The 15-15-15-15 Breathing Plan
“Fight OR flight”- a typical response choices
Our prehistoric brain responds in one of
two ways to new stimuli. It chooses the
flight or flight response. This is OK if
we are faced by a saber tooth tiger BUT in modern day life this instinctual
decision response creates a lot of stress.
According to James Altucher, the decision
creates oxytocin which produces an inflammation of the vagus nerve. We need to figure out how to reduce the
inflammation OR stop it in the first place. Because modern day presents a lot
of opportunities for decision making we are often stuck in the inflammation of
the vagus nerve mode.
One of the 10 suggestions that James
offers is deep breathing. He offers an
interesting perspective on breathing:
“..Basically, yoga measures a lifespan in the number of
breaths you take. A dog pants fast and dies young. A turtle breathes slow and
lives to over 100. Pranayama is the art of breathing slower and slower And
using your cavities in your bodies other than your chest cavity to hold your
breath (i.e. your abdomen, for instance). You don’t have to be a pranayama
expert. I don’t want to be one. But the simplest exercise is to sit there and
hold your breath for 8 seconds, breath out for 8 seconds, breathe in for 8
seconds, hold, etc. Do that for ten minutes a day…”
Many years ago I wondered what the right
mix for holding the breath, breathing out, and breathing in. I feel that the whole cycle should last one
minute:15 seconds to breathe in, 15 seconds to hold the breath, 15 seconds to
breathe out, and 15 seconds to hold the breath.
James’ numbers are way shorter than I am used
to using. The one thing that I do know is that it does
need to slow your heart rate and NOT make you feel like you are going to
hyperventilate. It should feel natural
for you. Maybe the best way to
experiment with this is to record a chime every so many second for ten minutes?
No matter
what the interval length works out for you, one thing that cannot be argued
that this breathing pattern will prolong our lifespan.
Today’s
question is:
“What are
the right interval lengths for you?”
P.S. the original article can be read at
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140609124126-5858595-10-unusual-ways-to-release-oxytocin-into-your-life?trk=tod-home-art-list-small_1
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