Why Learn Breathwork?

Written by Jennifer Aldoretta, founder of Groove

We’re gonna get a little sciency for a minute — but not too sciency — to explain why breathwork is so potent for helping to heal all kinds of ailments. It all has to do with your body’s nervous system, or it’s electrical communication system, which works kind of like electrical wiring.

But before we dive in, let’s do a quick TEST:

Take a full, deep breath.

Did your chest puff up with air?

Or did your belly (down around your naval) puff out?

Make a note of which one of these happened, and I’ll get back to why that’s super important further down this page.

Your nervous system is made up of two systems: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). Your body switches between the SNS and the PNS like a light switch depending on what’s going on in your life.

What is the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS)?

The SNS is the body’s activated state — or fight-or-flight response state — when the body is on high alert looking out for danger or trying to get out of a dangerous or stressful situation. We evolved with this so that when we’re faced with imminent danger or death, our instinct to survive takes over.

The SNS is marked by:

• An activated state

• Increased heart rate

• Faster breathing

• Sweating

• Stress response

• Preparation to run away or fight off danger

• Chest breathing (the chest puffs up on an inhale)

• De-prioritization of non-essential body functions

What is the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)?

The PNS is our body’s relaxed state...when no stress or danger is present. It’s often called the rest-and-digest state.

The PNS is marked by

• Slow, deep breathing

• Slow, steady heart rate

• Smooth, regular digestion

• Deep belly breathing (the belly puffs out on an inhale instead of the chest)

So going back to our “test” from the beginning of this page — when you took a sudden, deep breath, did your chest puff up or did your belly puff out?

If your chest puffed up, you’re likely stuck in your SNS, meaning your body is stuck in a stress response (or fight-or-flight) state.

But no need to worry! I used to be a major chest breather. But by doing breathwork, I successfully made the switch and now my body’s default state is belly breathing (PNS)!

How do we get “stuck” in a stress response, or sympathetic nervous system (SNS)?

Because of things like chronic stress (stress at work, stress at home), childhood trauma, or other difficult or painful life experiences, many of us get stuck in our SNS.

That’s because when our brain uses a certain pathway over and over, that pathway gets stronger and stronger, and your body begins to rely on it more and more, just like a muscle.

The body is ultimately a very lazy machine (which is why binging on Netflix is just so, so good), and it wants to save energy wherever possible. Because of that, it’s going to follow the path of least resistance, or the thing it’s most used to doing.

If you grew up in a stressful environment, or a not-so-pleasant household, or if your adult life has been highly stressful because of family or work, then your body has overused your SNS (stressed) pathway and didn’t “exercise” your PNS (relaxed) pathway enough.

So the SNS (stressed) pathway became its default state because that’s what it got used to experiencing.

WHY is being in the SNS such a big issue?

The SNS is not meant to be the state where our body  spends most of its time — its purpose is for occasional danger to help us escape — but it becomes our default state with too much stress or if we grew up in an unsafe environment.

The problem is, the SNS actually de-prioritizes things like digestion, reproductive function, immune function, healthy metabolism, and anything else not needed for immediate survival in a dangerous situation. 

Got constipation?

IBS?

Period issues?

Infertility?

Weight issues?

An autoimmune disorder?

Do you get sick often?

Being stuck in your SNS might just be a big part of the problem.

Where does breathwork come in?

BREATH is the missing link between the SNS and PNS. Your nervous system controls things like heart rate, digestion, and breathing.

Breathing is the only involuntary nervous system response that we can also easily change and control just by thinking about it. Slow, deep breathing stimulates a specific cranial nerve called the vagus nerve, which directly interfaces with the PNS.

Because of that, we can actually guide the body from the SNS to the PNS (and, therefore, strengthen our PNS “muscle”) just by changing the way we breathe. Creating a slower, deeper breathing pattern puts us in the PNS.

So changing the way you’re breathing can actually help your nervous system flip the switch over from SNS to PNS (fight-or-flight to relaxation and smooth, healthy body functions). With enough practice, eventually your body will come to use the PNS as its default, as it was designed to be.

Benefits of breathwork

There are numerous benefits of having a breathwork practice. They include things like

• improved immune function

• lowered stress

• release of past trauma

• improved lung function

• improved circulation

• better digestion

• increased metabolic function

All of these probably sound great, but you may feel a bit of hesitation when it comes to releasing trauma. You might ask yourself Why would I want to dig the past back up? Especially if it was painful?

Why release past trauma with breathwork?

The truth is, even if you bury your painful or traumatic experiences and try not to think about them, they show up in your life over and over and over. Even though the happened in the past, when traumas go unprocessed, they regularly affect us in the present moment. As triggers, or erratic emotional states, or behaviors we’re not proud of, or as your Shadow self (the parts of yourself you dislike the most). 

You know those moments when you feel sort of out-of-control of your behavior? (And it definitely doesn’t feel good.) That is your painful, unprocessed experiences bubbling to the surface over and over and in different ways. But you can move past this and lay these moments to rest by helping your body change its default state from your SNS to your PNS.

Especially when integrated with other healing methods, breathwork can help you let go of your most painful life experiences. Shifting from your SNS to your PNS not only helps with physical healing, but it can also help bring unprocessed emotions to the surface so you can finally release them and move past them — instead of unconsciously reliving them over and over through your Shadow self.

Breathwork can be used any place, any time.

Unlike things like yoga or meditation, breathwork can easily be worked into your regular day. You can do it

• At the office

• Sitting in traffic

• While grocery shopping

• During a meeting

• In the shower

• While doing the dishes

• Or doing just about anything else

That makes it a potent, powerful tool to add to your toolbox of “ways to heal your body and find calm.”

Your breath is the one thing you can return to over and over and over. That makes it the most powerful tool that you have at your disposal. So let’s learn to use it to find healing and calm!