When I find myself with a few quiet minutes, I’ll often practice a breathing technique.
- Breathe in for 4 seconds
- Hold for 4 seconds
- Breathe out for 4 seconds
- Hold for 4 seconds
- goto 1
Usually when I’m doing this, holding for 4 seconds feels fine, but sometimes, my lungs are yelling ‘C’mon brain! Breathe!’ But even on the days when holding for 4 seconds feels fine, there is a sense of relief when I start breathing again. I recently noticed something odd in that relief.
The relief feels the same when I’m breathe is as when I’m breathe out. This didn’t initially make sense to me. I get why I feel relief in the inhale. My lungs are getting a fresh new supply of O2. Let the feast begin.
But when I breathe in and hold for a few seconds, then exhale I feel a sense of relief. What’s going on there? As far as my lungs can tell, there is no fresh supply of O2
I’m very tempted to get Teleological and imagine that my body ‘knows’ that breathing out is a necessary step to be able to inhale.
I think ‘results-oriented’ is a controversial concept. Meeting an objective is probably better than not completing something. But what if the situation has changed and the objective no longer makes sense? Perhaps accomplishing the original goal might now be detrimental. Also (as recognized by our clever lungs) there can be steps that don’t accomplish the ultimate goal, but are essential in clearing the way for us to achieve our results.
Spare a grateful thought for the lowly exhale. Even though it doesn’t bring any O2 into our thirsty alveoli, it clears the way for inhalation to waltz in and be the respiratory hero.
Not surprisingly our bodies are not being clever. Our brain gets panicky when the concentration of CO2 in our lungs goes up. That is what happens when we hold our breath. When we exhale we expel CO2, or more specifically reduce its concentration. Our bodies aren’t cleverly realizing exhalation is getting us closer to the O2. On the other hand having our bodies get panicky when CO2 is too prevalent sounds like a clever design decision.