An article in this week’s The Economist discusses the benefits of mindful breathing in reducing stress. It got me thinking that perhaps the parties in mediation should start the session with mindful breathing.

The article “Can you breathe stress away?” discusses a meta-analysis published in Scientific Reports in 2023. The study included 785 participants and examined the effect of breathing slowly on stress. The studies used in-person coaching, online classes, and self-guided breathing. The participants reported some stress reduction as a result of the breathing exercises—a small but significant result (Id.)

Another study was conducted in 2023 by researchers at Stanford University:

Participants performed either mindfulness, “cyclic sighing” (two short inhales, one long exhale), “box-breathing” (inhale, pause, exhale, pause), or “cyclic hyperventilation” (30 short inhales and exhales, followed by a 15 second pause), for five minutes a day, for a month. Everyone got an initial mood boost at the start, but only those who were doing breathwork reported that their mood continued to improve as the study progressed. The best results were in the cyclic-sighing group. (Id.)

Why does mindful breathing work? One notion is that it forces our attention away from negative or stressful thoughts. (Id.) Such slow breathing also increases the fluctuations in the timing between heartbeats, which is often low in those suffering from depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD. (Id.) There is also evidence, based on a study of rats, that breathing slowly suppresses anxiety.

The good news is that using these breathing techniques to reduce stress appears to have no real downside.

So, the takeaway is that anytime we feel stressed, we should breathe! As noted at the start of this post, if I sense that someone is really stressed out at the start of a mediation, perhaps I should take a few moments and guide that party in some breathing exercises!

Just something to think about!

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