I’m not going to lie to you — the soon-to-be-post-grad stress has been hitting me lately. Although I have gotten into grad school (whoop!), I still have goals of securing a full-time job either before or after graduation, which will help me save money for my future place and to make payments on my student loans. It’s a lot that I have on my plate, and there have been days when I wanted to drop everything and scream, “I can’t do this anymore!”Â
One thing that has kept me sane (for the most part) is practicing different forms of meditation. Some of these methods include walking, writing, and connecting with my spirituality. However, I’ve decided to kick things up a notch and focus more on my breathing. So, when I came across breathwork, I knew that I had to incorporate this practice into my daily routine.
If you have ever practiced any breathing techniques, you probably never heard of the term “breathwork” come into play: little do you know, you’ve been doing breathwork the entire time… or at least some form of it. “Breathwork is the intentional regulation of breathing to shift the mind and body,” says Meg Collins, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Los Angeles. “Clinically, it can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, lowering cortisol levels, reducing heart rate, and calming anxiety.”
Collins noted that breathwork has been an “accessible, evidence-based tool” for her clients to use whenever they feel the need to manage their stress or anxiety. This type of emotional release can help a person process their thoughts and shift towards a more relaxed state. “The breath is the only autonomic function we can consciously control, making it a powerful bridge between the conscious mind and the body’s stored stress responses,” Collins says.
There are many methods of breathwork to try out, but it all depends on your comfortability. For beginners, Collins recommends doing five to 10 minutes of breathwork daily and doing simple techniques like box breathing. “Our nervous systems respond to repeated, intentional practice,” she says. “Daily micro-sessions tend to yield more lasting change than occasional longer ones.”
Among all of the stress that I’m currently battling, I thought it would be fitting to try out breathwork to see if it works out for me.Â
Day One
I started my daily breathwork practice on a Sunday. On Sundays, I go to church and spend time with people from my ministry afterwards, so once I went back to my apartment for the night, I managed to get myself in a meditative state for ten minutes and practiced box breathing. For the first time in weeks, it felt so refreshing to let go of all the worries that were the bane of my existence. Safe to say, I was able to sleep well that night.
Day Two
Monday is not my favorite day of the week — then again, it’s no one’s favorite day. Mondays are jam-packed with back-to-back classes and work tasks, so by the end of it, I am exhausted. I went back to my apartment around 4:00 p.m., which was followed by dinner and finishing up some assignments. Around 7:00 p.m., I settled down by doing a 10-minute session of diaphragmatic breathing, focusing on deep breaths into my belly. This was much needed after a busy day.
Day Three
Tuesdays are calmer for me — I am able to do whatever I want with no set schedule. On these days, I focus more on resting and exercising. After my workout session in the afternoon, I hopped in the shower and did the same breathwork routine as the day before. There’s something about belly breathing that seems to put me in a different headspace.
Day Four
Wednesdays are also days that don’t ask for too much. I only have one morning class, and I have the rest of the day to myself. My Wednesday afternoons tend to follow the same structure as my Tuesday afternoons, so I worked out for an hour, took a shower, and did my breathwork routine. I didn’t do belly breathing this day, so I went back to the regular box breathing to feel more at ease, but still energized.
Day Five
The end of my five-day period has come! Thursdays are similar to Tuesdays — I have all of the freedom to do anything. However, Thursdays are still busy days for me due to work meetings. After my final work meeting of the day, I went back to my apartment to do a belly breathing routine before taking a nap. By the time I woke back up, I felt more energized and calm — like everything seemed to fall in place.
Doing breathwork for five days taught me that it’s okay to slow down and take time for myself. The breathwork routines have put me in a meditative state where I was able to let go of any concern and focus more on peacefulness. Following graduation, I plan on continuing therapy and practicing more mindful exercises — like breathwork — to help me stay grounded.Â