For Better Well-Being, Just Breathe

I was a graduate student in Manhattan at the time of the 9/11 attacks. I was shaking with anxiety for months afterwards. I tried everything else because I was unwilling tomedicate. panic attacks are caused byMindfulness meditation The hot yoga did nothing for me. I went to talks by Buddhist monks and meditation teachers in hopes of attaining inner peace, but nothing came of it. Sky Breath meditation class involves 20 minutes of breathing in and out in different postures. I was calm even though I was skeptical. When I gave birth, I didn't miss a day of breathing practice.

The benefits of breathing for mental health and well-being have been studied by me. After 9/11, I was working with veterans with post­traumatic stress disorder. We ran a randomized controlled trial to test the effects of SKY breathing, which the Art of Living Foundation teaches to the general public and Project Welcome Home troops offers to veterans and military. Veterans who practiced SKY every day for a week saw their anxiety drop to the same level as the general population. They kept the benefits a year after they stopped practicing. Many veterans in our study don't qualify as having post traumatic stress disorder. Sky had the same benefits as cognitive processing therapy, the gold-­standard treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. The veterans who practiced SKY had more improvements in their bodies than those who just had therapy. Breathing practices are an alternative for people who don't want to relive painful memories or pay for therapy.

Changing your breathing can affect your feelings. Anxiety and anger are related to irregular, short, fast breaths. If you adopt the slower and more regular breathing pattern that corresponds to a calm feeling you will be able to relax. If you want to do a simple exercise, close your eyes and breathe out twice as long as you breathe in. You can do this for five minutes in the morning or as you get ready to leave work.

Breathing is a well-being practice. In a 2020 randomized controlled trial, my Yale colleagues and I assigned stressed undergrads to either a control group, a group that practiced SKY breathing, or a group that learned skills to improve emotional intelligence. Sky had more benefits for mental health and well-being than any other intervention. Breathing is a practice that relaxes your body.

The Happiness Track is a book written by Seppl.

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