I wanted to write a short post on box breathing. For those of you that don’t know, box breathing is a Navy Seal breathing technique to suppress anxiety, fear and help you think clearly. I first learned about this from Mark Divine’s book, “Unbeatable Mind”. I will put an Amazon picture and a link at the bottom of the page.
To be honest, I have been caddywompas all week. If you need a Texan to English translation…I have been out of sorts. The weather took an ugly turn and I am still getting over a cold. When you get a collection of stressors in your life, it is very easy to lose control over what you can control.
If you could read my dashboard you would see 8 degrees as the outside temperature. By the way, this is October 30th. I know you can see snow and ice on the street because the snow plows seem to be conspicuously absent. This kind of nonsense has been going on for three days.
A Coloradoan’s greatest nightmare is having a Texan driving in the snow. A Texan’s greatest nightmare is driving in the snow. At least mine is. I didn’t grow up in it so I prefer to be cautious. My driving is actually good, everyone else is reckless. That is my opinion and I am sticking to it.
Anyway, let’s get to the point of this story.
You don’t want to let life, or in this case the weather, stress you out. You will never think or act clearly when under stress. You need to learn how to control it and manage situations.
One of the most valuable techniques I have learned for dealing with stressful situations is called box breathing. So let’s take a look at it.
Here is the book I was talking about along with a few others. Check them out.
Full disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you click on the link and buy something, I get a little something back and you get my undying gratitude.:)
The hardest thing about box breathing is remembering to use it. This is a way to calm the parasympathetic nervous system and see things more clearly.
Very simple to do.
Try and breath through your nose for the inhale. Exhale through your nose or mouth. I have heard it both ways and I am not sure it makes a difference.
You want to use a 4 count for each phase. You can count to yourself “1,2,3,4” if needed.
Breathe in for a count of 4.
Hold for a count of 4.
Breathe out for a count of 4.
Wait for a count of 4 before you inhale again.
Do this for a couple of minutes and you will feel relaxed and more in control.
Some people won’t be able to do the full 4 count, so try it with a 2 or 3 count. The key is that it is a very calming, balanced breath.
Give it a try and let me know what you think. I have used this before races, before doing obstacles and obviously while driving on messy, icy streets and it works like a charm.
