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How Nose Breathing Can Help You Manage Fear: Insights from Neuroscience

Nose breathing has been shown to influence the brain's processing of fear, as suggested by several neuroscience studies. Here are the key ways in which nose breathing impacts the brain's fear processing:

Olfactory Pathway Activation: Breathing through the nose activates the olfactory system, which directly connects to the brain's limbic system, including the amygdala, a region crucial for processing emotions, including fear. This activation can modulate the neural circuits involved in fear responses.
Rhythmic Breathing: The rhythm of nasal breathing can synchronize brain waves, particularly in the olfactory cortex and related areas. This synchronization can affect emotional processing and potentially reduce anxiety and fear responses.
Enhanced Cognitive Function: Nose breathing is associated with better cognitive function and emotional regulation. Proper oxygenation and the calming effect of rhythmic nasal breathing can help the brain manage stress and fear more effectively.
Impact on Autonomic Nervous System: Nose breathing can influence the autonomic nervous system, promoting a parasympathetic (rest and digest) response. This can counteract the sympathetic (fight or flight) response, helping to reduce fear and anxiety levels.

These insights suggest that nasal breathing can significantly modulate fear and anxiety, highlighting the importance of this simple yet effective practice in emotional regulation.

Presets

Swimming in an ocean of controversy. My soul numbed by the terror of so much violence. I don't want to see, but the machines are designed so that I never leave. I am no longer me but the preset that someone wanted me to be. Before, seeing the Virgin Guadalupe in designs made me think of stereotypes; now, seeing it so much, I think, "a t-shirt wouldn't be bad." We cannot wait for others to save us. Discipline is the only solution for those who want to save themselves from being what others have in mind for us - a body whose mind walks to the beat of profit.

Hawai’i Nei

Everywhere I look, there you are Hawai’i Nei. Glancing at me through trinkets in people’s houses. Relics brought back from their voyages. They pierce back at me as to say. “I’m here, just as you are here.” How do I escape something that has infused every fiber of my being? I am who I am because of you, Hawai’i Nei. A complicated past but nevertheless lovely and pono. Although I could not make it home, you brought me back to life in your waters and mountains. You brought me back to myself. You brought me back to my roots.

My mele is for you.

My pule is for you.

My mana is for you.

My heart is filled by you.

My mind is on you.

My olelo is about you.

-K

You Might Be Doing Better Than You Think!

It is easy to lose track of progress. A good example was this morning during my meditation session. I could not focus and meditate—instead, my brain thought of a million and one things.

My daily fifteen minutes of meditation usually go by quickly, but I struggled at the six-minute mark this morning. I pushed through to the end. I use a MUSE headband to measure my EEG (brainwaves). The MUSE headband comes with an app and it showed that I was quite distracted. I scored particularly low from the usual. That did not surprise me. My inclination was to feel down for not getting the usual high marks. But then my eyes darted to my weekly goal and noticed that I had completed fifty-seven minutes of my one-hour and fifteen-minute weekly goal. Having that weekly goal to reference made me realize that despite having a low-focus day, I was progressing toward my overall goal.

How many of us feel bad for not meeting our standards without realizing we are inching closer to our overarching goal? Without a roadmap, we might not know how close we are to the end. So maybe ask yourself, do I have my goals written down, and if so, are they quantifiable?

So that was my Aha moment! Sometimes we are closer than we know to achieving our dreams and goals. We just need to learn how to create quantifiable goals and know how to keep track of them.

Flatline

Life is a process, but the power of our processing mind makes it interesting for better or for worse.

There was nowhere to hide. Sensations like thunderstruck me. “What could I do? Where could I go?”

I knew I was overwhelmed. The thought of being still was contrary to the feeling of urgency I felt.

Sitting still with my eyes closed seemed the opposite of where my energy wanted to go. I wanted to be like the wind on a hot day, lukewarm and slightly uplifted, going places and seeing people. Having passing experiences that forged onto novel roads.

Are these my nomadic ancestors wanting to take the reins, but how many times have I started over for the sake of starting over? Too many? Not enough?

Not enough. What an illusion this could be for the stoics. The thought of never setting foot in the same river twice and considering death as an old friend after a life of enduring acceptance.

