Research has shown that conscious breathing in the resonant frequency has measurable effects. Moods improve, anxiety decreases. Athletes also use this exercise. One study showed that basketball players who practised resonant breathing for ten days passed the ball more accurately, dribbled more precisely and scored better. Resonant breathing is also successfully used as bio-feedback for depression.
Six breaths per minute is the so-called resonant frequency, which means that the influence of the vagus nerve on the heart is strongest now. The result: when you breathe in, the influence of the vagus decreases. The heart beats faster. When you exhale, it increases, the heartbeat slows down. You can feel this if you put your hand on your heart and breathe in and out deeply. The resonant breathing frequency affects the entire nervous system, including the brain. We are more focused, calmer and more in touch with feelings.
Exercise: Breathe slowly
Lie down comfortably. Breathe in for about 4 seconds and out for 7 seconds.
Duration: 5 minutes in the beginning. Later you can extend the exercise to 10 minutes.
Exercise: Fast Breathing
Important: Do not do this exercise if you suffer from cardiovascular disease!
This exercise is more demanding, and it can also be more uncomfortable than slow breathing, because fast breathing is conscious hyperventilation, which increases the oxygen level in the blood. Hyperventilation gives energy, but it can also lead to uncomfortable body sensations. You feel tingling, you feel uncomfortable. Then focus your attention on your breath and realise that you have caused these feelings yourself, that you are therefore controlling your body.
Lie down or sit down comfortably. Breathe in and out without a pause between breaths, i.e. in, out, in, out, in, out.
Duration: 3 minutes.
Then breathe consciously in a normal rhythm. Notice how the body relaxes and a feeling of calm returns.