Breathing Moods and Feelings
You may be familiar with how breathing reflects feelings and moods. For example, rapid and shallow breathing can be a symptom of anxiety. But how can breathing change moods and feelings? I like to think of it as breathing moods and feelings.
Lungs to Brain/Brain to Lungs
The lungs send information via an afferent (conveying towards a center) path to the respiratory center in the brain. This respiratory hub analyzes the information sent by the lungs and sends back efferent (conveying away from a hub or center) stimuli) messages back to the lungs that modulate the activity of the respiratory muscles, yielding changes in respiratory drive that return arterial oxygen, arterial carbon dioxide,yield changes in oxygen, carbon dioxide.
Vagus Nerve
You can take a considerable amount of control over this system with your breathing. One of the afferent pathways from the lungs to the brain is via the vagus nerve. The expanding and contracting lungs during normal shallow breathing stimulate the vagus nerve. The brain sends back discomforting messages. You enter a negative feedback loop.
The vagus nerve affects every organ in your body. Actually, the vagus nerve is paired; two nerves, not one. Vagus means “wanderer,” because it wanders all over the body to the important organs: brain, gut (intestines, stomach), heart, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, kidney, ureter, spleen, lungs, reproductive organs (female), neck (pharynx, larynx, and esophagus), ears, and tongue.
The vagus nerve is the basic parasympathetic nerve. You stimulate it by deep diaphragatic breathing –– slow abdominal breathing that reduces stress, anxiety, anger, and inflammation system. You shift from the sympathetic nervous system (SNS fight or flight) to the vagus-controlled parasympathetic nervous system (PNS rest and digest). The vagus nerves nudge the underworked PNS into action, counteracting the overworked, hyper-driven SNS. Deep diaphragmatic breathing stimulates the vagus nerves that balance the SNS and PNS, effecting a positive change in mood and feeling.
The Most Effective Attention Therapy
Of all the Attention Therapies, breath watching and breath work are the most effective. You never stop breathing. You just need to learn to pay attention to your breathing. Use your breath to meditate (Insight Meditation) and change the way you breathe (Ki Breathing).
Insight Meditation and Ki Breathing are my methods of choice for breathing for moods and feelings. But there are so many ways of breath watching and breathing. You will never forget to breathe. Just pay attention and keep coming back to the breath when you forget.
Thoughts, feelings, and emotions come. You can’t stop them. But you do not need to grab hold of them. Let thoughts, feelings, and emotions come and go like clouds passing. Sometimes they pass slowly and sometimes a bit faster. Allow them to move past. Nothing gained by clinging to thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Everything to gain by letting them pass unquestioned and unattended.
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
