The Power of Deep Breathing

I’m in the middle of a great podcast episode on the Ten Percent Happier podcast (my favorite podcast!). This episode is with Emma Seppala taking about her happiness research. In it, she talks about how powerful and restorative deep breathing can be for our mental (and physical!) health.

One reason why I was struck by this episode is because of how deep breathing seems to get overshadowed amongst all the different skills we often talk about. Deep breathing is one of those techniques often discussed early on in therapy, before moving into other, more higher-order techniques. I think it may sometimes get overlooked because its simplicity make it less interesting?

And what a disservice that is! It is such a powerful tool that is backed by so much research.

Deep breathing is different than mindful, attention-based breathing. It’s intentionally taking full, slow, and deep breaths. It’s amazing the calming and grounding effects that breathing this way can have on our bodies and minds.

One fascinating thing about our breathing is that how we are feeling emotionally impacts the kind of breaths we take (think back to when you were angry versus when you were content, and how different your breathing felt in those two states), AND how we breathe impacts our emotions. So simply changing your breathing to shorter, quicker breaths can make you feel angrier and longer deeper breaths can make you feel more grounded.

The relationship between our breathing and our emotional state is two ways.

So I wanted to devote a square...a post...to this powerful and simple (maybe powerful because it is so simple?) often overlooked tool.

What is your experience of deep breathing? Do you find it helpful?

Lots and lots of love!