Do you think you would find it valuable to take a few minutes each day to slow down and ground yourself?
Hey there you! It’s week 2 (obviously I only did that because it rhymed).
I am reasonably confident that my life is a little better when meditation is part of it, despite how often I battle with maintaining it as a habit.
If I meditate for 10–15 minutes in the morning, I tend to feel calmer heading into the day. It works even better if I do the meditation after about 5-10 minutes on the rowing machine.
Interestingly, meditation does not seem to work quite as reliably for me at night. Reading appears to do a better job of helping me settle then, and I’m working on making that habit as well (requiring myself to write book reviews is how I am doing it presently).
Whilst I am comfortable saying that it helps me, I am much less comfortable saying that it will help everyone.
Sometimes, when giving a presentation, I play a five-minute meditation recorded by my colleague Chris. It uses the breath as an anchor point: focus on the breath, notice when the mind wanders and gently bring your attention back.
When I ask the room how they experienced it, the rough pattern is usually:
- about 70% feel more relaxed and are glad I played it
- about 20% feel much the same and aren’t really sure why I played it
- about 10% feel more stressed and are annoyed at me for playing it
I use that as an opportunity to point out that we don’t all react to wellbeing interventions the same way. Meditation might be a game changer for one person but an annoyance for another.
Fortunately, meditation is not the only way to create a quiet or grounding moment in the day. Breathing exercises are one alternative.
Breathing exercises and our psychological state
I have encountered plenty of studies over the years suggesting that different breathing practices can affect us psychologically and physiologically. However, I will be honest: it is not a research literature I know especially well.
One highly cited 2018 systematic review of slow-breathing techniques found evidence of changes in autonomic and central nervous system activity, alongside psychological experiences such as greater relaxation, comfort, pleasantness and alertness, and reduced arousal, anxiety and negative emotion. The paper has the rather grand title How Breath-Control Can Change Your Life. I am not especially fond of titles suggesting that a single wellbeing practice will “change your life”, but the findings are interesting.
A more recent meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials found that breathwork was associated with small-to-moderate reductions in self-reported stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Importantly, the authors also urged caution: the studies varied considerably and most of those examining stress had at least some risk of bias.
In other words, breathing exercises look promising, but we do not yet have a single definitive practice or protocol that everyone should follow.
In that situation, I fall back to what we know about other contemplative practices – benefit is generally accrued with regular practice over time. So, slow breathing, practised regularly for at least a few minutes at a time, seems like a reasonable place to begin. You may experience some benefit in the moment (e.g. feeling a bit calmer), while also becoming more familiar with using your breath to regulate your state. That familiarity might make it easier to remember and use the technique when you are stressed or unsettled.
Try calibrated box breathing
This whole post came about because the CEO of Alveos recently shared the company’s free calibrated box-breathing exercise.
Box breathing is commonly presented as 4–4–4–4 breathing:
- breathe in for four
- hold for four
- breathe out for four
- hold for four
The four stages form the four sides of the “box”.
One limitation of this method is that people count at different speeds, have different breathing patterns, and may find a standard four-second interval either too quick or uncomfortably slow.
The Alveos tool begins by asking you to complete one slow, controlled exhale. It then uses the length of that exhale to set each side of your box between three and ten seconds. A visual guide (sunrise and sunset) then takes you through the inhale, hold, exhale and hold stages for between one and five minutes.
It is worth being clear about what “calibrated” means here. The company describes this as a practical personalisation method rather than a medical formula. Still, it provides an interesting way to find a breathing pace that may feel more natural for you and more likely to help you find a grounded state.
It is a neat little tool. Now Alveos will ultimately want to sell you its breathing wearable. I am not much of a wearable person, so I will leave it to you to decide whether that part interests you. You do not need a wearable to experiment with breathing practices. You can find many guided exercises through YouTube, Insight Timer and similar services.
Treat it as an experiment
What you are looking for is a practice that produces a useful change for you. Perhaps feeling calmer, more grounded or less physiologically activated [Note: some people will actually want to use breathing to activate themselves more if they are feeling sluggish].
Find a small place for it in your typical day and test it for a couple of weeks.
If it helps, sweet – keep it.
If it does not, you can put it aside and try something else. Move onto chocolate like I did 😂
You do not need to commit to the same practice for the rest of your life. If you successfully carve out a small reflective, grounding or quiet moment in your day, you can use that space in many different ways: meditation, breathing, journalling, gentle movement, yoga or simply sitting quietly.
I do not think everyone will benefit from quiet moments in the same way. I have been in this field long enough to be suspicious of promises that a practice will “change your life” or “work for everyone”.
But given the pace of modern life, I think many of us might find it interesting to practise slowing down for a few minutes each day.
If you find a useful practice in your search, feel free to share it in the comments below.
Breathing exercises should not feel distressing. If you become dizzy, short of breath or uncomfortable, stop and return to breathing normally. Breath-holding practices may not be appropriate for everyone.
