when my son was 18 months old and my daughter was three months old cooking dinner, it's like mid COVID.

My husband was rarely home at that time. It was just like us at home all the time. No visitors, like no spontaneity. It was groundhog day every day. And I really struggled at dinnertime with, both babies wanting to be held and nurtured and also trying to get dinner on and stay within the clock so that by 7pm, I can be putting them to bed so that I could get a break.

And You know, the constant back and forth to the kids were holding at least one of them in my arms, cooking dinner and trying not to burn myself all or dinner, tending to their needs. Someone spilled something or broke something or someone's having a meltdown. It just felt like absolute chaos all the time. I just always found this time of day really stressful. Coming back to the breath in those moments, breath work would be so helpful just to see you through. It's not going to solve all your problems, but it's going to be able to help you see through that relentless dinner time.

It's also a practice I've used before bed because it promotes relaxation, and it prepares your body for restful sleep. So I still use breath work before bed. These days, it might not look like box breathing, but just some form of breath work. And my kids who are now three and five also do it. This is also why the breath is really good during labour and delivery. It helps you manage pain, stay focused, maintain that sense of control. And I remember when I was having my second baby, the labour was under three hours and she just came so hard and fast and quickly that the only technique I had time to use was the breath.

So I'd done some breath training with Nicola Laye, big shout out to Nicola Laye. I've done an episode with her, I believe in season one off the top of my head it's episode 9 of this podcast. And I did this in preparation for birth and I'm so glad that I did it. And I just had her in my head the whole time telling me to breathe, but it was such an effective tool. And because the breath promotes relaxation, it's so good for labour.

I also find just in the midst of those parenting challenges. So, the little story that I shared before about dinnertime, anytime you're dealing with parenting challenges. Like maybe it's the 10th tantrum in the day, just having a really hard day. Maybe there's lots of sickness in your house.

Maybe you've got a hundred tabs open in your brain at once. Maybe you haven't eaten all day, but you're now trying to leave the house and it's just becoming really stressful. Maybe your newborn is screaming blue murder in the car, but you just need to get from A to B. I remember those days. That was so tricky.

You could be trying to respond to your dysregulated child, but it feels like nothing's working. And so then you're feeling really stressed and over it. Maybe you're sick of the sibling rivalry and the fighting, meal refusal, and just the fact that you may even have financial pressures and that domestic labour that is never ending.

Just the challenges that come with being a parent. I've just named a tiny little sample of the things that we can experience, but it can be really challenging and really stressful. And you can be feeling really dysregulated. So it's important that we're taking care of ourselves and the breath can help us do that.

It can shift us from that really stressed, tense state to that relaxed and regulated state. And it's something that I would say to try and practice daily. You don't have to be doing a box breathing, but just practice conscious slow breathing daily. And I would love to know if this has helped you.

I hope you enjoyed the box breathing and I hope you feel more centred and at ease as you continue through your journey whether you're in the perinatal period or you have older children. Remember you have the power to nurture your own serenity one breath at a time. So until next time, take care of yourself, be gentle with yourself.

You're doing the best that you can and that is more than enough. See you next time.