How to Survive Your Suicide

If You Are Reading This, We Made It Thus Far

It’s been a while since I have written; with everything going on in the world, I didn’t want to add to the noise. Additionally, I felt overwhelmed with the constant news updates. As an American, you were either afraid of Trump being in office, out of office, or were afraid to elect the wrong guy. The point is that you were anxious either way. I imagine most of us spent our 2020 preoccupied with what would happen next. And a lot happened!

We all coped in the only way we knew how, mine was to pace.

As one of my friends so eloquently put it, we have been riding a rollercoaster of emotions. But it wasn’t always bad. Believe it or not, my relationships became better. I got closer to friends. During this pandemic, all of us were forced to wage which friendship was worth dying for, as dramatic as it sounds. The lucky got to stay at home and watch everything that was happening from our computers or T.V., while “essential workers” were honored from a safe distance, our balconies.

I am not going to recap everything that happened because we all lived through it. I never felt as close a comradery for my fellow humans as I do now. I guess it took a pandemic for all of us to realize that we are one species and that we can die off at any moment.

I don’t know if any of you ever played that game “Pandemic”?

I did! It had not occurred to me that I would ever have to live through one. I feel terrible about being excited seeing the whole map turn red (that means the whole world had been infected and close to dying). I guess this is my Karma. Either way, this post is only to say, “Hello! I am still alive.” Also, it’s an excuse to embed a ton of gifs because I learned how to do it.

From Camels to Lions: Caring for Our Elders

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I recalled reading a fictional story about a kingdom that would murder their king on the first signs of aging - graying hair. In this society, they idolized youth and physical prowess.

Once it was discovered that the king had sprouted a white hair, whoever was to be his successor would have to slay the “old king” and take his place. This village would frequently repeat their mistakes century after century since there was no king experienced enough that could lead them out of their habitual slip-ups. The current king was known to be fair and just - the greatest king the village had seen for a long time.

One night, the king found a single white hair and it kept him up at night knowing that his days were numbered. Worried, he summoned to his quarters his favorite courtesan, the most loyal and the youngest of his harem. He confided in her his shameful secret. She then swore to keep his secret safe and assist him every night by combing through his hair and pluck any new grey ones to buy him time until he came up with a plan to escape. I get the feeling that we are now living in this hypothetical village where youth is worshiped and growing old is a looming sentence over our heads.

As new gray hairs pop-up on my head, I feel the impulse to quickly do something about it, paint them, cut them, or hide them. I’ve asked myself, what does this say about my values? Why conceal all signs of aging? Is aging not a natural state of life? Since the day we are born we are constantly growing older by the minute. Why are gray hairs so horrifying? Or is it that the culture I find myself in has decided that growing old is a shameful thing, something that holds no worth? If I truly cherish my seniors then why do I reject growing older myself? I lack consistency in my beliefs. I can’t honor my ancestors and yet be embarrassed about aging.

As in Nietzsche’s Zarathustra, I too decided to form my own beliefs; I walk into the jungle of my mind to unpack anything with which I have been saddled like a camel so that I may come out at the other end, a lion. Amid the jungle, I pick apart my views and decide which beliefs are the ones I want to uphold and which lack consistency. This is how I become a master of my own making, not a slave of circumstance.

Today, Coronavirus is sweeping the globe and some of us are perfectly content disregarding social distancing at the cost of the lives of our elderly.

Do we not value wisdom? Have we decided as a collective that the fathers and mothers of our society are not worthy of extraordinary effort? Are we so caught up in the idolization of wealth, power, and beauty that we have lost sight of what matters? Ultimately, we all grow old and will need the youth to defend our rights when we are not able to speak up for ourselves, especially the most valuable right of all - the right to live.

If you are ever curious about what your culture values, all you have to do is observe your environment.

"If you are ever curious about what your culture values, all you have to do is observe your environment."

