Attorney Wellness
| Publication year | 2022 |
| Pages | 0064 |
| Citation | Vol. 27 No. 6 Pg. 0064 |
The Power of Breath: From Stress Relief to Life Integration
The benefits from informed breathing practice could be significant and impact multiple dimensions of our lives and well-beings.
BY SAM E. SKELTON AND PLAMEN RUSSEV
The rapid-fire stressors we continuously encounter in our daily lives trigger substantial physiological responses. Our perception of these stressors activates the amygdala, which monitors for threats. It also stimulates our hypothalamus, which releases stress hormones into our bloodstream, and our sympathetic nervous system ramps up. The heart races, the breath quickens and becomes shallower, while our muscles tense in preparation for action. This is a very natural response.
However, before a sustained level of stress permeated our post-modern daily existence, the stress episodes tended to be shorter and give way to rest and relaxation in which the parasympathetic nervous system took over. The "sympathetic bias" of our current lives may cause certain populations of humans to become "bent toward responding in a chronically stressed state,"[1] which maintains the physiological responses to stress in the body much longer and more frequently than our biological evolution may be able to support. Scientists speculate that our environment has influenced us so much that it has caused the average respiratory rate to increase from 12 breaths per minute to 16,[2] thus likely contributing to sustaining longer and higher levels of stress.
Given the organic relationship between stress and breathing, both the latest science and ancient practices make a compelling case that prioritizing slow, deep breathing is one natural way to counteract stress?and its many resulting negative effects on the body?in a world predisposed toward stress. To find out more about breathing practice as a natural way to mitigate stress, I asked Plamen Russev, a practicing attorney, Wellness Committee and Lawyer Assistance Program member, and breathwork practitioner, some questions about breathwork.
How did you learn about and what was your first experience with breathwork?
Thanks to a gift from a dear friend, during my third year of law school, I experienced my first yoga class in a gentle, restorative style known as Svaroopa Yoga. I found this extremely beneficial for my overstimulated, overtaxed, and very tense body and mind. In those calming and supportive classes, I learned a type of breathing known as ujjayi, or ocean breath, because of the internal sound it creates, which is reminiscent of the ocean. I quickly came to appreciate how this breath and its sound calmed my mind and helped relax my body. Soon thereafter, the teacher showed us a few other breathing techniques, such as breath of fire and alternate nostril breathing, and told us about a whole branch of yoga?pranayama?that is entirely devoted to the study and practice of breathing. I was intrigued when I found out how those different types of breathing, done for just a few minutes at a time, created not only different physical responses?but also different energy and emotional responses?in my body and mind. But the ocean breath became my favorite because of its gentle yet deep power in bringing peace to my stressed-out and exhausted third-year law student self.
In fact, I loved that breath so much that I started practicing it whenever I needed to take a break and refresh my senses or calm myself down. I did the ocean breath while reviewing my notes before stressful classes, during walks between study sessions and before going to sleep at night. So, on the night before the first day of the bar exam, when I found myself lying in bed wide awake, with my heart beating fast in anticipation of the challenging day ahead, it became crystal
clear to me that I was not going to be able to sleep at all. And I decided to do my favorite ocean breath again?even if I had to do it all night instead of sleeping. As I closed my eyes and lay on my back in bed, listening to the sound of the ocean in my head and noticing the even rise and fall of my belly, my body started to relax and my mind stopped spinning. I did not really sleep that night but, when I opened my eyes in the morning, I felt surprisingly alert, awake and energized yet also calm for the big exam. I was delighted and fascinated to observe myself having very steady energy throughout the day, which helped me complete all work in time, with reasonably good confidence in my answers. By the time night came, I was completely exhausted and had no trouble at all falling sound asleep for a good...
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