Calming Breathing Practices We Recommend

by Nina

Field and Clouds by Melina Meza

Yoga breath practices (pranayama) allow you to self regulate. For those times when you want to reduce stress levels, need to be soothed, or just want to quiet your mind and nervous system, you can use the calming breath practices we’re recommending today. In addition, two of these practices, exhalation pausing and exhalation lengthening, can improve your ability to breathe, increasing your “vital capacity” (a large vital capacity is associated with excellent lung function).

With these breath practices, you are activating your relaxation response. So while these practices are good for times when you are looking for quieting or calming, if they make you feel too sluggish or heavy, you can use a balancing practice instead (see Breath Practices for Balance). And for anyone, if they make you feel agitated or even just unpleasant, just stop practicing. 

Caution: Anyone with active asthma should avoid all these breath practices, though if you are on medication and stable, you could give them a try, stopping immediately if they cause any breathing problems. And since all these practices require breathing through your nose, if you’re congested due to illness or allergy, you should skip the practices until you can breathe normally. 

You can practice these in any comfortable seated position on the floor (see Learning to Sit on the Floor, Part 2) or on a chair, or in a reclined position where your chest is supported, such as Savasana or Reclined Cobbler’s pose with a bolster. 

Exhalation Lengthening

With this practice, you gradually extend your exhalation, aiming for a 1:2 ratio breath, with your exhalation twice as long as your inhalation. If you can’t comfortably practice a 1:2 ratio breath at this time, you will simply practice an exhalation that is at your comfortable maximum. For this breath, always practice by breathing through your nose.

1. Practice simple breath awareness (see A Balm for the Soul: Practicing Simple Breath Awareness) for one or two minutes. Without changing your breath, count the natural length of your inhalations and exhalations in seconds to see which part of your breath is longer, your inhalation or exhalation. 

2. Now you’re going to lengthen your exhalation. If your exhalation is shorter than your inhalation, consciously make both parts of your breath last the same number of seconds, by making your exhalation as long as your inhalation. As an example, let’s say that your exhalation is naturally around two seconds while your inhalation is around three seconds. To practice an equal breath, you would make both your inhalation and exhalation three seconds long.

If your exhalation is already the same length as or longer than your inhalation, increase your exhalation by one second. For example, if your inhalations and exhalations are both around 2 seconds, you would slow your exhalation to 3 seconds.

3. If this is comfortable, continue for four rounds. If this is not comfortable, you could try increasing by half a second instead (approximately the length of a one syllable word). After four rounds, if you feel ready, you can proceed to the next step of increasing by another second or half second. If this seems like it’s going to be too much, simply continue with at the last comfortable maximum for four more cycles and then return to step 1.

4. Try adding another second or half second to your exhalation for four rounds of breath. If you’ve now reached a proportion of 1:2 (your exhalation is twice as long as your exhalation), this is your maximum. Practice your 1:2 breath for about a minute. 

If you have not yet reached a proportion of 1:2 and you are still comfortable, try lengthening your exhalation by another second or half second for four rounds. Proceed in this fashion until you either reach a 1:2 ratio or pass your comfortable maximum. If you reach your 1:2 ratio, continue practicing at that ratio as described below. However, if you are not comfortable, step back to your comfortable maximum and have that be your practice. 

5. After reaching a comfortable 1:2 ratio (or your comfortable maximum), you can continue to practice at this level for 2-3 minutes. Over time, you can gradually work up to 5 minutes. If at any time your breath becomes labored or uncomfortable in any way, or you start feeling agitated or panicky, stop and return to your natural breath.

6. To gradually return to your natural breath, start reversing the process by dropping one second or half second for four rounds at a time. For example, if you were practicing a four-second exhalation, you’d return to three seconds for four rounds of breath. Continue in this way until you reach the length you started with in step one, practicing that for four rounds.

7. Now return to your natural breath and practice simple breath awareness for one to two minutes. Make a note of your comfortable maximum for the day, and gradually work towards extending its length over time. 

