Breath balm is a thing, a type of vapor rub that can help you breathe easier when you have some congestion. Kind of like the old Vicks Vaporub mom used to slather on your chest when you had a cough, but a more natural alternative.
I like to think of your own breath as a balm. A soothing, nourishing, healing therapy that you have at your disposal at any time.
We go about our day, humming along, not even thinking about this life-sustaining miracle that is our breath, and then BAM! something triggers you – traffic that’s making you late to an appointment, an unpleasant encounter, a busted water pipe – and your body responds as it does. Physically, your heart rate increases, your breath gets faster, you might get sweaty palms. Emotionally, you feel stress, anger, frustration and/or anxiety.
This is all as a result of the activation of our fight, flight or freeze response, that biological reaction to threats, that served us especially well throughout our evolution. This helped us to survive, as our prehistoric relatives came face-to-face with all sorts of physical threats – animals, enemies, earthquakes. That release of stress hormones got us moving, out of danger’s way.
This natural response becomes a problem because it can be activated whenever we simply perceive that we’re up against a threat. Real or imagined, our body reacts. And so even though we experience negative situations in our lives, this doesn’t necessarily make them a threat to our physical well-being.
The antidote to this stress inducing bodily reaction lies in something you have access to at any moment, your breath. With the breath, you’re telling your biological systems that the situations you are facing don’t require that fight, flight or freeze response.
There are many different ways in which you can use your breath to calm your stress, and it all comes down to breath awareness. One of the simplest ways is to just focus on your breath. Each breath in, each breath out, noticing what you notice about it. Pause and really listen to the air flow, feel your body’s movement with each breath cycle. Be curious, but not controlling. Your body knows what to do, you’re only the observer.
Another breath awareness practice involves tensing your whole body while inhaling deeply for four seconds. Then slowly exhale. You can repeat this several times as you feel yourself returning to a state of calm.
My favorite is box breathing, because it’s effect and easy to remember. It’s the one I use most often when I’m feeling stressed. Think of a box with equal sides and this is how you breathe. Breathe in to a count of four, hold for a count of four, out for a count of four, hold for a count of four. Just three or four cycles and I’m as good as new. I even use it when I get hiccups!
The thing about the breath is it’s always present moment. So breath awareness brings you back to the present moment, instead of ruminating over a past you cannot change or worrying about a future that hasn’t happened and may never.
Next time you feel your old friend stress taking up residence, try one of these exercises. Don’t give up if it doesn’t work the first time, sometimes it just takes some practice. There are many other breath awareness exercises that may work better for you, so experiment a little.
And in the meantime, use your breath balm to get calm and carry on.
Leave a Reply