This article is brought to you as part of the ASCAP Member Wellness Program.

Whether you’re dealing with the pressure to perform or anxiety about future projects, being a creator in the music industry means finding ways to manage stress and channel that energy into your work.

 

Tuning into your breath can be one of the most effective tools for creators to become resilient in the face of daily challenges. Breathing exercises not only help activate your parasympathetic nervous system to help you relax, but they can also help you sharpen your focus and prepare you for high-stress events.

 

While breathing exercises technically require nothing more than your body, and many are safe to do on your own (read on for a few of those), the effects can be powerful. Certain techniques are recommended to be explored under the guidance of a qualified instructor.

 

For example, one of the most effective breathing exercises for creatives is the Wim Hof Method. This type of breathing involves taking 30-40 sharp, rhythmical breaths through your mouth – which creates a stress response in your body by raising your heart rate, adrenaline and cortisol levels – followed by an extended breath hold.

 

“When you’re forcing yourself to almost hyperventilate, especially for someone who’s dealing with anxiety, you’re sort of asking them to go to a state that might not feel good to them,” says Avi Greenberg, a Wim Hof-certified instructor and mindfulness coach. “But the lead up is to an extended breath hold, which allows your body to go into a deeply relaxed state.”

 

These breath holds can last anywhere from 30 seconds to three minutes, and they’re meant to be meditative and calming by way of slowing down your heart rate. This can help open up neural pathways to creativity and empathy, which can be a benefit to creators, Greenberg says.

 

“Bringing stress into the session (i.e. the 30 to 40 fast breaths) helps create a higher threshold for stress outside of the session,” Greenberg explains. “If I work on creating some stressful moments within the session and show you how to breathe to combat or adapt to those stressful moments, then I’m giving you a tool that you can actually use in your own life.”

 

Here are a couple of other ways that breathwork can benefit your work as a creator, including a few techniques you can try on your own.

 

1. Breathing Exercises Can Help Boost Your Performance

 

Whether you’re singing or playing an instrument on stage, Greenberg recommends doing a calming breathing exercise, along with myofascial releases, to help open up your diaphragm (the “breathing muscle” at the base of your lungs). This will help you breathe in more deeply and make use of a full breath, which will come in handy when performing.

 

“Typically, people who sit a lot or don’t have the best posture aren’t getting full range of motion in their breathing muscles. So what I recommend is some twists. You can also squeeze down and into your rib cage to create a point of contact to create some awareness. By squeezing into the rib cage, it will allow you to breathe into your ribs more, and the more mobility that your rib cage has, the better access to your diaphragm you will have to fully breathe,” Greenberg says.

 

Another myofascial release exercise that Greenberg recommends is to lie on your stomach on a Pilates ball that’s only about 50 to 60 percent inflated. By lying on the ball, you’re able to release trapped air in your diaphragm and around your ribcage, he says. Essentially, the ball acts as a massage gun or foam roller for your breathing muscles to help release tension.

 

2. Breathing Exercise Can Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety

 

Unpredictable schedules, creative blocks and lack of steady work can cause immense stress and anxiety for many music creators. If you’re looking to relax and center your mind, take a moment to do a calming breathing exercise. Doing a five-second inhalation followed by a five-second exhalation through your nose can help activate your parasympathetic nervous system.

 

“It gets your breathing down to six breath cycles per minute,” Greenberg explains. “It helps reduce stress and lower inflammation, and helps put your body in a light, calm and euphoric state.”

 

If you’re new to this breathing exercise, you might find it challenging to breathe in for five seconds and breathe out for five seconds at first. You can try scaling it down to a three-second inhale and a five-second exhale, Greenberg says. As you’re holding your breath, you can check in with your body and notice where you’re holding tension. Then, as you exhale, you can focus on relaxing those areas.

 

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“When you want to calm down, focus on long, slow and relaxed exhales,” Greenberg explains. “And anytime you want to get energized and focused and boost your adrenaline, inhalation is where you focus. Because when you inhale, you raise your heart rate, and when you exhale, you lower your heart rate.”

 

3. Breathing Exercises Can Help Sharpen Your Focus and Bolster Creativity

 

Following a daily breathing routine coupled with some activity can not only help mitigate daily stress, but it can also help you learn how to handle pressure when you’re trying to get into a creative state.

 

“Acute stress can help boost dopamine and serotonin (which help promote learning, memory and feelings of happiness), but long-term, toxic stress can block our creative pathways,” Greenberg says. “So creatives may want to look towards doing activities with short bursts of acute stress, like a workout.”

 

A hard workout might feel intense in the moment, but leaning into that type of stress for a short period of time can help improve your mood.

 

“If you’re in your head about something, trying to pay your bills, fighting with your partner, or not feeling creative, going into this short burst of acute stress takes your mind off that stressful point in your life and starts to help you focus on a more intense, direct form of stress. Then when you leave the workout, your mind can actually flow and be more creative,” Greenberg says.

 

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If doing intense exercise isn’t your jam, consider taking a jog, walk or hike outdoors instead. Then, follow it up with a few rounds of a five-second inhale and five-second exhale, which can help re-energize your mind while getting you into a calm, more focused state, Greenberg says.

 

4. Breathing Exercises Can Help You Get Better Sleep

 

If you work late hours because you’re performing in the evenings, travel often or feel most inspired at night and find yourself staying up late, it may be affecting your quality of sleep.

 

But sleep is paramount to your health, and getting inadequate time between the sheets could put you at risk for heart disease, diabetes and poor cognitive performance, according to the Sleep Foundation. When you’re able to get more quality sleep at night, it can help lower inflammation in the body that’s associated with chronic diseases.

 

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If you have trouble falling asleep at night because you’re anxious or stressed, doing some breathing exercises can help you unwind and prepare your body for bed.

 

“A good go-to is the 4-7-8 technique.” Greenberg says. It’s all in the name: Inhale for four counts through your nose, hold for seven counts and exhale for eight counts through your mouth.

 

“If you’re lying in bed, and you’re having trouble slowing down your thoughts or getting into that calm state, I like the numerical counting breathing exercises and cadences,” Greenberg says. “Thinking about numbers and focusing on the physicality of the breath helps you relax.”