(The Mental and Physiological Benefits of this Process)
A couple of weeks ago, I released a guided meditation on YouTube entitled SOMA Daily Dose by Thomas Auflick. If you have not listened to this, you can find it at https://youtu.be/gSinxCgdbfs. Let me know what you think. You can learn more about SOMA on my website: https://counselingwithtom.com/soma-breath/. There you can learn more about how I became a SOMA Breath Instructor and find links to free meditations from the original source of SOMA Breath. In the near future, I plan on releasing another Daily Dose meditation. You can expect new music with a different rhythmic breath pattern. Reading further in this post, I will answer some questions about the meditation and detail the scientific benefits of SOMA Breath in greater detail.
I am very grateful to those who gave my meditation a try and provided me with feedback. When our world began to change so drastically a few weeks ago, I wanted to offer something to all my connections that would provide relief from all the chaos. In the last year, prior to our current situation, I had been teaching this technique to some of my clients to help with anxiety and reduce emotional flooding. What I did to help some in person, I hope to do for more through the digital realm. Overall, the response to my meditation has been positive, no negative reviews yet. I want to say, “Thank You,” for your kind words. Know that there are other forms of this meditation out there for you to try. Go to my website (www.counselingwithtom.com) to get access to other meditations or do your own search on YouTube and listen to other versions from the SOMA source and my fellow Breath Instructors. Find one that works for you—and breathe. With practice you will get more comfortable with the process, learn about your will and see greater health benefits over time.
In some of the feedback I received about the SOMA Daily Dose Meditation, people expressed confusion in different parts of the process. I want to respond and provide greater insight into the benefits you may experience. It is important to know that doing this meditation exercise provides important physiological and psychological benefits. Though the roots of this method are based in an ancient yoga tradition, the benefits are supported by current science-based research.
Beginning the initial rhythmic breathing section in the meditation, I have been told that it feels fast and awkward. Meditation comes in all types of forms. For many, the idea of meditation is a quiet and still process. Yoga presents many forms of meditation, some quiet and still, and some that are very active to engage the body physically. All of them have a pursuit as to create focus in the mind. There are many different ways to focus in meditation: an object, a chant or mantra, a body posture, the breath, a thought or an idea. SOMA engages the body through the breath and uses thought to activate positive emotions. We use the body and mind actively to eventually reach quiet and still places. At its best, SOMA can activate positive physiological responses in the body and mind. We can even activate gamma brain waves which demonstrate peak states of consciousness as shown in advanced meditators like Tibetan monks.
I quite often use my SOMA exercise as a starting point for quieter and more still forms of meditation. Breathing in beats to music with different measured counts creates a consistent Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and improves heart coherence. Heart coherence is a measure of the pattern in the heart’s rhythm, which is independent of the amount of Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and reflects an orderly and harmonious synchronization among various systems in the body, such as the heart, respiratory system and blood-pressure rhythms. The music used in SOMA can assist in elevating mood and helps with improved heart coherence. All of this happens with a simple three-part process of rhythmic breathing to music in a smooth consistent way with a positive intention.
We know that SOMA Breathwork promotes heart coherence as shown in the 28 years of research done by the HeartMath Institute that reports significant improvement in the areas of cognitive and emotional functioning. You will experience heart coherence in my meditation through breathing in beats calmly while you inject a positive emotion with the in and out flow of your breath. In addition, the simple inhalation process that begins through the nose and an exhalation with pursed lips to restrict and lengthen the air through the mouth, provides a direct influence on the nervous system to engage the parasympathetic nervous system and disengage the sympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system, also known as the rest and digest system, calms you down and allows for relaxation in times of stress. This is how your breath can give you power. Lengthening your exhalation can increase calm and create greater states of peace. Do your own experiment by trying to breathe in through the nose to a count of four and doubling your out-breath through the mouth to a count to eight. Just doing this will lower your heart rate and help you relax. Go to www.heartmath.org to learn more about the research surrounding breath and heart coherence.
A key factor in SOMA Breath comes from nostril breathing which warms and moistens the air into our lungs allowing for greater absorption of oxygen into active tissue. When we breathe through the nose, we allow our bodies to release nitric oxide, a chemical that expands your blood vessels, lowers blood pressure and has an all-over calming effect (Allen, 2015).There is an immediate positive physiological response that lowers feelings of anxiety, and brings about a calm and relaxed state that is undeniable. When we enhance the process with rhythmic breathing and stimulate Heart Coherence, we dismiss irregularity in Heart Rate Variability that is apparent in highly anxious and stressed individuals. As one who has suffered from stress, anxiety and high blood pressure, I have been able to significantly reduce my anxiety and lower my blood pressure just from breathwork. If you have high blood pressure, try a simple exercise of calm and smooth breathing—in for a count of four and out for four. Do this for five minutes, and then, take your blood pressure. Let me know if this helps you. It has for me. In so doing, you are creating greater Heart and Body health. With your breath, you can give yourself a conscious vaccine against stress and all of the fatal illnesses that it brings.
