Using our breath to regulate ourselves
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LearningTranscript
00:00We often talk about the importance of breathing, but why is it so important? If
00:05it's something we're doing our whole lives forever until we die, how can it be
00:10so important? Why is it that psychologists are always banging on about it? Well, if
00:15we look at the kind of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors triangle, we see that
00:20everything is connected. So our thoughts are connected to how we're feeling, and
00:24this also connects how we do, and they all interact with each other in this
00:27kind of two-way relationship. So for example, when we worry, our
00:33breathing typically increases. We're experiencing a stress response, we're
00:37worrying about a stress, and so we start going into that fight-or-flight, and our
00:41breathing becomes rapid. So our breathing will change depending on how we're
00:45feeling. But this means it also works the other way around. So if we deliberately
00:51slow our breath, or bring our breath back to normal, that'll make us feel calmer. So
00:57as we change our physiological response, as we change what we're doing, that
01:02begins to change the feelings in us as well. And if we take those nice, slow, deep
01:07breaths deliberately, that brings that calm feeling. So how can we do this? Well,
01:14a really nice way is just to count in and out, nice and slowly. You can use your
01:19fingers if you want. Very, very underrated because it's quite easy to
01:24use fingers in comparison. If you're like really stressed, it's quite hard to
01:29think it through. But if you're just using fingers, it can be really good. And just
01:32doing a one, two, three, four, and then out. One, two, three, four. Let's do it
01:41together. In, out. Not sure I quite got the counting right there myself, but that
01:53nice, slow, four in, four out can be really useful. You can also do something
01:58called box breathing, which is where we breathe in for four, then we hold for
02:03four, then we breathe out for four, then we hold for four. It's maybe one to work
02:07up to, but you can kind of draw out a box. So we can breathe in, hold, breathe out,
02:17hold. And then we're back to breathing in again. So these little nice
02:23visualizations or the counting or using your fingers, whatever helps you to take
02:27those nice, slow breaths will be really useful because if we slow our breathing
02:32down, then we tell our body, go back from the fight-or-flight place into the rest
02:38and relax place. And so we begin to feel those calmer feelings. Won't happen
02:44straight away, but the more you practice it and the more you get used to it, the
02:47more you'll be able to bring those techniques in when you are feeling
02:51anxious.