Exhalation Pausing

At the end of each inhalation, your breath naturally pauses, very briefly, before your exhalation begins. Likewise, at the end of your exhalation, there’s a brief pause before your next inhalation begins. So every breath cycle naturally has four stages: inhalation, pause, exhalation, pause.

With exhalation pausing, you consciously lengthen the pause after your exhalation for a given amount of time, sometimes for a brief moment and other times for 1, 2, or 3 seconds (or more, in more advanced practices). This pausing should be a soft suspension of your breath, not a gripped “holding” as you might have done holding your breath under water.

Lengthening the pause at the end of the exhalation can enhance the calming effects of a longer exhalation. In addition, lengthening the pause may help strengthen your muscles of breathing. 

The instructions we’re providing are for adding exhalation pausing to an equal breath. However, you can combine exhalation pausing with extended exhalations (described above). For this breath, always practice by breathing through your nose.

1. Start by practicing equal inhalations and exhalations, as described at Breath Practices for Balance. In our example, we’ll assume you’re practicing a two-second inhalation and a two-second exhalation. Continue for four rounds of breath.

2. On your next round of breath, gently lengthen the pause after your exhalation to one half second (or the length of a one syllable word). If this is comfortable, continue for four rounds. After four rounds, if you feel ready, you can proceed to the next step of increasing your pause to a second. If this seems like it’s going to be too much, simply continue with at comfortable maximum for four more cycles and then return to step 1.

3. Try lengthening the pause to one full second for four rounds of breath. If this is still comfortable, lengthen by another half-second, proceeding in this fashion until either your pauses are either equal to the length of your inhalations and exhalations or you have passed your comfortable maximum. For example, if you are breathing two-second inhalations and exhalations, stop when you have reached two-second pauses. But if your comfortable maximum is 1.5 seconds, step back to that timing for your practice.

4. Once comfortably at your maximum exhalation pause, you can continue to practice at this level for 2-3 minutes, and over time could do longer stretches of up to 5 minutes. If at any time your breath becomes labored or uncomfortable in any way, or you start feeling agitated or panicky, stop and return to your natural breath.

5. Return to your natural breath and practice simple breath awareness for one to two minutes. Make a note of your comfortable maximum for pausing for the day, and gradually work towards extending its length over time. 

If you combine the exhalation pause with exhalation lengthening, your maximum pause should be the length of your inhalation. 

Another way to lengthen your exhalation to a 1:2 ratio is to use a gentle version of Ujjayi breathing for your exhalation only. To do this, breath in normally through your nose, with a relaxed feeling in your throat and vocal cords. Then, as you start to exhale, slightly constrict your throat, keeping it very gentle and relatively quiet. This action in your throat is similar to the one who use on your sunglasses when you try to clean them off, and it will naturally slow down your exhalation a bit and bring you closer to the 1:2 ratio. As you practice this form of breathing, relax your throat as you inhale, engage your throat a little as you exhale. 

Buzzing Bee Breath (Brahmari Pranayama) 

In this breath practice, you make a buzzing sound as you exhale, which naturally lengthens your exhalation and creates a calming effect. For this breath, always practice by breathing through your nose.

1. Practice simple breath awareness (see A Balm for the Soul: Practicing Simple Breath Awareness) for one or two minutes.

2. Inhale normally through your nose. Then, keeping your mouth closed, make a low- to medium-pitched humming sound in your throat as you exhale. As you make the buzzing sound—which should last the entire length of your exhalation—tune into the vibration of the sound waves in your throat and even in your skull and brain.

3. After you complete your exhalation, inhale through your nose. 

4. If you’re comfortable, repeat the cycle. Try to make your transitions in and out of your exhalations smooth and even. If at any time your breath becomes labored or uncomfortable in any way, or you start feeling agitated or panicky, stop and return to your natural breath.

5. Start with 12-16 rounds of Buzzing Bee breath, approximately 1 minute. Eventually work up to 2-3 minute practices. 

6. Return to your natural breath and practice simple breath awareness for one to two minutes. Notice whether this practice was quieting and calming, or had other effects on you.

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