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It’s a little early to call it - would need about a week to be sure, but - this tweet may have just changed my life https://t.co/6ASsnrxwHo
I have vaguely kind of always known “yeah yeah deep breaths calm you down, take some deep breaths, meditate, blah blah” - but the habit never really properly stuck or clicked for me, I think largely because the effect never quite “hit” the right way
Box breathing - which is just “inhale for 4 secs, hold for 4 secs, exhale for 4 secs, hold for 4 secs”, repeat until you chill the fuck out - somehow, something about the “structure” of this feels most “correct” of everything I’ve tried https://t.co/nEsXIndD6D
(I find myself going even slower than the above gif, and my “boxes” naturally get “bigger” and “slower” over time. I... may have already done 100+ boxes today. I am feeling almost delightfully-morbidly chill, despite having woken up body-anxious this morning)
I took a mid-day nap about 1.5hrs and woke up body-anxious again - by this I mean my mind seems normal-ish, but I have a headache, a slight fever(?), elevated heart rate, my guts feel like they’re getting a little wrenched... actually quite a bit like the feeling b4 going onstage https://t.co/snSfZzSXQo
And I’m doing boxes as I tweet this - about 10-15 minutes and... I think it’s mostly gone? Normally this stuff leaves me cranky and lethargic for 1-2 hours at least Could be placebo or coincidence or something, will have to keep doing it to really make sense of it Excited
@visakanv polyvagal theory says this + other tricks work bc extended exhalation is the real key to calming down. It tells your brain "I can't possibly be running from anything." This is why singing together is such a miracle - long slow exhales coupled with social co-regulation of affect.