Breathing just comes naturally to us. We don’t even have to think about it. It’s an automatic function our bodies perform to keep us alive. But it’s also one of only two bodily functions that we can override. We can choose to hold our breath or breathe faster. Some people can control their heart rates and blood pressures with training and practice, but not to the degree that we can all achieve with our lungs. (And what’s the other automatic function that we can overrule? Blinking!)
I’ve written about how the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in animal bodies compliments and reciprocates the opposite exchange of these gases in plants. You can read that HERE.
As one ascends into higher altitudes, the oxygen content in the air decreases as does the ambient air pressure. Both are factors in why it is so much harder to breathe on extremely high mountains. Part of my training for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro was a trip to Colorado to see how altitude affected me. That post is HERE.
There are breathing techniques that elite athletes engage to maximize the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, the most basic of which is belly breathing. At rest, we normally breathe with just our chests, which controls the top-most portion of our lungs. If we breathe with our bellies, we engage our diaphragms and pull air into the lower portion of our lungs which can carry substantially more air than the upper sections. So athletes, employing the belly breath regularly, will necessarily pull in more oxygen and let out more carbon dioxide. Not that I am an elite athlete, but this breathing technique works at high altitudes, where oxygen content is lower, to the same effect.
Another breathing technique that I learned while on the mountain was the “pressure breath.” In addition to breathing with the diaphragm, one adds forceful expirations. This is best achieved by pursing the lips, puffing out the cheeks, and pretending to blow through a straw. This increases the air pressure in the lungs, countering the low ambient pressure at high altitudes, and more efficient gas exchange can occur.
By taking into account the lower air pressure, and applying this breathing technique, what once was unbalanced becomes balanced. We corrected the shortcomings of the lack of pressure by supplying and increasing our own. And isn’t this how we should move in the world? Taking a sabbatical, even for just a day, when we are over-stressed. Getting together with a friend after spending a lot of time with just ourselves. Planning a date with our spouse when we realize we have taken the partnership for granted. When we are mindful of the imbalances in our lives, it pays to correct it with a countermeasure.
Paying attention to my breath, my pace, and my climbing technique took a lot of mental awareness. By concentrating on all of these aspects of hiking, my mind was occupied and couldn’t focus as much on my discomfort or fatigue. I could easily have gotten stuck into a thought rut of, “This is so hard. I can’t do this. When is the next break?” But by bringing my brain back to my breath, I could tune out that voice.
When we pay attention to how we move in the world, we necessarily become more aware of our surroundings and how we interact with them. Breath work is a common form of meditation. By concentrating on our breaths, the chatter in our mind quiets, the monkey brain slows down, and we become more attuned to the world around us.
Just breathe.