Whoa, wait, wait! Relax and balance. Try 4, 7, 8

(Breathing Better Part II)

The pressure-cooker we live in today often feels like an endless cycle of bad news. From the pandemic, to societal injustice, to mass riots, to an America that just seems perpetually on edge, the psychic weight of it all can be overwhelming at times. It’s easy enough to feel imbalanced and out of place. Yet we can step back. We can draw within and find a balance in our minds. Our attention, though may often be dynamic and diffusive, can be adjusted and refocused.

I know personally how troubling life can feel and part of my journey into deep breathwork was certainly born from the turbulence of day-to-day life. One of the best and most accessible ways to restore some sense of inner calm is another breathwork style sometimes called the 4–7–8 method.

Like the box breathing method I discussed here, you follow the number order in cadence of in-breath and out-breath. Really, it’s simple. Try it!

Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down. Exhale out all your breath, deep from your belly. Then you will gently inhale through your nose, mentally counting to 4, hold your breath for a count of 7, then exhale out your mouth for a count of 8. Repeat this cycle 3–4 more times. Easy, right?

You can obviously do this more than 4 cycles or more than just once a day. In fact, I would encourage doing the 4–7–8 method more than once a day, maybe even build it into a larger routine. Whatever amount helps. The point being here is that you can steal back some calm with literally your breathwork. Take this as another powerful tool, a recourse to getting out of your mind’s tendency to focus on all the negative of the world and back into control by connecting with your innate ability to de-stress.

No matter how you come to it, and I sincerely hope you do, take some time out and count 4–7–8…