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One breathing technique and why I think the some of the Yoga works is pretty simple. I am not sure if Yoga would reset the fight/flight response further. 4x4 breathing. It mimics deep sleep and presses the reset button on the sympathetic nervous system. This helps with anxiety a lot. The technique is simple. Breath in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds , breath out for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds. I notice I do tend to do this through my nose, which probably helps.

edit: meant to add this is also taught to Navy SEALS to help them in high stress situations. A lot of the training is to recognize when you are OBE (overcome by events) and how to deal with that to make clear decision.

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This technique appears to habe cured my physical anxiety. I learned of it six weeks ago, and had had such anxiety for two years post burnout. Now it's gone. I'm amazed.

There were a couple other things that may have helped. I wrote down my main source of worry, and considered it in depth, worst case, odds, how to recover, and it became clear that it's not actually an urgent problem.

Don't know which one had the greater effect, I did both at once. But I could feel the 4*4 breathing blocking a physical anxiety response in the middle of one happening.

"Don't know which one had the greater effect, I did both at once. But I could feel the 4*4 breathing blocking a physical anxiety response in the middle of one happening. "

To me it feels the other way. I feel the breathing opens up something that allows me to release the anxiety. In the end it's probably the same just from a different viewpoint.

I think so. Release could well be what happened.

Basically before the anxierty happened liked this:

1. Minor negative stimulus appears. I could feel the body react.

2. When I inhaled, and not before, my neck would feel some tension. This would persist a bit.

I had ried breath holding before, but that just delayed the stress feeling. Instead, I:

1. Held breath and counted to 4 2. Exhaled sharply 3. Inhaled a bit, and counted to four 4. Repeat if necessary

Thr new elements were counting, and the exhale before inhale. Followeed byna knowledge that I had two more steps to do: inhaling and counting. Rather than merely an uncontrolledminhalation and hope of no stress.

Interestingly, I rarely need the breathing now. My bosy changed its reaction to the minor stresssors. Maybe I’m just less on edge and less reactive, and the breathing helped my body come down from that reactive state.

Love the algorithmic reduction here

Oh that's just how I think haha. Hadn't even noticed. What is it, breaking it down to steps?

I think the experience of it is subjective based how you perceive fight/flight (anxiety). What we know is this pushes some buttons in the nervous system, and I think how we perceive that can vary a lot, but the objective result is similar for a lot of people. What is cool about this technique is you can’t cheat it. It will cause the reactions due to the way breathing works in the body and the automatic responses wired to that.

Is this technique supposed to be uncomfortable to do? I've come across this and tried it multiple times now and holding my breath is not particularly pleasant. I've seen this suggested to help one fall asleep but it's never helped me and my response is usually mild discomfort. Not sure if this is intended.

You don't necessarily have to do 4x4 to make this work. For example, I sometimes do 8x4 (I guess I count double-time) breath-hold. Or sometimes I do 4x1, where there's just a slight pause at the hold.

I think a big piece of breathwork is changing the focus of the conscious mind. When you're focused on your breathing and counting, you're not focused on whatever else is out there.

Play with it, find something that works for you.

When I did it, I had the sensation of being denied breath. Mildly unpleasant, but I think this is what forced present focus and got me out of stress.

Not very unpleasant mind you. Same level as seeing how long you can hold your breath, except much less intense.

That technique is for people that have well developed bodies. You can try 3-in, 4-out, 1-hold, repeat. As smoothly as possible.

Use a timer, don't count. Don't think about stuff while you're at it, just watch the timer and keep it smooth.

for four seconds???

You could also argue that is has nothing to do with breathing.

But rather it's conditioning to switch to a less anxious mode. So if you practice doing anything physical while becoming calmer then eventually you'll imprint conditioning on yourself . So that when you go through those motions, regardless of it they are a way of breathing, moving your fingers, walking, whatever, just something very specific then you'll trigger the emotional change too.

Not to say the technique doesn't work. Just that it's difficult to isolate what actually makes things work and we often jump to an unsupported conclusion.

I am pretty sure it has a direct mechanical nervous system stimulus.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog...

It also hits your HRV. My Garmin watch (Fenix 5X) has a deep breathing timer (relax timer). It will definitely increase my HRV when I do it (lowering the watches real time stress score, which is measuring HRV). So it is physiological and psychological.

That's a good one. When I did this first time, just trying to be aware of and to control my breath caused some anxiety but with some practice it got easier and now my breath is much more even. I am also able to bring my heart rate after exercise down quicker just by conscious breathing.

I just wanted to say great thanks for sharing this technique. I tried it yesterday when I played live poker tournament and it was amazingly helpful in being focused and calm down emotions. I also noticed that it simply could be used for meditation because it keeps the brain so focused on counting numbers that it simply does not go anywhere else.

One method I like is breathing up into sinus for x seconds from one nostril whole holding other closed, then breathing out through the previously closed one. Then reverse it, ping ponging from one nostril to the other.

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