Hi everyone!
I have been recently learning about some basics of regulating the nervous system. Something I am finding very interesting (and surprising!) is how many mechanisms our body naturally has for calming down and relaxing.
I wanted to share one of them, called a physiological sigh. I first heard about it in an interview with Dr Andrew Huberman (you can listen to the whole episode here).
A physiological sigh is a pattern of breathing that involves two inhales followed by one, longer exhale.
If you try doing it now, you might notice that it feels familiar. When we cry, our body uses this pattern of breathing naturally to calm us down.
What I find really cool about this is that I can do it in real-time, without the need to disengage from what I am doing.
💡 Extra tip: I find it especially calming to also make a sound on the exhale, like a deep siiiiiigh. I also imagine melting myself into my body and leaning my head slightly back. You might notice your shoulders dropping down instinctively, which is a good sign that it's working!
Try doing it multiple times, maybe 5-10 depending on how you feel. You might notice that with each sign you can go deeper and maybe even experience pleasant tingling in your back.
With that, I'd like to encourage you to give it a go and find a small moment of calm in your day today.
For this week's discussion, I'd like to open the floor to share more ideas with the community:
What hacks do you have for calming yourself down?
Let's share some helpful techniques so we can be more in control of our nervous system 😌