Anxiety, anger and distress create rapid breathing as a "fight or flight" response to increase oxygen in our system.A calm nervous system creates slow, deep, relaxed breathing to supply the required oxygen to the system, using least effort. The oxygen requirement is much less compared to what is needed for fight/flight.

Emotion affects Breath

A study was conducted asking people to breathe in particular "patterns" and they were asked to report the associated feeling.Surprisingly, what they reported corresponded to the right emotion, even though they weren't aware of the patterns.

Breath affects Emotion

Breathing is not just about oxygen, it's also how we receive odors which contain important sensory information.When we encounter a rotten smell like decomposting eggs or a dead rat, we automatically start to breathe fast and shallow. This is because our body is trying to invoke the 'flight' response so that we move away from this potential threat (bacteria or nearby predators).On the other hand, scents like roses or fresh bread leads to slow, long breaths (inviting you near the smell).

Breath responds to Smells

One study analyzed 9,500 people watching 16 different films, from rom coms to horror, and looked at the air composition throughout the film.Suspenseful moments showed upticks in CO2 and isoprene, a chemical associated with the tensing of muscles. Isn't that fascinating?

Suspense = CO2

Understanding this bi-directional relationship can be really helpful. Try this simple exercise.<ul><li>Be aware of your emotions throughout the day: while working, going out or watching a movie.</li><li>Observe your breath, does it differ with emotion (angry, happy, stressed, irritated)?</li></ul> With practice, you can consistently be aware of your emotions and breath. <ul><li>When you notice an undesirable emotion, consciously change your breathing pattern (slow, deep, effortless) and verify if this alters your emotion in any way.</li></ul>

Breath <=> Emotion

The relationship between Emotions & Breath. How can you use this understanding for your benefit?

Every time somebody tells you to slow down your breathing, or asks if you're upset because you're huffing like a pug, they're tapping into decades of research about the link between human respiration and emotion — and it turns out that it goes…

Hack your emotions (using breath) 

Meditation is your birthright. It's your natural state. It requires no one, needs no thing, and has no technique.If something requires a guru, a mantra, or a teaching, it isn't universal, and it won't free you.

We say that we want peace of mind but what we really want is peace from mind.

“No technique of the mind will free you from the mind.”

All chases, whether flow, drugs, beauty, thrills, orgasm, or devotion, are attempts to escape from the mind. Meditation is the direct path.

In an age of mental gluttony, meditation is fasting for the mind. Before paying a therapist to listen to you, listen to yourself. Before clearing your inbox, clear your mind.

Just as the sky rains when the clouds are heavy, and the body sleeps when the limbs are tired, meditation arrives when the mind is calm.

Prepare for meditation by sitting quietly in the morning, with eyes closed and back upright, in any comfortable position that will minimize movement.

Sixty minutes are easier than thirty, as it takes time for the mind to settle down. Sixty consecutive days are needed, just as it takes time for the body to go from unfit to fit.

Realize that at this moment, you are the only person in the world and there is no one to instruct you, praise you, or judge you.

Make no effort for or against anything. Whatever happens, happens. Surrender to yourself in the moment. Resist nothing and reject nothing, including the urge to resist and reject.

Meditation is not going through thoughts but rather letting thoughts go through you. The thought “I am meditating” is also a thought.

Meditation isn’t holy or spiritual or magical. It’s literally nothing.

No focus, no mantra, no dharma, no chakras, no Buddhas, no gurus, no gratitude, no scripture, no temple, no music, no gadgets, no apps are required. Some may be helpful, but eventually all will have to be left behind. Start simply, because that's where this all ends.

There are many meditation methods, but "no effort" is the universal method. Every creature at all times can choose to do nothing.

There's no need to get up to record a thought. If the idea was good, it’ll come back. If it doesn’t come back, it wasn’t that good.

Meditation is a single player game. There is no point in comparing to other meditators or to even your own previous meditations.

If meditation was easy, you’d do nothing else.

The point of meditation is not to become "a meditator" - in reality, there's no such thing. If it doesn’t bring lasting and effortless change, drop it, before it becomes another struggle and another chase.

There is nothing to say and nothing on offer. No one is taking you anywhere, selling you anything, or making you promises. Reading or talking about meditation will do nothing for you.

Ignore all advice on meditation, including this thread. “Meditation is good for nothing. That's why you do it.” - @amirmotlagh

The closer you get to the truth, the more silent you become inside.

The ability to be content and at peace, by yourself, is freedom.

I like naval's approach to meditation a lot, its very practical.

Meditation - The Art of Doing Nothing: Naval Ravikant

Deep breathing is good for you all the time (and can also help you get to sleep at night) Consciously engaging your diaphragm and slowing your breathing can also resettle and revive you when you're feeling listless after lunch.  Purposeful breathing can trigger your parasympathetic system, or the part of your autonomic nervous system that opposes the fight-flight-freeze response. As a result, it may help you feel rested and relaxed.

Take Two Deep Breaths

There are specific reasons you might want to enjoy a chapter of that new page-turner before getting back to your desk after lunch.  Disconnecting, focusing on something else, and then re-engaging can pry you out of that state of being stuck or demoralised in dealing with what you're dealing with,

Read a chapter of fiction

A lot of folks snack to get through the afternoon slump. How well that works depends not just on what you eat. Taking the time to prepare yourself a visually appealing, healthy plate can help refocus your mind and body for the rest of the day.

Up your snack game

Your space has an outsize impact on your mood which you can use that to your advantage. Tidying or organizing the physical space around you might feel like a little thing, but it's a way to physically and proactively attend to yourself and care for your space.