I have visited a few senior citizen and assisted living nursing homes; these are places where families pay to send their elderly or where the government places senior citizens without family, to be cared for by strangers. If you have visited some of these institutions, you will immediately know that you will never want to spend the remainder of your days here, sitting in a wheelchair, staring at a wall, and smelling urine without a loved one in sight. From what I have heard, these residences have something called a “Do not call order”. It’s a signed request by the family to not receive calls from their kin no matter how much the resident begs and pleads, with the exception of emergencies

I met Lisa, a caregiver at one of these homes, at a café by mere coincidence one day; she was lost in thought and looked to be very broken and sad. I asked her if she was okay and found out that she worked as a caregiver and a few of her residents had passed away in her home that week. She is the one that told me about the “Do not call” order. Then she said the following,

“You wouldn’t believe how much of a difference a phone call makes to them. It’s the difference between good weeks and bad weeks. Some of the time, their relatives will come to visit them and they need help to use the bathroom and even though they know that it is my job to do it, they will look at their son or daughter and say, “will you help me?” And you know what their visitors do? They become bothered and step outside of the room to call me. All that these elderly residents want is some love and assistance from their family. It breaks my heart and makes me angry to know that they have passed away feeling abandoned.”

She also shared that she had a resident who was a singer that had the most beautiful voice but after a month of living in the home she stopped singing and her health deteriorated due to what Lisa thought was loneliness. I asked her if this was something that happened often and she nodded her head. She answered that it was a recurring pattern that new residents tend to deteriorate rapidly once they are placed in these homes.

This is the society that we live in. This is acceptable to our standards.

Now, I understand that the American lifestyle doesn’t make it easy to care for our elders. We are often occupied with our careers so much that we barely have time for ourselves and our children, let alone our parents who might need care around the clock. But the world has a way of rearranging itself if we decide that some things are non-negotiable. As we have seen with the current pandemic, societal transformation is dictated by what we value. If it is the norm to hide our links to the past away, then how are we to learn from our mistakes? We require the wisdom of our elders to guide us when history is starting to repeat itself. We need them just as much as they need us. The reality is that we are all going to age and we will need help at some point so now is the time to help our most vulnerable and set the standards for how we would like to be treated.

-K

Choose Your Filter

The way we feel about ourselves dictates how we process our reality. According to the HRSA, Health Resources & Service Administration;

“Two in five Americans report that they sometimes or always feel their social relationships are not meaningful, and one in five say they feel lonely or socially isolated. The lack of connection can have life-threatening consequences, said Brigham Young University professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who testified before the U.S. Senate in April 2017 that the problem is structural as well as psychological.”

Bonds are important because apart from making us feel like kids again, bonds reduce the risk of mortality and help to speed up recovery when we are ill and acts as a buffer for developing certain diseases. So how do we open up ourselves to the gift of friendship?

We train ourselves to withhold judgment not only with others but with ourselves too.

To judge or not to Judge? It’s not even a question. We all judge. It keeps us safe from obscure situations. Being able to judge circumstances is a survival instinct that humans carry and it serves us well, but when it comes to making connections it can create barriers for us.

When I was younger I was not as social as I am now. I lived a rather preoccupied life with lots of emotional baggage and because of this, I missed many opportunities to get to know most of my peers. That’s something that I regret. I realized with maturity and inner work that I was living with this filter which made me feel rejected and different from others. Because I felt this way, others perceived me as such. I held a divisive attitude and my peers mirrored this back to me completing the self-fulfilling prophecy.

After much contemplation, I saw that it wasn’t that my peers were rejecting me, it was I who was rejecting them. However, at the time, I took their rejection as confirmation of my strongly held beliefs.

I decided to proactively work on this and the crucial step that I took was to work on the most important relationship I could have. The relationship with myself.

You see, how you feel about yourself matters. It matters tremendously!

This is what it means when people say that you create your reality. Your thoughts influence your emotions which influence your actions and then the world mirrors this back to you. It’s a cause and effect.

So ask yourself what are some strongly held beliefs that you carry and are they serving you well? If there are some beliefs that you would rather toss out, trash them. Nothing is keeping you from finding beliefs that support the experiences you want to have.

During yoga class, we did a backward bend. Upon returning to a sitting position, I felt a whirlwind of sensations, it was very uncomfortable and disorienting. While I was feeling terrible and dwelling on the negative sensation, the yoga instructor said to the class, “Just because we are uncomfortable we don’t have to attach suffering to it.” This was the golden nugget of wisdom!

“ Just because we are uncomfortable we don’t have to attach suffering to it.”

It will be uncomfortable to shift strongly held beliefs, but along with this discomfort there need not be suffering. As we assimilate the beliefs that seemed so foreign to us they eventually will become second nature.

-K