Having written about the support that coherent breathing gives the body last week I thought it would be interesting to pursue this and delve further into the book The New Science of Breath.
The image above is from the opening of chapter 4, which clearly outlines what the authors believe coherence to be, the balance and unity of ourselves as a whole, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally – rounded and functioning optimally. The use of the mobius a strong visual metaphor to illustrate this. It also chimes with exactly how I feel once I embark on coherent breathwork.
The next chapter takes the reader deeper into the mechanics of coherent breathing – as the bridge between the autonomic and somatic systems. In itself this concept highlighting balance and resilience. Finding and managing this bridge, then settling into allowing the bridge to function leads to this sense of calm, as everything begins to work at a highly efficient resonance.
The author discusses the balance of sympathetic influence – where they believe that every action has some kind of sympathetic input, where an inhalation is sympathetic dominant (minimal parasympathetic influence) vs parasympathetic maximal dominance on the exhale and minimal sympathetic emphasis. The importance of the breath here is equalising & shifting the depths of both inhale / exhale to allow for the sense of harmony that the body seeks for ideal homeostasis. From research the author discovered this to be 0.85 cycles / second or 5 cycles in 1 minute (58.8 seconds precisely). This is reinforced with a recording of HRV as the depth of the breath moves from shallow to fuller for the 5 minute cycle:
Which clearly shows that coherent breathing is more than just breathing at a frequency of 5 breaths a minute. It’s important to allow the lungs to fill with air, which brings us back to the idea of reducing blood pressure through the natural filling /. emptying of the lungs, negative thoracic pressure, expanding / contracting blood vessels in the lungs and knock on impact on the hearts output decreasing / increasing on inhale / exhale. Or as the author writes:
“During cardio pulmonary resonance, when arterial pressure rises, in this case as a consequence of exhalation, ie positive thoracic pressure and consequent increased blood flow to the heart, the baroreceptor communicates this increase to the autonomic nervous system, The autonomic nervous system throttles rising pressure by slowing heart rate and relaxing (enlarging) arteries. This moment corresponds to HRV Peak.”
Which also corresponds with the peak parasympathetic moment! Carrying on for the downward movement, this is explained thus:
“Upon inhalation, diaphragm flexion occurs resulting in strong negative thoracic pressure (a vacuum) and consequent expansion of blood vessels in the chest, storing blood, and reducing flow to the heart for the period of inhalation. This results in a decrease in peripheral arterial pressure. The baroreceptor reflex communicates this decrease in pressure to the autonomic nervous system, which responds by increasing heart rate and constricting arteries, thereby maintaining peripheral pressure within viable limits. This moment corresponds to the HRV valley.”
An aside this is also why it is easier to hold your breath on an inhale – full lungs signal this pressure, via the baroreceptors to the autonomic nervous system which allows for a longer breath hold than on empty lungs and a different lower pressure.
The last key part here, for me is: “Depth is a function of the range of diaphragmatic action – resulting in arterial pressure wave peaks and valleys – resulting in autonomic nervous system down/up regulation – resulting in heart rate variability peaks and valleys, respectively, thus forming a closed-loop feedback system that maintains arterial pressure within viable limits.”
So another aside – running easy using nasal breathing, leads to a greater range of diaphragmatic action and the subsequent improvement in bodily management of arterial pressure and HRV.
Skipping through to the end – something that I really enjoyed reading about was the link to certain Beatle songs, I wanna hold your hand, She Loves You and The Long and Winding Road – all of which are employ a rhythm that matches ideal coherence. I love the idea of certain songs becoming hugely successful due to an accidental use of ideal breathing coherence.
BreatheToMove 