Often, our behaviours and actions in response to pain – such as when we inhale sharply and then hold our breath – can increase our negative experience of it. Many of the things we do in an attempt to cope with, manage, or prevent pain, can actually make the pain worse, or even cause pain unnecessarily.
Thankfully, the knowledge that has come from decades of scientific and medical research on the nature and management of pain can help to guide us away from these behaviours, and towards more constructive actions and reactions.
One of the quickest, easiest, and definitely cheapest methods available to us is through a variety of breathing techniques.
For the skeptics among you…
If you’re doubting the ability of the breath to affect your experience of pain, try this short experiment.
Next time you feel pain exaggerate a gasp pattern of breathing – as if someone were continuously making you jump. Observe if there is any effect on your pain. For the majority of people, breathing in this manner will increase the pain (please stop as soon as you notice the level start to rise!). If your experience of pain can be increased by breathing in a certain way, chances are there is a different technique that can bring the level down.
On the next page you’ll find a couple of simple breathing techniques to try.