**Update 10/27/23: Yoga’s breath of joy practice has three inhales and then the long slow exhale and somehow I forgot and taught it with just two when recording this episode. For now, no worries, it still works. And I will redo this someday. In the meantime, wake-up and feel the joy of regular breathing.**
Welcome to yoga poetry radio. I am your host Tina Laurel Lee and this podcast is a companion to my newsletter on loss and liberation called Songs of Forgiveness. I post my letters with the phases of the moon and I invite you to subscribe and travel time along with me.
This episode’s breath practice is inspired by a study that took place during the pandemic and was published earlier this year. In the study the participants were instructed to use different daily practices for only 5 minutes a day. The study results found “cyclic sighing” led to the most improvements in mood. If you want to read more, find the full report in Cell Reports Medicine and linked here.
“Cyclic sighs” are very similar to an ancient yoga breathing and movement practice called Breath of Joy, which includes an accompanying body movement, while cyclic sighing encompasses breathing alone. Do it first thing everyday and find yourself to be happier, to have a reduction in anxiety levels and have slowed your resting heart rate.
“Cyclic hyperventilation” which has been found to reduce inflammation and we’ve practiced in a previous episode and I have discussed here.
The study that inspired this practice: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/fulltext/S2666-3791(22)00474-8?_returnURL=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2666379122004748%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
5 minute: Breath of Joy