Take an organisation break

Rituals might seem like hocus-pocus, but modern psychology shows they can radically impact our state of mind nonetheless. Use that knowledge to beat stress, set yourself up for a more productive workday, or mentally wind down at night. The content of your ritual is up to you. But whether you decide on a quick meditation break, moment of gratitude, or something else, the key is to be intentional about creating a script that mentally moves you into the right frame of mind.

Create an afternoon transition ritual

Can't nap, slam some coffee, or hit the gym? Try these less well-known alternatives.

Stashed ideas

5 Ways (That Aren't Coffee or a Nap) to Boost Your Afternoon Energy

Breathing is an essential part of being alive. Most people breathe about 18–20 times per minute or over 25,000 times per day. Respiration is a constant activity that happens without thought. However, unlike many automatic physical processes, people can control their breathing. By simply paying closer attention, a person can slow down, speed up, or briefly pause their respiration.

Breathwork: Science, Types, and Benefits of Breathing Exercises

Any practice that involves conscious, focused breathing is a form of breathwork. It can be used to help people heal, reduce stress, and promote personal development.

Breathwork: Science, Types, and Benefits of Breathing Exercises - The Human Condition

Fire, Unbridled chaos, the flames that cause so much utter ruin, the pressure, the release, can also forge the most indestructible of things. So is life. Those that have felt the most pain can provide empathy's comfort to so many that may also save the lives of so many others. Those that have endured, the strong of will, not those of the highest education, or the ones with the most physical strength, the fastest, most influential, financially endowed, or even the most humorous. For those all have fell to the false temptation of everlasting comfort of sleep, without fear or pain.

Well, This Is It.

Willpower, when mixed with free will. When those two are combined with the decision, to not give up, even through the most dire of situations, those are what we call heroes. As commonly used, all heroes don't weAr capes. Hard times create the strong, the strong create good times, good times create weak people, weak people create hard times, so it continues, indefinitely. True "heroes" are not made through good times. It's the average individual, that have been or will be faced with the decision of letting go of fear, reaching for the courage to forego extreme failure. Reaches for that dig-deep

And in that extremely extraordinary situation. Makes the choice, to endure. It's that release of fear of the future, saying that, what do I fear? I'm going to do it! I'm going to reach way down deep, deeper than the fear of 6 feet down. And valiantly says... FUCK DEATH. I HAVE MY HONOR AND THATS IT. I'LL NEVER NEVER NEVER SURRENDER. I WILL GIVE THIS ALL I HAVE. I WILL CONQUER. I WILL FUCKING MAKE IT. I KNOW I CAN. I FUCKING KNOW IT. And then. Goes pedal to the metal. "FUCK THE TORPEDOES!! FULL MOTHAFUKKIN THROTTLE"" IF I am wrong. I'M Damned. IF IM RIGHT, I'm gonna make it.

Conquerah

Sometimes, the only pull up bar you have to get up, is the invisible one, that's all in your mind. It's that dig-deep. You got this. Be your hero. Be your own gotdamnt hero. There will come a time, where you WILL realize, you are all you got. If you can make it through this. You can really make it through anything. I know it's difficult. Honestly, have you ever felt this dread of failure and doom? Have you? Really? Well, yes or no? If yes, well, then this shouldn't break a fucking sweat.

It's Your Decision

On the other hand, if this is, well, I suppose, your answer could most possibly be no, I've never faced anything this extreme, this traumatic experience, is the most possible worst case scenario I've ever faced. Well, if you can make that decision, and again, that's your own fucking decision, no one else's. You only have one viable option right now. That isn't to give up, it's to reach for that GOTDAMT invisible fucking bar, pull your own damn self up, feel that heart beat, take that breath, feel. Feel that? That's life.

Still Struggling?

No filter. That's heart. That's pain. That's fear of ruin, let that release with that breath, that's anger, take a moment, BREATHE THAT Shit IN. FEEL THAT?! BREATHE THAT SHIT OUT, FEEL THAT?! THAT'S RELEASE, TAKE IT ONE BREATH AT A FUCKING TIME, RELEASE THE FEAR. BUT LET THE PAIN FUEL YOU. NOW MAKE A DAMN CHOICE. GIVE UP, FAIL RIGHT THE FUCK NOW, OR BE A CONQUERA.

No Apologies

Once you are to a point you can endure one fucking breath at a time, well, then before you know it, a whole minute worth of breaths happen, then hours and days, THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE IT A DAY AT A TIME. Then maybe, in time, since time does heal all wounds, if you endure long enough, new memories will replace this one, and if a similar situation ever rears its ugly head for your unknown lengths of foreseeable future...

Time Heals All Wounds

When life knocks you down then- in the future, you can get back up, get that little cocky ass smirk and fucking chuckle, say, "Life, hahahah, you hit like a fucking bitch." That the best u got? I'm my own fucking saviour, IM THE MAIN CHARACTER IN MY OWN FUCKING BOOK!!! REMEMBER THAT LIFE?!?? THIS ISNT SHIT BITCH, LET'S GO. Now, it's time to fucking breathe, and reach for that dig deep.

Breathe Deep

We did it! No fucking way. Still breathing. Keep that shit up. Don't forget! Please! Please don't forget to keep on committing non suicide with me!! You're all I've got!! You got me? Yeah, aight.. Maybe... kk, well.. thanks me... I Guess...You're welcome! WE Got dis. Remember to breathe.

Hack your emotions (using breath)

Meditation - The Art of Doing Nothing: Naval Ravikant

5 Ways (That Aren't Coffee or a Nap) to Boost Your Afternoon Energy

Breathwork: Science, Types, and Benefits of Breathing Exercises - The Human Condition

How to commit Non Suicide.

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