Breathwork Workbook by Embody Healing

1. 5Breathwork

2. Our breath is one of our best, and most
overlooked, natural tools that we have at
our disposal.
Our breath is able to help regulate our nervous
systems and is usually one of the first signs
telling us that we have moved from the
parasympathetic “rest and digest” state to
the sympathetic “heightened arousal” state.
Each day, our nervous systems spend time
vacillating between the parasympathetic and
sympathetic states.
When we need to go to sleep for the night,
our systems will down-regulate into the
parasympathetic state, so that we are able to
drift off into peaceful slumber. We will notice
our heart rates begin to slow their pace, and
our breath deepening and relaxing.
On the other end of the spectrum, our bodies
need to go into the sympathetic state when we
want to perform and be more focused, such as
during exercise. Our heart rates will increase
along with the pace of our breath.
We each have our own unique window of
tolerance for our nervous systems to fluctuate
up and down during the course of a day.
When we begin to see the overarousal
symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks, and
hypervigilance, our sympathetic nervous
systems have gone outside of our window of
tolerance. Subsequently, when we experience
hypo-arousal symptoms of lethargy, collapse,
and depression, our systems have gone
outside of the window on the opposite end.
When you have experienced difficult events or
trauma that have gone unprocessed, your
window of tolerance begins to get smaller and
smaller. This means that an incident that may
not have been upsetting to your nervous
system in the past now can send you into a
state of over or under-arousal.
Working with self-healing tools can help
regulate the nervous system, as well as
working with a practitioner trained in EMDR,
Somatic Experiencing, and/or other trauma
and body-based modalities. These can all help
the process of expanding your window of
tolerance after trauma.
Breathwork exercises are an effective tool for
you to try on your own, especially those that
incorporate diaphragmatic breathing.
Diaphragmatic breath is how we are naturally
born into this world. If you look at a newborn
baby, you will notice it breathes all the way
down into its diaphragm area, by watching the
rise and fall of its stomach.
When our breath is more shallow and remain-
ing in our lungs, we are within the sympathetic
arousal state. Continuing with our breath
here can spiral racing thoughts and feelings
of anxiety.
Being mindfully aware of our breath can help
bring us out of that sympathetic state and into
a more parasympathetic restful way of being.
Controlling Your Breathing

3. Diaphragmatic Breath
Breathing In Breathing Out
Find yourself in a relaxed position laying down or sitting up in a chair,
couch, or the edge of your bed.
Take notice of your natural breath flowing in and out of your body.
Which part of your body rises?
Place one hand on your chest and the other on your stomach and check to
see whether your chest or stomach is rising and falling with each inhale.
Intentionally bring your breath down to your stomach. Watch the hand that is
placed there rise and fall, as you try to allow for your chest to remain still.
Practice taking 5 deep diaphragmatic breaths in this same manner.
Take time to notice throughout your day how often you are breathing into
your chest or into your diaphragm, and mindfully see if you can take a
moment to switch to this deeper, regulating breath.

4. 4-7-8 Relaxing Breath
This breath helps to switch our nervous system into the parasympathetic state of rest and
digest. Try it out a couple of times a day, whenever you are noticing tension in your body,
making sure to stay to the four breaths and relaxing afterward to switch to diaphragmatic
breath. After a month of practicing, you can increase this cycle of breath to 8 times, if you
feel called to.
Find yourself in a relaxed position laying down or sitting up in a chair,
couch, or the edge of your bed.
Place the tip of your tongue along the edge of your gum line,
right where it begins to meet your teeth.
While keeping this position for the duration of the exercise,
take a deep breath in through your nostrils to the count of 4.
Hold your breath for the count of 7.
Purse your lips as you make a whooshing sound, and the air releases as though you were
blowing out a candle, to the count of 8 - make sure you release the air completely.
Repeat this same cycle of breathing 3 more times.

5. Breathwork Resources
Meditative breathwork practices through apps such as Insight Timer.
Breathing counters on YouTube which have an illustration that you follow so
that you don’t have to worry about counting the seconds of your breath.
The Power of Breathwork: Simple Practices to Promote Wellbeing
by Jennifer Patterson
Taking time in the morning to connect in with
your breath to set the tone for the day.
Allowing yourself to be with your breath as a moment
to take a break when dealing with difficult events.

6. In going through the exercises, what did you notice about your breath?
Have you been breathing more through your chest or your diaphragm?
Breathwork Journal
What did you notice about your
body/mindset after completing one
of the exercises?
What did you notice about your
body/mindset before beginning one
of the breathwork exercises?
Was there a type of breathwork you
enjoyed or found to be more
beneficial than the others?
When might you want to try to
incorporate breathwork into your day?

7. NOTES