Creating Neurobiological Agency in Women (or Men) through Facilitated Breathwork (Part 2)
This is Part 2 of my series on the Creating Neurobiological Agency in Women through Facilitated Breathwork. If you missed the first article, you can see that right here.
THE FACILITATED BREATH SESSION
In order to entrain a balanced breath, there are four essential techniques of a facilitated breathwork session that allow a coach to access and modulate the learned pattern for healing and integration. Those techniques are:
(1) a diaphragmatic belly breath
(2) an open-mouth breath
(3) connected or rhythmic breathing that has a longer-inhale-to-shorter-exhale ratio; and
(4) a relaxed exhale, free from expulsion of entire contents of lungs.
Sessions generally span 30-75 minutes and often require series or ongoing sessions to help the breather adopt new, balanced patterns of breathing long term.
The first technique is that the breath must be coached and supported to begin in the belly, incurring a solid diaphragmatic breath. Without this technique, the breath can easily go into a shallow, upper chest hyperventilation pattern — which in turn may trigger trauma responses, including the earlier mentioned feelings of helplessness. Breathing from the belly (diaphragmatically) ensures that the breath activates the parasympathetic nervous system and corresponding relaxation responses, keeping cortisol levels in balance. “Farhi (1996) states that relaxed breathing enhances the immune system, assists in the absorption of nutrients and proteins, supports bone growth, and boosts overall cellular health in the body” (Caldwell and Victoria, 2011). In addition, diaphragmatic belly breathing and vocal toning stimulate the Vagus nerve, which assists in the extinction of conditioned fear as studied by Peña et al. (2014):
Extinction of conditioned fear is the process of attenuating fearful behavioral responses to neutral stimuli when they no longer predict aversive outcomes. Extinction of the fear response requires consolidation of new memories that compete with fearful associations. Subjects with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show impaired extinction of conditioned fear, which is associated with decreased ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) control over amygdala activity. Vagus Nerve stimulation (VNS) enhances memory consolidation in both rats and humans, and pairing VNS with exposure to conditioned cues enhances the consolidation of extinction learning in rats.
The Vagus Nerve modulates the autonomic nervous system (ANS), including the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and enteric nervous system (ENS), which deal with inflammation responses, mood, heart-rate variability and overall physiological and psychological wellness. Deep diaphragmatic belly breathing, specifically, tones the Vagus Nerve.
The second technique applied to the breath pattern is use of an open mouth for inhalation and exhalation, especially in the first half of the session to increase oxygen levels and intra-abdominal pressure changes. Opening the jaw and breathing through the mouth also helps to relax unconsciously tight jaw and neck muscles. Caldwell and Victoria (2011) note that in times of great metabolic need like exercise and mobilizing towards perceived threat, we also tend to recruit the neck muscles (scalene and sternocleidomastoid) for breathing. It can be easily witnessed that opening the jaw, and in many cases offering a ‘mouth piece’ to clamp on, actually inhibits the use of muscles at the front of neck for upper chest breathing and offers a way to relax the upper esophageal sphincter and its diaphragmatic correlations.
“The diaphragm muscle should not be seen as a segment but as part of a body system. This muscle is an important crossroads of information for the entire body, from the trigeminal system to the pelvic floor, passing from thoracic diaphragm to the floor of the mouth: the network of breath” (Bordoni and Zanier, 2015).
Clearly, open-mouth breathwork has unique ripple effect throughout the body. The challenge with this technique is to mediate the intensity of open mouth breathing with a relaxed and sustainable inhale to exhale pattern for the breather.
The third technique is instilling a connected breath or rhythm that consists of a longer inhale and shorter exhale, thereby stimulating the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). For some breathers, a two-count breath in and one-count breath out is effective; for others, a four-count breath in and three-count breath out is ideal. It is important to acknowledge that each individual is unique in regard to their ideal pacing and that the coach should be trained on observing the body to adjust the rate of breathing to be manageable and not overwhelming. “Inhaling takes work: we have to contract the diaphragm and intercostals to bring in life-giving air. By contrast a normal exhale requires the opposite: it requires us to let go of effort” (Caldwell and Victoria, 2011).
The fourth, and final technique is training a relaxed exhale. Caldwell and Victoria (2011) claim that the most efficient exhale recruits gravity to empty the lungs of much (but not all) of their air. A forced exhale can lead to hyperventilation in the body, a condition directly linked to anxiety, depression and panic as we learned earlier. The relaxed exhale creates a rhythmic and wave-like breath, versus a forced or drawn-out exhale, which often tightens the fascia surrounding the diaphragm. When these techniques are applied in collaboration with one another the impact is a ‘balanced breath,’ as described by Caldwell and Victoria (2011).
The potential for healing through facilitated breathwork and its specific capacity to support our neurobiological systems is clear in terms of its ability to help with the extinction of fear and restore our PH levels and Blood Oxygen Levels. It also appears that facilitated breathwork may be able to compel our physiology away from beliefs and memory-based triggers that activate fear responses towards present moment phenomena, or presence. Facilitated breathwork does this specifically by engaging our limbic system and allowing us the opportunity to breathe through what shows up in our breath pattern and consciousness in a safe, coached practice leading to greater agency and healing.
References
Bordoni, B., and Zanier, E. (2015). The Continuity of the Body: Hypothesis of Treatment of the Five Diaphragms. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 21, 4. .http://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2013.0211
Caldwell, C. & Victoria, H. (2011). Breathwork in body psychotherapy: Towards a more unified theory and practice. Body. Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy. 89-101. doi: 10.1080/17432979.2011.574505.
Mayer, E. (2016). The Mind-Gut Connection: How the Hidden Conversations Within Our Bodies Impacts Our Mood, Our Choices, and our Overall Health. (pp. 186-187).
Morningstar, J. (2016). Break Through with Breathwork: Jump-Starting Personal Growth in Counseling and the Healing Arts. (pp. 8-9, 16, 22-23).
Peña D. F., Childs, J.E., Willett, S., Vital A., McIntyre, C. K., Kroener, S. (2014). Vagus nerve stimulation enhances extinction of conditioned fear and modulates plasticity in the pathway from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex to the amygdala. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, Volume 8, 327. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00327
1. Poage, E. G. (2016). Breathing: The Overlooked Exercise. Retrieved April 5, 2019, from http://www.lymphedemaresources.org/breathing.htm