The most curious and important part of SOMA meditation comes from the breath-holds. This part of the breathwork model can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety. We do this consciously to activate stress and learn how to control it. These breath-holds are safe. The worst thing that could happen to you if you hold your breath long enough—is that you will pass out, but this should not happen in the Daily Dose meditation. Psychologically, during the breath-hold, you learn to manage your anxiety while your body is in a state of stress from the urge to breathe. Don’t feel bad if you are unable to hold the entire time. This can take practice. I ask you to drop your chin down to your chest creating what is called a throat-lock. This can help in the breath hold for some. It is not absolutely necessary. Find your way to coping in the breath hold. You may find that shrugging your shoulders helps or moving your body in some way to push through to the end of the breath hold. The natural urge to breathe can be overwhelming, but managing this stress from the inside and calming yourself helps you gain control over your anxiety. While holding the breath without air in the lungs and calmly pushing through the discomfort, you create a greater strength of will. I believe this allows you to manage stress in other situations as to help cope with negative physiological responses related to anxiety.
When we hold our breath with and without oxygen in the lungs, we are playing with the bio-chemistry in our bodies through the manipulation oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the blood stream. Something magical and medicinal happens in the process of induced hypoxia (lowering oxygen levels in the body) through breath-holding. This technique comes from an ancient yoga system to promote greater physiological, mental and cognitive health. My individual experience validates overall improved health, and a resounding response from the scientific community provides the evidence to show that these are not just tricks of the mind or “Woo Woo” New Age experiences. We know that an increase of CO2 in the blood stream to produce nitic oxide activates vasodilation which helps to lower blood pressure (Russo, et al., 2017). This is critical for helping me to naturally regulate my blood pressure which tends to run high.
Because SOMA increases vascularity, the process helps to supply greater oxygen and stimulation of activity in the brain. Intermittent Hypoxia is a primary key in creating your inner alchemical vaccine to heal and promote greater well-being, as it has shown in rat models to stimulate neurogenesis in the brain by the proliferation of neural stem cells that can also help memory, cognitive function and even act as an anti-depressant. Intermittent hypoxia causes vasodilation and increases blood flow to the brain. Neural stems cells have been shown in studies to proliferate in the brain under hypoxia leading to neurogenesis and the growth of new brain cells. Memory has also been shown to be improved in studies with rats (Zhu, et al., 2010). Other studies have shown its ability to heal brain lesions caused during degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Dementia and Parkinson’s. All of this healing is coming from the conscious manipulation of your 02 and C02levels through this breathwork.
On many levels the process of SOMA works to heighten brain functioning and affect the overall nervous system. There is a synergistic process that is happening with the increase of blood flow to the brain with enriched oxygen, the lowering of stress hormones and the increased production of mood-elevating neurotransmitters. We enhance the physiological with the psychological process through the mindful act of intention as to inject positive thoughts into the mind and body. Through the injection of positive sentiment in the SOMA Breathwork process, we change the nervous system to counteract negative states and push the polarity of negative sentiment to a more neutral or positive place. Here, we can operate with more stability as to be rational and balanced with a controlled approach to thinking. In this way, you make yourself a person of action and not merely reaction.
Finally, there is this higher state of consciousness stimulated from SOMA Breathwork. The stimulation of neurotransmitters and tryptamines to awaken the brain to what feels to be a higher state of consciousness. Some scientists speculate on the possible release of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) from the pineal gland in the brain during peak states of meditation to provide transcendental experiences. Perhaps, if DMT is actually being released in the brain through the stimulation of the pineal gland, then we are opening a major area of dormancy within the realm of consciousness. In the field of psychology, we are seeing increased attention to research around hallucinogenic medicines with various tryptamine links similar to DMT. These compounds are showing affective treatment for individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress, depression and anxiety symptoms. The world of medicine can play with medicines and their dosages to help individuals find healing from these different compounds. This may be very helpful and beneficial to some. As a clinician, I think the safest route would be for people to be able to tap into their own internal pharmacy and self-regulate in a way as to activate dormant parts of the brain or heal disabled parts through their own inner-alchemy. This could be a key to opening a greater consciousness as to increase and unlock the full potential of the brain allowing it to work at full capacity.
There is so much research and evidence to show the profound benefits that we can create by merely taking controlled and intentional breaths. I have only scratched the surface of all there is to know about the health benefits that derive from meditation and breathwork. This is not a research paper, but I wanted to point to some of the evidence for healing that can be found in this meditation. For me, SOMA Breath has made my regular meditation practice so much more enjoyable and easier. I can do my SOMA Daily Dose in about 20 minutes. This is how I start my day. For a vast majority of us, a pathway to greater health and longevity exists within the realm of our own control. SOMA is a way to take your health to higher levels to help with peak performance and greater states of flow. I am always open to discussing this process. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions. All the best in your process, and remember, you can change your reality – all you have to do is breathe in a rhythm.
REFERENCES:
Allen, R. (2015). The health and benefits of nose breathing. Nursing in General Practice, 01. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10147/559021
Russo, M. A., Santarelli, D. M., & O’Rourke, D. (2017). The physiological effects of slow breathing in the healthy human. Breathe, 13(4), 298-309.
Zhu, X. H., Yan, H. C., Zhang, J., Qu, H. D., Qiu, X. S., Chen, L., Li, S. J., Cao, X., Bean, J. C., Chen, L. H., Qin, X. H., Liu, J. H., Bai, X. C., Mei, L., & Gao, T. M. (2010). Intermittent hypoxia promotes hippocampal neurogenesis and produces antidepressant-like effects in adult rats. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 30(38), 12653–12663. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6414-09.2010
