Changing the rate of your breathing is the fastest way to support your nervous system response.  

3 Breathing Practices

1. Balancing your breath is always safe and healthy. If you’re feeling up, it will bring you down and if you’re feeling low it will bring you up.

Practice water breath by:

•   Inhaling through your nose for 1-2-3-4

•  Exhaling through your nose for 4-3-2-1

•  Repeat up to 10 times 

2. Up-regulating your breath stimulates your sympathetic nervous system to give you more energy and must be practiced with caution. Never practice while driving.

Practice coffee breath by:

•    Draw the belly back sharply on the exhale 10 X allowing a partial inhale to happen naturally

•   Repeat 3 times with rests in between

3. Slowing down your breathing triggers a parasympathetic, rest and digest, nervous system response allowing you to feel calmer. Never practice while driving.  

Practice whiskey breath by:

•   Inhaling through your nose for 1-2-3-4

•   Exhaling through your nose for 8 to 6 breaths

•  Repeat until you feel relaxed  

Links and Resources

Lucas Rockwood

About Linda:

Have you ever battled overwhelming anxiety, fear, self-limiting beliefs, soul fatigue or stress? It can leave you feeling so lonely and helpless. We’ve all been taught how to be courageous when we face physical threats but when it comes to matters of the heart and soul we are often left to learn, "the hard way."

As a school teacher for over 30+ years, struggling with these very issues, my doctor suggested anti-anxiety medication but that didn't resonate with me so I sought the healing arts. I expanding my teaching skills and became a yoga, meditation, mindfulness, reiki and sound healer to step into my power and own my impact. 

A Call for Love will teach you how to find the courage to hold space for your fears and tears. To learn how to love and respect yourself and others more deeply.  

My mission is to guide you on your journey. I believe we can help transform the world around us by choosing love. If you don’t love yourself, how can you love anyone else? Join a call for love. 

Website - Global Wellness Education

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Hello and welcome to a call for love. I believe the most powerful gift you can offer yourself is to give and receive love more freely. I'm your host Linda Rossini meditation guidance spiritual coach. Everyone has the desire to be seen, heard, respected and loved. The journey to becoming more connected to your greater purpose lies within the ability to live from the deep source of love within you. Let's begin. How are you feeling today? Are you feeling energized? Are you feeling lethargic? Or do you feel balance?

Today on a call for love, we're going to talk about how you're feeling and how your breathing can impact how you're feeling. Your nervous system can be either overstimulated through the sympathetic nervous system, or under stimulated and calm and relaxed with the parasympathetic nervous system, the rest, digest and restore response. Well how your breathing can impact your nervous system. Today, most people are breathing between eight to 12 breaths a minute, and that is actually a little high. Because we live in such a hustle and bustle society, we're breathing actually a little fast. The goal would be to read between four to six breaths a minute, you might say, Well, how do I do that? When do I do it? Is it safe? What are the procedures? Well, this is what I'd like to share with you today. As a yoga and meditation guide, I care a lot about the breath. We call it pranayama. And it's my major go to to help clients calm down or give them energy. As I was studying to become a yoga teacher, I was very interested in a gentleman named Lucas Rockwood and he shared a breathing technique that I remember to this day and I guarantee you will not forget it because it's so simple. It's water, coffee and whiskey breath. You do not have to drink coffee or whiskey to practice this, but you will definitely remember. So let's begin in the neutral balancing breath. Water breath is balancing. We need water to nourish ourselves because we're mostly made out of water. It's a very healthy drink. It's something that we need every day. Water breath is so beneficial because it creates balance. If you're too hyper, they will calm you down. And if you too calm, it'll bring you into balance with an even amount of energy. How you practice water breathing is like this. You are going to gently and consistently breathe in through the nose. You're going to breathe in through the nose for four breaths. And exhale through the nose for four breaths, I will guide you. Well you could be working, you could be walking or you could be driving and this breath is safe for all of the above. I like to sit up tall and straight. I like to find lengthen the my spine to just give my lungs space to inhale and exhale. And you're going to just breathe in and out through the nose. We're going to inhale for four breaths. Exhale for four breaths. I will practice with you and I will guide you. It's a very balancing breath. It creates a nice equilibrium. And so we want to gently keep our lips close. We should only be breathing in and out through the nose anyways. So let's begin. Taking a deep inhale for 1234 exhale. 4321 inhale 1234 exhale. 4321. Inhale. 1234 exhale. 4321. Last time, inhale. 1234 Exhale 4321. That is water breath. You'll notice that you feel more grounded, more stable, more even. That is the The whole purpose of the water breath, it's a great breath, to bring you into any moment with calm and ease. For the next two breaths, coffee and whisky breath, I advise that you not be driving while you practice this. Because coffee breath is an up regulating breath is when you take about 20 breaths per minute. And it really stimulates your sympathetic nervous system, which is great and ideal for exercising or before a busy task. I actually like a little bit of coffee breath in the morning to wake myself up to get myself energy. And it makes sense because a lot of people use coffee in the morning to get their system going. But it's not something you want to do for long periods of time. So best in the morning on an empty stomach. And just being really mindful that you are not doing anything, or driving a vehicle when you're practicing this, because rapid breathing reduces the carbon dioxide in your blood system, which leads to constriction of your breathing passageways and veins and it should be practiced briefly with care, and just for short period of time. So let's begin. To practice coffee breath, you're going to exhale sharply, drawing the navel to the spine. This is purposeful, this is where your action is. And the inhale comes naturally. You do not have to think of the inhale, you're just concentrating on the exhale. This is actually called Breath of Fire as one of the pranayama practices. So I like to actually place my hands on my belly. Because when you exhale, and you inhale, you feel the belly contract, and then expand. And I usually do it for three rounds. 10 rounds per breath. So let's try it together. You can keep your hands on your belly, you're going to force the exhale by snapping the belly back towards the spine. And the inhale comes naturally through the nose. This breath is in and out through the nose. Let's come into three rounds of coffee breath. I'm just going to guide you on the exhale. Remember, the inhale comes naturally. We'll do three rounds. Ready. Exhale, exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale, exhale. Inhale. And release. Ready, round two. Exhale, exhale. Exhale, exhale. Exhale. Exhale. Exhale, exhale. Exhale, exhale. Inhale. Release. Last round, snapping the belly back on the exhale, inhaling naturally through the nose. Exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, exhale, inhale. And then release. You may feel this vibration, this energy pumping through your body. That's what you might need in the morning to get yourself going. Or in the middle of the day, you know, when you're around two o'clock in the afternoon when your blood sugar is dipping, and you need that little pick me up. Instead of grabbing a sweet, try coffee breath. The last breath is whiskey breath, my absolute favorite breath. Because in this day and age, we all need to relax a little bit. We are actually in a perpetual fight flight and freeze response most of our day reacting to everything that is going on around us. And really we do not need more stress or more pressure. But the coffee breath is really good when it's needed. My favorite go to is whiskey breath. And you know what? Good news. You're not going to get drunk. You'll get drunk on relaxation and calm. But that's all to practice whiskey breath. It's best when you're sitting down or lying down.

