Learning to breath

A little over 2 weeks ago I found myself unable to fall asleep.

Energized by my new project I was busting with excitement, ideas and possibilities. It felt great, mostly, except until I went to bed.

On this particular night I found myself completely incapable of escaping this world and entering the dream world. Even if I 'feel asleep' when I woke an hour or two later it felt like I never slept at all.

That feeling of following your mind to the point you think is the entry way to sleep and then not tipping to sleep is so freaking maddening.

After 5 consecutive days of this I was close to breaking down. I couldn't focus on anything. I was miserable.

So I finally tapped a resource that had been given to me months prior. A breathing exercise taught by Dr. Andrew Weil.

When I had initially received the audio book, I basically brushed it aside as something I'd eventually get to. I found it a little hokey. I mean how could a simple breathing technique really matter.

But in my moment of crisis, day 6 of no quality sleep, I decided to give it a go.

Within 15 minutes of listening I was crying tears of joy as I believed that what Dr. Weil was about to teach would change my life.

I finished the audio book. Performed a few 8-cycle Relaxing Breaths before bed, and then one in bed. Focused on my breath. And then woke up the next day!

I've worked the Relaxing Breath into my nightly (and daily) routine and haven't had a single sleepless night since, now going on 2.5 weeks. Holy shit.

You can quickly learn the 'Relaxing Breath' here (Exercise 2). It takes almost no time to perform.

My Before Bed Routine

• Perform 8-breath cycles 45 - 60 before bed
• Read (fiction)
• Perform 8-breath cycles 30 before bed
• Read
• Perform 8-breath cycles right before I head to bed
• Focus on my breathing in bed
• Sleep

So what's the 'Relaxing Breath' actually doing?

Here's my take after a bit of reading. Our autonomic nervous systems get out of balance and get stuck in fight or flight loops due to the over-stimulated world we live in.

The relaxing breath brings balance back to your autonomic nervous system (the force) by delivering an all natural tranquilizer through it's breath pattern.

And you feel it instantly. 

The coolest part is the more you do it the stronger it gets. Dr. Weil describes it as being like water, in that given enough time it can cut through canyons.

Notes

I perform the Relaxing Breath 3-4 times a day, mostly in the evenings to start calming myself down.

If during the day I find my nerves amping up (usually apparent by a fuzzy feeling behind my eye balls) I will do 8 breath cycles to calm down.