Yoga Reset nervous system tip #3 is ‘Battery Saver Mode’ (BSM).

This is the short version of how it works: if, during your initial meditation, you feel too up-regulated (overwhelmed, neurotic, etc.) you’ll focus on holding your breath at the bottom during your practice.

While maintaining this exhale, you’ll do three things:

1. You’ll drop your chin to your chest
2. You’ll slowly let as many of your muscles power off as possible
3. You’ll hold until discomfort arises.

When the sensations become too much — i.e. when your body cries out for air — you’ll count 3…2…1…and then inhale with control (no gasping for air).

Can you see that this technique is almost the exact opposite of ‘Blowing Bubbles’, bringing you down instead of up?

Just like the previous lessons, there’s a lot of logic and science behind this tip’s efficacy. I’ll keep it to just three, though:

Reason 1 — Resource Consumption

Obviously, when you don’t breathe, no oxygen comes into your body. Without oxygen, your body has no choice but to slow down in order to to conserve resources.

Hence ‘Battery Saver Mode.’ Like a laptop or cell phone that turns off unnecessary functions when its battery is running your low, when your lungs are empty your body will shut off blood flow to extraneous tasks, such as worrying, planning, regretting, and holding onto to excess muscular tension.

Reason 2 — Vagus Nerve

The wire responsible for activating your rest and digest function runs from your brain, through your throat, heart, lungs and abdominal organs.

This wire is called your “vagus nerve”, and can be manually stimulated to induce rest and relaxation.

One of those stimulation points is in your throat, which is why ‘BSM’ suggests that you subtly tuck your chin to your chest. By lightly pressing on your Adam’s Apple, you trigger the vagus nerve’s rejuvenating qualities.

Reason 3 — Superconscious States

When advanced meditators enter superconscious states of meditation, it is coupled with a very slow breath-rate – to the point that there is virtually no breath moving through the lungs at all.

What this means, practically, is that by artificially keeping the breath out of your lungs, life-force will exit your sensory nervous system and get funneled back into your pineal gland for deeper and deeper states of consciousness.

Of course, there’s much more to it than just these three reasons, so if you’re wanting to explore the full range of this incredible technique, please check out Deeper. Slower. Easier. | Level 3 and Deeper. Slower. Easier. | Level 4. There you’ll find a bunch of scientific information, tools and resources for a more complete understanding and mastery of ‘BSM’.

Otherwise, you can check out the practice section in which you’ll investigate what it’s like to hold your breath in versus out.

That was it for tip #3! See you in the next one.
– Ethan ॐ

P.S. You probably won’t be able to hold your exhale for nearly as long as you held your inhale. This is because your body is intelligent — it knows it is safer with more breath in its lungs than less, and has thus evolved many more sensors to go off when there is no air available.