It's a great breathing practice to enjoy in bed to help you fall asleep. If you wake up in the middle of the night. You can also practice it. When you're under high stress. You can practice it it's a really great breath to calm down your nervous system. And what it is, is basically longer exhales than in house because if you're experiencing stress, anxiety, hyper reaction to anything that's going on in your world, you want to calm down. And the best way to do that is take longer exhales. I like to breathe in for four breaths, and then exhale for eight breaths. So inhale for four, exhale for eight. We're going to practice it three times, three times, breathing in and out. Exhale your breath. Inhale through the nose. 1234, exhale through the nose. 87654321. Inhale. 1234, exhale, 87654321. Inhale, 1234, exhale, 87654321. Release the breath. Take a deep breath in. And exhale, release. And notice how you instantly calmed down your nervous system naturally relaxes. The great breath to practice, for mindfulness, for coming into sense of ease, releasing any stress and anxiety, anything that's no longer serving you. Whiskey breath is your go to breath. I would say my favorite two breaths are water breath and whiskey breath. I don't really need to energize myself more than I need to. Except maybe if I'm going to come into a practice and exercise practice where I want more energy. And when I'm very feeling very sluggish. But other than that water breath, breathing evenly for four counts and exhaling for four counts, and whiskey breath where you breathe in for four breaths, and exhale for eight breaths. Those are my two go to breaths. Always remember to breathe in and out through the nose. I always say every part of our body has a purpose. Right? The nose is the perfect mechanical instrument for breathing. It cleans up pollutants, it warms the air. It was made for breathing. Our mouth was not made for breathing, our mouth is made for eating. And they have both their purposes. So really noticing if you're breathing through your nose, or if you're breathing through your mouth, your breath is a call for love. Your nervous system deserves to be taken care of. You want to live better not only in your body, but in your mind. And when your nervous system actually helps you respond appropriately. This is what we want to tap into. Right? Our breath is the first thing we do when we're born. And it's the last thing we do when we exit this lifetime. So please notice how your breathing, try one of these breaths. I will leave the breathing pattern in the show notes. And if you have any questions, please reach out to me. It's called Water, coffee and whiskey breath. It will be your three main breaths to get you in and out through your day with just the right energy to meet each task. I hope you found this useful. I know that I love it and I'm sure that you will find many benefits with it. So really hoping you have the right energy to meet you in the right moment for my heart to yours Namaste.