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Areas › Your body › Your nervous system
Very slow breathing can bring on air hunger, that feeling of not getting enough, and for some people it tips straight into panic. Good reason to build up rather than starting wherever an app tells you to. Stop the moment you find yourself grabbing for air. Backing off is not failing at breathing. Backing off is the method.
'God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear' (Quran 2:286). A practice that respects your capacity is closer to that spirit than one that overrides it.
البقرة
لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفۡسًا إِلَّا وُسۡعَهَاۚ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتۡ وَعَلَيۡهَا مَا ٱكۡتَسَبَتۡۗ رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذۡنَآ إِن نَّسِينَآ أَوۡ أَخۡطَأۡنَاۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحۡمِلۡ عَلَيۡنَآ إِصۡرࣰ ا كَمَا حَمَلۡتَهُۥ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِنَاۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلۡنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِۦۖ وَٱعۡفُ عَنَّا وَٱغۡفِرۡ لَنَا وَٱرۡحَمۡنَآۚ أَنتَ مَوۡلَىٰنَا فَٱنصُرۡنَا عَلَى ٱلۡقَوۡمِ ٱلۡكَٰفِرِينَ
God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear: each gains whatever good it has done, and suffers its bad- ‘ Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make mistakes. Lord, do not burden us as You burdened those before us. Lord, do not burden us with more than we have strength to bear. Pardon us, forgive us, and have mercy on us. You are our Protector, so help us against the disbelievers.’
Qur’an 2:286read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A meta analysis of 24 studies with 484 participants found that heart rate variability biofeedback, which is essentially guided slow breathing, produced a large reduction in self reported stress and anxiety. That is a strong result for a very simple practice. The trials were small and the outcomes self reported, so hold the size of the effect loosely while still taking the practice seriously.
Goessl VC, Curtiss JE, Hofmann SG. (2017). The effect of heart rate variability biofeedback training on stress and anxiety: a meta-analysis.. Psychological medicine doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Slow breathing does more the closer it gets to your own natural pace, and that pace has to be approached rather than jumped to.
If breath work brings on dizziness, tingling or panic, stop and try it with a practitioner, and check with your doctor first if you have a heart or lung condition.
You can tell you are back when there is choice in it again: you can pick which thought to keep hold of, and how to answer what you feel.
If nobody helped you learn to settle when you were small, you can still learn it now. Slower and more deliberately, but genuinely.
Whatever happens in a session, the change gets built in the other hours. Choose things you can do at a bus stop with nothing in your hands.