1. “Happiness lies in your own heart. You only need to practice mindful breathing for a few seconds, and you'll be happy right away.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh
2. “You know that our breathing is the inhaling and exhaling of air. The organ which serves for this is the lungs which lie round the heart. Thus breathing is a natural way to the heart.”
- Nicephorus the Solitary
3. “If you would foster a calm spirit, first regulate your breathing; for when that is under control, the heart will be at peace; but when breathing is spasmodic, then it will be troubled.”
- Kariba Ekken
4. “Recitation of the rosary, and also of yoga mantras, slowed respiration to almost exactly 6/min, and enhanced heart rate variability”
- Bernardi et al. 2001*
5. “when you inhale, your heart rate (the number of times your heart beats per minute) naturally rises; when you exhale, it slows down again. This is true for everyone.”
- Leah Lagos
6. “Exhales slow the heart rate; the longer we spend on the outbreath, the more the nervous systems relaxes.”
- Emma Seppälä
7. “Your respiratory and cardiovascular systems are designed to work in synchrony. […] Your breathing acts as a stimulus for the heart. In physics, this kind of relationship between your breathing and your heart rate is called resonance, a property of a system where two oscillating components interplay with each other, producing increases in oscillation amplitude.”
- Inna Khazan
8. “These waves seem to oscillate around 0.1 Hertz. When we inhale and exhale at that rate, our respiration has the potential to optimize the rhythm of various mechanisms and align them with our heart rate. ‘When you breathe at that same rate, it’s like pushing the swing at the perfect moment,’ Noble says.”
- Timothy Meinch
9. “If you found that your heart beats faster when you breathe in than when you breathe out, you are correct. You have discovered that every breath you take affects your heart rate.”
– Drs Patricia Gerbarg and Richard Brown
10. “These practices demonstrate that the mind and the heart follow the lungs, not the other way around.”
- Michael J. Stephenson
11. “The heart itself rests on the dome of the diaphragm […] Each time the diaphragm moves, it tugs on the heart. Imagine a game of balloon toss, with the heart gently bounced on this elastic trampoline, rocked with each breath, approximately 20,000 times a day.”
- Robin Rothenberg
12. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart, which is, of course, my diaphragm.”
- Jill Miller
13. “Slowing the breath down activates the prefrontal cortex and increases heart rate variability, which helps shift the brain and body from a state of stress to self-control mode. A few minutes of this technique will make you feel calm, in control, and capable of handling cravings or challenges.”
- Kelly McGonigal
14. “There is one way of breathing that is shameful and constricted. Then there’s another way; a breath of love that takes you all the way to infinity.”
- Rumi
Footnote:
Reference for #4: Bernardi L, Sleight P, Bandinelli G, Cencetti S, Fattorini L, Wdowczyc-Szulc J, Lagi A. Effect of rosary prayer and yoga mantras on autonomic cardiovascular rhythms: comparative study. BMJ. 2001 Dec 22-29;323(7327):1446-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.323.7327.1446. PMID: 11751348; PMCID: PMC61046.