The Genius of the Sigh
Full admission. Until I started an active yoga practice, a sigh, whether my own sigh or someone else’s sigh, annoyed me. I grew up believing the sigh was rude, regardless of whose mouth it came out of.
This has all changed now. I love to sigh.
In yoga, I do a lot of sighing. Inhale through the nose, exhale out through the mouth. Or as some of my yoga teachers say ‘inhale through the nose and H A out of the mouth.’ This is one of my favorites. To H A out of the mouth on the exhale. Try it! Inhale through your nose and H A out of your mouth. Feel good? Haha (no pun intended)!
Let’s try that again. Inhale through the nose and ‘sigh’ it out of the mouth. Release it allllllll out.
Whether you have an active yoga practice or not, sighing is a great release. We do it unconsciously about 12 times every hour or once every 5 minutes. Wow. That’s a minimum of about 288 unconscious sighs in a day. One day! And that doesn’t even include all of our conscious sighs. So whether it’s conscious or not, sighing is yet another great tool to add to that wellness toolbox of ours.
So what exactly is a sigh anyway? Basically, it’s a breath on top of another breath. Try it with me. Take a deep breath (don’t exhale just yet), then inhale again. Now release all of the air from your mouth - sighing or H A-ing it out. Feels pretty good, right?
If you really think about it, sighing is a pretty amazing tool. It finds the balance in its own way, because sometimes it occurs during negative emotions and sometimes it occurs during positive emotions. Wow. Balanced indeed. We sigh when stressed, and we also sigh when relaxed or relieved. Pretty, pretty cool.
I’ve noticed that sighing helps me, but until I learned more about it, I was unaware of how many benefits it actually has for us on a much deeper level. Here are a few reasons why I’ve befriended sighing.
Sighs keep our lungs healthy - without sighing the alveoli (which sounds like ravioli), balloon-like sacs in our lungs, may collapse and struggle to re-inflate. No kidding - so who doesn’t want healthy lungs
Sighs release negative energy - remember ‘inhale a fresh, new breath and exhale anything that no longer serves you’
Sighs help release tension and stress - sigh sigh sigh away
Sighs feel good - Charlie Brown does it all of the time
Sighs provide release to sadness and frustration - which allows you to ‘let it go’
Sighs are calming - a deep breath before a difficult task relaxes into the parasympathetic nervous system, or simply put, is relaxing
Sighs can make you feel in control of your breath - it can help bring you back to a ‘normal’ breathing pattern
I like sighing. I really do. I hope you find an opportunity to sigh until you release all that no longer serves you.
Sighing off!
Written by: Barbara Kataisto