Humming while breathing out is a gentle way to begin shifting your nervous system to rest and digest, where it needs to be in order to heal.
I use this simple technique every day with clients to teach them how to control their own Autonomic Nervous System ANS. I learned it from Lois Laynee of Restorative Breathing. I recommend studying with her. You could save lives.
–Breathe in slowly and silently with lips closed, keeping your tongue on the roof of your mouth. Breathe out humming constantly. As you feel yourself running out of air, find your swallow. If your mouth is dry and there is nothing to swallow force the mechanism to work. Fake it. Repeat 4 times. (3 works so 4 is one extra.)–
When finished breathe quietly/silently and notice any subtle sensations throughout your body. Some folks feel a flush of warmth. Some folks can feel light tingling. Both of these are signs that the circulation is opening up. Some folks just feel more relaxed, so this is a very good thing to do right before dropping off to sleep.
When your body makes the switch to the Parasympathetic Nervous System PNS, one of 2 branches of the ANS, your mouth will water as you reach the end of your humming exhale. That’s how you’ll know you’ve finally begun to re-regulate. Swallowing spontaneously ONLY happens when the body is in the Parasympathetic side of the ANS.
Stress has Immediate Metabolic Effects: Have you ever noticed when you become aware of some really bad news that your mouth becomes instantly dry? We also know that digestive secretions are impaired when the body is stuck in a state of Hyper-Arousal. The implication of both these things is that when we are stressed we can’t digest our food. The body doesn’t even want to swallow…
The Science: A “panting shortness of breath” is associated with Sympathetic Hyper Arousal. Our flight/fight/fear system is being stimulated. Slow Diaphragmatic Breathing circles us back to our Parasympathetic side. These two sides of our Autonomic Nervous System ANS produce entirely different chemistries. One is geared to convert muscle into glycogen for immediate survival energy, the other into digestion, healing and cell repair.
Humming while breathing out causes a proliferation of Nitric Oxide in your blood. Nitric Oxide is the body’s natural vasodilator. It is responsible for making the vascular walls more porous in order to have better Oxygen pick up from the lungs and to distribute more oxygen out of the blood to the tissues in our extremities.
Use this technique with yourself, your family or with your clients to show them a quick and gentle way out of the stress system.
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