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Humming is not just a simple act, but a technique that can bring numerous benefits to your mind and body. By humming, you stimulate the vagus nerve, promoting relaxation and reducing stress. The vibrations created during humming have a calming effect, helping you find a sense of peace and wellbeing. Moreover, humming increases the production of nitric oxide, improving blood flow and supporting cardiovascular health. It also enhances respiratory function, benefits vocal and throat health, and even uplifts mood. So, take a moment to hum, and experience the amazing benefits of this simple yet powerful practice. Consistency and practice are key when it comes to harnessing the power of breathwork. Find the techniques that resonate with you and integrate them into your daily life for optimal benefits.   Are you someone who tends to breathe through your mouth?
While it may seem like a small thing, nasal breathing can actually be a powerful tool to help calm your mind, improve digestion, and promote healing in your body. Breathing out through your nose, in particular, is an effective way to access the calming benefits of the parasympathetic nervous system. While breathing out through the mouth can release some stress, nasal breathing is much more effective at helping your body achieve a state of relaxation. Next time you're exercising or trying to fall asleep, try focusing on breathing in and out through your nose. If you feel the urge to breathe out through your mouth, concentrate on slowly breathing out through your nose instead, with your tongue resting on the roof of your mouth. It's worth noting that breathing through your left nostril in particular can be especially effective at activating the calming parasympathetic nervous system. To try left nostril breathing, simply use your right thumb to gently block off your right nostril and take a slow, deep and quiet breath in through your left nostril. Then exhale slowly through the left nostril as well, allowing your body to relax with each breath. You can also experiment with using different counts for your breaths. For example, try inhaling for four beats, holding for four beats, and exhaling for four beats. This can help you find a rhythm that works well for you. Did you try left nostril breathing? How did it feel? Do you struggle with breathing out through your nose?  Your body has the ability to both heal and harm itself, and the autonomic nervous system plays a crucial role in this process by switching between two modes: healing and survival.
Many people are unaware that they can activate the healing mode by adjusting their tongue posture. By placing the tongue on the roof of the mouth, specifically on the soft palate, you can stimulate cranial nerves that signal the brain to remain calm and promote healing. This action also supports the vagus nerve, which is responsible for sending calming signals to the organs and immune system. Additionally, practicing proper tongue posture can strengthen the muscles in the neck and promote nasal breathing, which helps improve overall health. To get started, try sealing your tongue to the roof of your mouth with the tip resting behind your front upper teeth and the sides and back pressing against the palate. Focus on activating all three points and feel the muscles in your neck and throat engage. How did it feel? I was asked a great question recently about how different nostrils affect different parts of the brain given all the air just ends up meeting in the same place. I’ve collated this info to explain more for anyone who likes to geek out on such stuff 🤓
There is about four decades worth of research looking at yogic alternate and unilateral breathing techniques, e.g:
For a more complete list, you can go onto pubmed and type “(alternate n nostril) AND (unilateral nostril)” into the search bar. A lot of the research on alternate nostril breathing is limited by the choice of comparison. Ideally studies would have compared alternate nostril breathing with other breathing options matched for respiratory rate, ratio and nasal breathing, and would have accounted for nostril patency (openness) in their analysis. Few have done this. The unilateral breathing research is a little more robust. Recently the AUT Bio Design Lab using a type of continuous airway pressure (CPAP) machine to control breathing to examine what happens in the brain, or at least the cortex by using electroencephalography (EEG): “EEG signatures change during unilateral Yogi nasal breathing” The same team recently repeated this study using fMRI, but the data are yet to be analysed. The affects observed were robust in terms of each condition leading to clear differences in EEG signal. What these shifts ultimately mean is still open to interpretation. In terms of using specific breathing techniques with patients/clients, as with any technique, responses will vary, and no work appears to have been done to assess who might respond well and who wouldn’t or why. My own experience is that while alternate nostril breathing is focusing and calming for the majority, trying to breathe through