Recovery Breath is a form of active meditation and is completely different from any perception you may have of meditation. It’s called “Recovery Breath” because it is a two-part breathing 63 exercise that helps reset your body after undergoing a grueling day at work, a disagreement with your spouse, a test or competition—any taxing or demanding situation.
If your usual routine during the week is to push hard and keep yourself going full speed until you get to the weekend, the best thing you can do is practice Recovery Breath five minutes a day. Yes, only five minutes a day! It won’t make you groggy; in fact, if anything, it will refuel you. It will drench your body and every cell in it with oxygen, which is a big relief in view of the fact that your body has been running on unbalanced levels of carbon dioxide and low oxygen, adrenaline, and caffeine, due to your hectic schedule.
So, you may ask, after those five minutes, can I just hop back into my stressful existence and keep on going? Yes, indeed you can; but you’ll have increased mental clarity and more energy, and have the ability to problem-solve better and handle any irritability you may encounter during the day.
Long term, you’ll protect yourself against high cortisol, heart disease, back problems, and migraines—and a host of diseases caused by chronic stress.
Your first question probably is, what specifically will this type of breathing/meditation do for me? I’ll answer that succinctly. It will:
1. Quiet your mind so you can hear yourself think.
2. Let you distance yourself from your past, so that you can live more in the present. (This is what mindfulness is.)
3. Calm you to the point that you can hear your inner voice and be guided by your intuition.
4. Make you feel centered, balanced, and give you a distinct awareness of “your core.”
5. Make you feel more connected to your own feelings, and to those of others.
Feel like shedding a tear, smiling, or laughing during this exercise? It is normal; that is the cathartic response. If this happens to you, don’t repress the feeling. Let it out. Even if you don’t know why it’s happening, you’ll undoubtedly feel lighter later on.
Initially, you will aim for two minutes; later you may graduate to three or four. To begin, set a gentle alarm to signal two minutes or find a song that you can have playing in the background for that time period. Since you are not doing this exercise with the guidance of a Breathwork practitioner, it should be gentler than the one you would do if you were in an actual class. Because breathing is both a conscious and unconscious process, it bridges both parts of your brain. Some people may have a cathartic response or release, and if they have suffered trauma in the past that they are now addressing, it is advisable to have someone to guide them through the exercise. However, if you are dealing with minimal routine stress and augment the time or difficulty of the two-part breath slowly each time you do it, there won’t be an issue.
Start with the two-part breath, which is really two inhales. The first inhale fills your belly, the second, the top of your lungs. There’s a very distinct division between the first and the second inhale, and each one should sound slightly different. The first one (which is an LBB) is fuller, as well.
1. Lying on your back, with nothing under your head, put one hand on your belly and one hand on the top of your chest, by your collarbones.
2. Breathe through your mouth. It is a bigger orifice than your nostrils, and the point of this exercise is to get more oxygen into your body and accustom yourself to breathing this way. It may feel peculiar at first, but you will get used to it after the second or third time.
3. The first inhale should make your belly rise; your top hand (on your chest) should not move. Now, without exhaling, take another inhale and fill the top of your lungs. This time, your top hand should move. To help you “learn” the breath, you can move your shoulders back slightly. Be sure that you are not just transferring air from the bottom to the top.
4. There should be two distinct inhales, even if the second one is small. It is not one long breath. Your belly should remain full as you add the second “top” breath. The first few times you inhale this way may feel odd. It should; you’ve never breathed like this before.
5. Exhale enthusiastically; it should take the amount of time the two inhales took, not longer. Exhale in one breath, feeling your chest and belly contract.
Your ego and your body may struggle with the newness of the Recovery Breath. Watch your reaction. Is it one of curiosity or irritation? Do you react negatively, get judgmental, or are you able to remain open-minded and gentle with your exercise?
This first part in Recovery Breath should be hard; it is exercise for your breathing muscles. Note that the second inhale will feel smaller, even more constricted. You will probably feel pressure around your collarbones or armpits as you try to fill up this second breath. Some people even experience a “stitch” in their back as they try this new breathing, others a tightness in their necks. The general rule is to try to relax that place and continue inhaling.
There are three things to remember during part one of this exercise:
1. Keep breathing through your mouth for the entire first part. You may switch to your nose for the second part.
2. Find a rhythm that suits you, and stick to it. You should be able to find or “drop down” into this rhythm with more ease each time.
3. No matter what happens, just encourage yourself calmly and firmly to continue breathing. Any peculiar or uncomfortable sensations will lessen each time you practice, and the benefits are priceless.
Understand that you may hit a wall. Some people hit it after twenty breaths, others significantly later. In fact, the first few times you practice this active meditation you will hit the same kind of wall that you do when you work out. You will hear yourself make excuses about why you want to stop. Treat this feeling just as you do any other time you don’t want to continue doing something but you have to. If you feel a little tingling, that’s okay! Just encourage yourself to keep going, and remind yourself you are doing well and are almost done. Believe that there will be a moment when you get “to the other side,” and just keep moving to the pace of your breath. It won’t be like trudging uphill anymore.
