Val Halloway, 4-time former caregiver, is the creator and host of Caregiver Tea Time. In this episode, she begins Season Two, Called Let's get Physical, by sharing about how breathing can help caregivers find "Calm Energy". Val shares the 4-7-8 breathing technique and provides a special recording for practicing it.
In this episode Val reminds listeners that it’s good to stop and take a few deep breaths throughout your day. She suggests we take it one step further, and teaches the 4-7-8 breathing technique made popular by Dr. Andrew Weil. His studies have shown that over time, regularly using this technique twice a day in cycles of 4 to 8 breaths physiologically calms the body. Val has found it to be simple and easy to do, and provides a recording for listeners to follow when practicing 4-7-8 breathing.
Val also shares about "Calm Energy". She was introduced to this concept by a book by Robert Thayer: Calm Energy, how people regulate mood with food and exercise. Val feels that 4-7-8 breathing is a first step one can take towards finding Calm Energy.
Val ends this episode with her cheer: “I am taking time to breathe!”
Welcome caregivers and friends!
I'm so glad you are back. It's season two of caregiver tea time and it's called "Let's Get Physical." This season is about our bodies and how our physical health affects our mood and energy.
This in turn affects how we engage with life and our resilience in times of challenges and change. Season one was about our emotions, which can be quite intense,
but for the most part are short -lived and ebb and flow. But our moods last much longer, hours, days, or more. We might think that events and circumstances beyond our control are the driving force behind our moods.
Things like, "I hate this uncertainty, and I won't rest until the results of the tests are back." Or, "My car broke down. What am I going to do now?" These outside factors do contribute to our moods,
but it goes much deeper than that. Our moods are much more closely related to how much sleep we've had, what kind of exercise we get, and when and what we eat.
I'm one of those who can get in a very hangry mood when it's been a while since I ate and I start searching for food. Our spiritual health affects our moods as well. And I'll share about that in season three. It's called Let's Get Spiritual.
So let's take a look at how our moods and energy levels affect how we face life. Imagine having to deal with a big challenge, like bringing your loved one home from the hospital.
If you're tired and your energy level is low because you haven't been sleeping or getting any kind of exercise, then that tired tension will make it feel like an impossible task.
But if your energy level is high and you feel calm, then you can start making plans and just get one thing done after another. Life feels so much easier,
and this is what we call calm energy. Sleep, exercise, and good food choices are what makes us physically healthier, in a better mood,
and with energy that feels calm. Season two will give you ideas to make this happen. Episode one will be about breathing, Episode 2 Sleeping and then episodes 3 and 4 about exercise and eating.
One will build upon the next. If we are breathing well, we get better sleep. And if we're sleeping well, we feel less tired and it makes it easier to have the energy to exercise.
And if we're exercising, choices about what to eat are much healthier and well thought out. So let's get started with finding Calm Energy, where in this episode I will share with you my favorite breathing tip.
Let's start this episode about breathing by taking a few deep breaths. Let's take a deep breath through our nose and let it out.
and let's take another deep breath in and let it out and now we can just breathe normally. It's good to stop and take a few deep breaths throughout your day.
Let's take that one step further. There's a breathing exercise called 4 -7 -8. This breathing technique has been studied and made popular by a medical doctor,
Andrew Weil. His studies have shown that regularly using this technique twice a day in cycles of four to eight breaths physiologically calms the body.
And I found it to be simple and easy to do. Here's how it goes. Take a big breath through your nose to the count of four and hold it for the count of seven and Then let it go really slowly through your mouth to the count of eight.
And I say slowly over the count of eight because you don't want to let it all out the first two counts or you'll be gasping for breath by the end. So let's do a practice cycle right now.
You can start with an exhale out, then breathe in into the count of four, hold it,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, and exhale, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight.
It doesn't matter how quickly or slowly you count, it just needs to be in the ratio of four, seven, eight. Now, let's take a moment of normal breathing and then I'll play a relaxing breath song that will last through four cycles.
I'm going to prompt you when to take a breath and when to hold your breath and when to exhale, but I'll let you listen to the music instead of me counting. So are you ready?
Let's start with an exhale. Exhale, now breathe in to the count of 4, hold to count of 7 and exhale to count of 8. (repeated 3 more times)
You just did four relaxing breath cycles.
How do you feel? Dr. Weil recommends doing this twice a day, once in the morning, and once at night. If you want, you can go up to eight relaxing breath cycles,
but it's very important not to go beyond eight at one time. Most people may not feel a significant benefit right away. It could take a few days or weeks,
but I've been doing it for just a few days now and I can honestly say I'm feeling some really good calm energy. So I hope the benefits of relaxing breath cycles will bring you more calm energy too, and good moods throughout your caregiving days and beyond.
Before I go, I want to recognize Robert Thayer as the source for my idea of calm energy.
Years before my caregiver days, I read his book "Calm Energy, How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise." We can identify how important the interactions are between our moods and our energy levels throughout the day and our food and our exercise choices.
Calm energy is a good way to describe what caregivers really need. I remember as a caregiver praying for peace without quite knowing what that looked like. After understanding calm energy more,
I realized that's exactly what I needed. I feel that the first step you can take towards calm energy is taking time to breathe and regularly doing these four relaxing breath cycles twice a day.
If you enjoyed our breathing exercise today, please check out my website, caregiver teatime, where our recording will be available for you to use whenever you need it. Next time,
when we meet for this season's episode 2 of caregiver tea time, I'm going to talk about sleep. I have some funny stories of what I did to try to get a good night's sleep while I was staying at the Ronald McDonald House with my son.
Things like pillows that break into a symphony and me laying on the bed with my feet up the wall while listening to the Doobie Brothers.
For our special message today, I'm going to ask you to take a moment to think about the mystery that is breathing.
Wow, we can do it without even thinking. And thank goodness for that, it's one less thing we need to think about. But if we put a little thought into it,
it can bring calm and many good things. Breathing in gives us life, and breathing out helps us to get rid of things we don't need anymore.
So for today's cheer, let's say, "I am taking time to breathe." So one, two, three, "I am taking time to breathe." Cheers!
Nothing but the good things, Nothing but the good things, In this world, living in my heart
Nothing but the good things, nothing but the good things,
In this world, living in my heart, living in my heart.
Caregiver Tea Time was recorded at The Koop Studio,
Irvington, New York, engineered by Sammy Wags and produced by Bianca Grooves.