Breath Ladder

Have you ever found yourself holding your breath when you’re feeling stressed? This is a shut-down response triggered by a threat in the external or internal environment. The autonomic nervous system, the automatic one in our brainstem automatically engages this breath holding as a way to protect you from a threat either real or imagined, and let me be frank, anything your brain perceives is capital “R” REAL. The breath ladder works by breathing in, and in, and in, until your lungs feel full. Then you breathe out, and out, and out, slowly until your lungs feel empty. You can imagine going up a ladder and then down the ladder.