I close my eyes and inhale deeply. Hold for ten seconds. I breathe out. Hold for ten seconds. This is a sequence I repeat whenever I start to feel anxious or tense - emotions I experience much too often for my liking these days.
Boudewijn Bertsch • Cynefin - Weaving Sense-Making Into the Fabric of Our World ED02
Here’s a tool you can immediately try out to activate the parasympathetic nervous system and push back the stress response in real-time:
The physiological sigh.
It’s simple:
The physiological sigh.
It’s simple:
- 2 inhales through the nose (one long until you feel you can do no more, and then a second small one)
- 1 long extended exhale through the mouth
- 1–3 times
Charlotte Grysolle • Breathwork Fallacies, How to Tap Into Your ANS & a Slow Breathing Exercise
Breath of calm
This practice uses the technique of alternate nostril breathing that has been shown in studies to effectively reduce anxiety, combined with an exhale that is twice the length of the inhale. Longer exhales are key for the down-regulation of the parasympathetic nervous system