Now you are going to switch to a big, gentle inhale and a big, gentle exhale.
1. Move your hands away from your body. Put your arms at your sides, palms up. Point your toes outward. You may keep breathing through your mouth or switch to your nose. Relax your lips, your face, your palate (the roof of your mouth). Let your tongue get heavy. Very important: Let your jaw relax. All of your body takes cues from your jaw. Pay attention to your cheeks, ears, and neck, relaxing them with each exhale. Relax your shoulders and your whole body—all the way to the tips of your fingers.
2. Continue doing mental body scans from time to time to make sure you are not holding tension anywhere. You may be surprised to discover that you may have a place that is always tensed, so much so that you have become accustomed to it. Be aware that with each inhale you are letting yourself float a little higher, and with each exhale you are letting yourself sink a little deeper. Try to move your mind away from thinking; simply keep your attention on your physical sensations. By “keep your attention on” I mean observe your body breathe as if you were watching another person.
Recovery Breath is pithy, involves active participation, and is immediately rewarding. It is a “two for the price of one” bargain: a brief but highly effective exercise that helps you recover from one day to the next, a form of active meditation for people who “can’t meditate.” Relaxing your body so that stress hormones and blood pressure decrease recharges your battery within minutes and encourages mindfulness. It protects you against the effects of prolonged stress by giving your body the oxygen and relaxation it needs to recover. In addition, Recovery Breath is a breathing exercise you can taper to meet your needs and level of enthusiasm. 64
In sum, Recovery Breath is a “reset” that will give your immune system a boost, keep your cortisol and blood pressure down, and oxygenate your body so that oxidative stress doesn’t age you before your time. Do it as often as possible, ideally every day.
I immediately got light-headed as I did the two-part breath, but since I was lying down, all I had to do was remind myself that I couldn’t fall, so it was safe. The feeling of newness was hard to deal with … as an adult, I almost never experience anything totally new where I have to trust that it is good for me (like when I was a kid). Though I would see myself hesitate, I just kept encouraging myself to continue. The first time was the hardest. After that, I think my breathing muscles got stronger and my understanding of the benefits outweighed my being skeptical and even a bit afraid. Afterward I felt lighter and recharged, like I’d taken a great nap. —Liz, age 65
Falling into a rhythm was what I focused on. I listened to my own breathing and just kept telling myself to keep with it, just as when I’m running. I hit a wall, but struggled through it and got a “second wind.” It was oddly difficult, given that I was lying on my back. For part of the time, I was just confused as to why it was so hard. I had to shut out the talk in my head that wanted me to stop. I just told myself that I had nothing to lose, and that it wasn’t frightening … it was interesting. Knowing that I was super-oxygenating my body and working out my breathing muscles made it easier to push through that hard moment, and though the subsequent times I practiced it was still work, it wasn’t as hard as the first time. —Sean, age 32
A petite, feisty, twenty-nine-year-old spin instructor with an if-it-doesn’t-kill-me-it-makes-me-stronger attitude, Tracey was the consummate calorie-burning cheerleader. She prided herself on having followers who attended her classes religiously, and she made one wonder if she ever napped or binged on ice cream like normal people. Despite knowing her cardio was excellent, she felt as if she couldn’t get a big, satisfying, deep breath; in addition, after two years of leading spin classes, her voice was starting to become strained and raspy. Her ENT doctor told her she was at risk for throat nodules due to the strain on her voice her job required. Tracey panicked, googling “throat nodules” and “voice strain,” which led to disturbing images of red, saliva-covered blisters and polyps. Then she found The Breathing Class, and having read testimonials from endurance athletes, she signed up. Spin instructors need the conditioning of triathletes and the vocal stamina of heavy metal singers. I discovered that while her cardio—the strength of her heart—was excellent, the sucking in of her waist (thinking this made her abs stronger), her tight workout clothes, and her habit of bracing her middle (a “readiness” stress stance) made Tracey’s breathing mostly upper body; hence, she was breathing using her shoulders rather than her diaphragm. Her inhale was almost nonexistent, which made rapid, shallow breaths necessary. Tracey had to start with the very foundation: how and from where she inhaled and exhaled. “Letting her belly go” led to the beginnings of positive change; for her, the challenge was to be able to relax and stretch her middle (sides, back, and front). Three weeks later she was “out of the woods,” feeling better; her throat healed, and she was able to take deep satisfying breaths.
63 I learned the two-part breath from author, teacher, and healer David Elliott. His website: http://www.davidelliott.com/ .
64 Are you liking the spiritual part of this more than you thought? Consider listening to Jack Kornfield’s YouTube discussions or Dharma Punx’s podcasts, or reading books by Pema Chodron or Thich Nhat Hanh from Sounds True, Inc.