Breathe in, breathe out

When you stimulate the parasympathetic wing of the ANS, calming, soothing, healing ripples spread through your body, brain, and mind.

“There are as many ways to breathe as there are foods to eat,” said one female instructor who had held her breath for more than eight minutes and once dived below 300 feet. “And each way we breathe will affect our bodies in different ways.” Another diver told me that some methods of breathing will nourish our brains, while others will kill neurons;

The key to optimum breathing, and all the health, endurance, and longevity benefits that come with it, is to practice fewer inhales and exhales in a smaller volume. To breathe, but to breathe less.

example, take five breaths, inhaling and exhaling a little more fully than usual. This is both energizing and relaxing, activating first the sympathetic system and then the parasympathetic one, back and forth, in a gentle rhythm. Notice how you feel when you’re done. That combination of aliveness and centeredness is the essence of the peak performa

• To activate the sympathetic nervous system: narrow your vision. Go into “Portrait Mode” and let everything else fall into the background.


• To activate the parasympathetic nervous system: widen your visual field. See as much of your environment as you can.

We don’t realize how much healing, release, and freedom is available to us if we just remember to deepen our breath and slow it down many times during the course of our day.

To activate the sympathetic nervous system (autonomic arousal ⬆️): emphasize longer and stronger inhales. To activate the parasympathetic nervous system (autonomic arousal ⬇️): emphasize longer and slower exhales.

In the practice of the Ha Breath, the exhalation is longer which helps you bring your nervous system into a parasympathetic state. You will be invited to contract your throat on the exhalation, making the ocean sound “Haaaaaaaa.”