How to Feel More Calm by Deep Breathing and EFT-Tapping

Deep, slow diaphragmatic breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, which lowers stress responses associated with the “fight or flight” mechanisms in the body, helping you to feel calmer. This deep breathing also improves heart rate variability (HRV), a measure of variations in beat-to-beat intervals.

I started thinking about the benefits of vagus nerve stimulation when my Pilates teacher reminded me to focus on it during class. Just shifting my attention to the nerve, away from the fact that I was doing the difficult teaser exercises, was huge in helping me do the exercises more calmly and to breathe more deeply and rhythmically. Consequently, all my exercises improved and became more controlled.  

EFT helps us Take Deep Breaths

People suffering from anxiety can find it difficult to take deep breaths. This is where EFT can be effective: it helps the mind and body relax enough to begin taking deep breaths.  An experiment you can do to see how deeply you can breathe is to tap on the EFT meridian points for a few rounds while checking on the depth of your breath. As you keep tapping and checking your lungs' capacity to inhale air in a relaxed way, you will find you can take deeper and deeper breaths. To learn more about what Gary Craig calls the Constricted Breathing EFT Technique, you can click on this link to the page on his website:

https://www.palaceofpossibilities.com/post/the-eft-tapping-constricted-breathing-technique

The Benefit of Stimulating the Vagus Nerve

The vagus nerve runs from the brain stem and travels down into the belly, spreading fibers to the tongue, pharynx, vocal cords, lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines. It also connects to glands that produce anti-stress enzymes and hormones, such as Acetylcholine, Prolactin, Vasopressin, and Oxytocin. These hormones influence digestion, metabolism, and the relaxation response. The vagus nerve is the most important element of the parasympathetic nervous system. It’s the one that calms you down by reducing your heart rate, and blood pressure, and controlling your relaxation response.

As you become mindful of your vagus nerve throughout your body and are able to take deep breaths, notice whether it helps you to feel calmer.

How to Practice Breathing Deeply

Start by inhaling air into your belly and expanding your diaphragm, while counting to five. Then very slowly exhale while puckering your lips. To get into a vagus nerve stimulation mode, try reducing the breath rate from the usual 10-14 per minute to 5-7 per minute. Don’t forget that if this is hard for you to achieve, you can try EFT-Tapping first so you're relaxed enough to do it. Studies have shown that practicing 10 minutes a day of tapping and deep breathing is enough to help you notice you are relaxing. The key is to be consistent. Without forcing it, gradually reduce the number of breaths per minute. The whole point is feeling more relaxed. It will also help you start to notice when you're in that 'fight or flight' place, take some deep breaths, and slow down to better take care of yourself.

If you would like to learn about how EFT - Tapping can help you relax, please click this link Book a Call to schedule a complimentary consultation with me.

Here are some other resources that help you "Reset the Vagus Nerve".

Sources:

Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201705/diaphragmatic-breathing-exercises-and-your-vagus-nerve

http://www.businessinsider.com/vagus-nerve-stimulation-2015-6

Liz Newman: http://liznewmanacupuncture.com/2015/09/ 

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Love and happy deep breathing,