When our clients arrive in Port Matilda to begin residential addiction treatment with us, they have to take the first few hours, days, and weeks one at a time. Jumping from chronic, active substance use disorder (SUD) symptoms to managing withdrawal symptoms during detox services is a curveball in itself. Everything must be taken in stride.
Later, shifting from survival and cleansing mode to entering therapy, working on life skills, and mastering mindfulness and meditation techniques takes time. Recovery is a lifelong practice that involves maintaining a balance in multiple areas. Today, we’ll focus on just one aspect of relapse prevention: breathwork and mindfulness.
What is Breathwork, and How Does it Relate to Mindfulness?
Breathwork is the intentional and conscious action of changing your automatic breathing patterns while focusing on bodily sensations. Mindfulness is a bit more zoomed-out and involves observing how you’re breathing rather than consciously trying to breathe a certain way. The two aren’t synonymous but are closely related. Both practices have deep histories that stretch across activities like yoga and the practice of Buddhism.
Mindfulness before breathwork—or the other way around?
- Is breathwork an example of practicing mindfulness?
- Does mindfulness include breathwork?
- Do you have to have breathing techniques in place to reap mindfulness benefits?
Our patients, along with thousands of internet users, have asked these questions. Breathing exercises rely on aspects of mindfulness and meditation, but each doesn’t always equal the other–and they don’t have to for you to receive their benefits. Here are some of the coolest perks of regularly practicing breathing techniques:
- Lower blood pressure and improved mood
- Better focus, attention span, and memory
- Greater creativity
- Reduced stress, depression, and anxiety
- Better relaxation and sleep
- Less intense negative emotions
What are the Best Breathing Techniques to Support Recovery?
That all depends on you and what works best to calm and regulate your mind. We’ll list some options below—you mix and match what may work best and always after consulting a healthcare professional. Once you find what works, aim to practice your breathing technique for at least 5 minutes a day. If you can’t immediately achieve that goal—don’t worry. Build up to it little by little:
- Cyclic sighing: inhaling slowly through the nose until the lungs fully expand, and exhaling slowly and fully through the mouth. This exercise is notably mood-boosting with strong evidence points toward it being the most effective at calming the body.
- Box breathing: inhaling for a set duration of time, holding your breath in for the same amount of time, exhaling slowly for the same duration, then holding the breath out for the same duration. This method is also called tactical breathing, and may help with physical performance in sports or when trying to regulate stress.
- Cyclic hyperventilation with retention: inhaling deeply through the nose and exhaling deeply through the mouth for thirty times; after thirty exhalations, hold the breath out for about 30 seconds. This can also reduce anxiety symptoms.
How Does Mindfulness Come Into Play?
Perhaps the best part about mindfulness and meditation practices—including breathwork—is that there is no perfect time to carry them out. What works for you and when is up to you. Once you have a breathing technique that provides relief, you can start to master how mindful you are while practicing it:
- When you’re carrying out the technique, pay special attention to how your lungs, nose, mouth, throat, and general bodily sensations feel.
- As you breathe, place your hand over your chest and observe how your heart feels and what its rhythm is like.
- After you’ve finished your breathwork, reflect in your journal about how your body felt and what thoughts and emotions came to the surface.
The most important takeaway here is that breathing and mindfulness may not come easily, naturally, or automatically—and that’s okay. Although still under-researched, breathwork and meditation are seen as having tremendous value by the medical world. Research to date shows the following:
- Breathing techniques can regulate the nervous system’s stress response, aid in emotional regulation, and benefit the body’s neuroendocrine system.
- Breathwork and meditation can also help you reduce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD) symptoms.
While these tools are powerful and valid ways to manage cravings, maintain overall well-being and mental health, and prevent relapse, they work best when accompanied by the many other resources available for addiction recovery. Contact us today to learn more about the many ways our inpatient, outpatient, and alumni programs can help you sustain long-term recovery.
