Have you ever done breathwork?
Breathwork (which I am not sure is one word or not, we will just say for now that it is) is the use of breathing as therapy, particularly changing the breathing rhythms. It is a way to de-escalate and de-stress but certain techniques can also be energizing. It stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest and digest state of the body. Whenever some one describes to me how their meditation went and they tell me the type of breathing they were using the whole time, it takes everything in me not to correct and explain to them that breathwork is separate from meditation! Many people find breathwork to be a form of meditation but there are some key differences. They seem similar because they both have a vast number of techniques that facilitate different purposes. When it comes to breathwork and meditation, often one leads into the other.
So before we figure out how to use breathwork to help you meditate, let’s look at the key differences real quick.
In breathwork, the focus is on control and manipulation of the breath. In meditation, the focus is inward reflection observation of sensation, thoughts and emotions. Breathwork is active and involves controlled, rhythmic ways of breathing that can cause emotional release and different states of being. Meditation is passive, the goal is to “do” nothing and simply observe. Breathwork brings vitality into the body by increasing oxygen. It can cause a range of experiences like emotional release, heightened awareness and deepened connection. Meditation allows a state of calm and inner peace through acceptance and a lovely little thing called equanimity. Equanimity is the ability to stay neutral through any experience, be it passion or adversity.
Please don’t feel bad or wrong for how ever your meditation practice has been going, you are amazing for having one at all!
All I am saying here is that I encourage you to have both a breathwork and meditation practice because they compliment each other so dang well like bread and butter or frosting on cake. You will find the combination of what breathing techniques and meditation techniques suite you best the more you practice.
SO. The wonderful thing about these practices is that there are so many techniques and approaches to chose from.
My personal favorite is to start with breathwork and go right into meditating. Lately, I have been doing a ratio breath of 1:2, meaning inhale for 4, exhale for eight or inhale for 5 exhale for ten. If I am doing a longer duration of meditation that day and I can feel myself starting to nod out or if my mind is very scattered, I will then take some active, deep, slow and long breaths to bring myself back to the present. If I wake up feeling very groggy, I will use a more invigorating breathing technique such as the infamous kapalabhati or “shining skull” breath. It wakes me up and keeps my mind more alert during meditation. If you have been heavily stressed and scattered lately and it is so hard to focus during your meditations, start with slow breaths at no specific count or pace, just what is right for you.
The biggest key here is to not use breathwork as your meditation practice.
They serve different purposes and get different results but they are like best friends. They are not exactly the same but work together so well. Keep exploring the different realms of breathwork and meditation and you are bound to either find the best techniques that work or you on a regular basis or you will have all the different techniques in your tool belt that will serve different purposes on different days. What is your favorite technique combo of breathwork and meditation? What have you found works best for you? Leave a comment below so we can all learn from each other!