a very obstructed nostril can increase agitation, so the technique is best preceded by a nose unblocking exercise. Although the mechanisms remain unclear, while we have only one pharynx and trachea, we have two nostrils, two sets of sinuses, and two sets of turbinates that undergo engorgement through vasodilation and deflate through vasoconstriction and thereby determine which nostril is more open. This leads to the nasal cycle: Here is a great Virtual Reality-style video looking at the upper airways: One possible mechanism by which unilateral and alternate nostril breathing affect the brain, is by influencing the release of the gas nitric oxide from the sinuses another might be how it influences the nasal cycle (this article is only normal nasal cycles without application of specific breathing techniques). Just as we can voluntary control the rate and depth, and biomechanics of our breathing, and subsequently influence some of our biochemistry, e.g. blood pH, carbon dioxide partial pressure, and oxygen saturation, we can influence our nasal cycle by unilateral breathing and/or applying pressure to the fifth intercostal space near the armpit: Article 1, Article 2 Another mechanism that may link nasal patency and the brain is via the trigeminal nerves influenced by carbon dioxide or perhaps stimulation of the olfactory nerves (this article covers the topic well but is a little dated). It’s safe to say that a lot more research needs to be done to be confident about any mechanism, or interaction of mechanisms, but the weight of the evidence is on the side of brain activity influencing and being influenced by the nasal cycle and nostril patency. How to tell if you’re over-breathing...
⭐ Do you sometimes breathe through your mouth during daily activities? ⭐ Do you breathe through your mouth during sleep? (If you are unsure, do you wake with a dry mouth in the morning?) ⭐ Do you snore or hold your breath during sleep? ⭐ Can you visibly notice your breathing at rest? The more movement you see, the heavier the breath. ⭐ When you observe your breathing, do you see more movements from the chest than the abdomen? ⭐ Do you regularly yawn or sigh throughout the day? ⭐ Do you sometimes hear your breathing at rest? ⭐ Do you experience symptoms of over-breathing such as nasal congestion, tightening of the airways, fatigue, dizziness, or light-headedness, neck and shoulder pain? These are all signs of over-breathing (hyperventilation). It is a myth that breathing more increases oxygen in the body. When we increase our breathing rate and volume, carbon dioxide within the body begins to drop. When this happens it reduces the bodies ability to transfer oxygen into the cells. Even if you take bigger and deeper breaths, the end result is the same. The body becomes deprived of oxygen. The goal is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide lost with breathing, which then increases oxygen availability to the cells. On some level ancient yogis knew this. This is why slooooow, quiet, rhythmic, nasal and diaphragmatic breathing is recommended. As mentioned in our previous post, 'take a deep breath' is often misinterpreted to mean BIG breathing. Deep breathing is not the same as BIG breathing. BIG breathing is taking in bigger than necessary breaths. Controlled and deliberate deep breathing is different. Here's why we want to avoid BIG breathing... Big breathing leads to over-breathing, which can mess with the delicate balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange taking place inside every cell of your body. Over breathing can cause you to release too much carbon dioxide which impairs blood flow to the brain. This image shows what happens to your brain after just 1-2 minutes of over breathing. Notice the substantial drop in oxygen. Breathing exercises that focus on SLOW, quiet, rhythmic, nasal and diaphragmatic breathing are key to restoring calm. Follow our page to learn more as we post about optimal breathing - in bite sized chunks.  'What's the first thing you hear when someone is trying to help you to relax? 'Take a deep breath'... Right? And that probably made you think 'big breath'. That's not what the vedic (ancient yogic) texts talk about, and it's not consistent with what we know about physiology now. Ancient yoga teachings counsel us to make the breath subtle and still, in order to restore pranic balance. Deep breathing is not the same as big breathing. Something seems to have been lost in translation when people think of them as the same. Follow our newly created Instagram account to learn more as we post about optimal breathing - in 'bite sized chunks'. www.instagram.com/yogawithdanika/ 
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“I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship.
I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.” – Mahatma Gandhi – |
breathing to heal
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Birkenhead and Birkdale, North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand | International Yoga Therapy
Birkenhead and Birkdale, North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand | International Yoga Therapy