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Written by Marty Seldman, Ph.D.

One way for a product or pill to achieve $1Trillion in sales is for one billion people to each pay $1,000 to obtain it. What I’m going to recommend and describe today is not a product or pill, it’s a practice: Slow, controlled, focused breathing.

Once mastered and blended into your daily routines this practice greatly increases your chances of living a long, happy, healthy, productive life. Most people would pay $1,000 or more for those results but they don’t have to; our freedom to breathe and focus is always there.

Focused Attention Meditation

The kind of practice I’m going to describe is a form of focused attention meditation. It is different than reflection or meditating on higher thoughts like love or compassion. The guidelines include:

• Mental stillness: A meditator is seeking to quiet the mind. That is why more accurate descriptions of this activity might be “concentration” or “absorption.”

• Single focus: One path to this stillness is to attempt to focus the mind on one thought, word, or sound (a mantra), or simply on your breathing.

• Measured breathing: Meditation is accompanied by measured, controlled, deep breathing. Most of us, if we haven’t just climbed some stairs, breathe about 12 to 15 times a minute. In contrast, most meditators breathe five times or less a minute; and some, deep in meditation, breathe twice a minute. (As you can imagine, these are some pretty calm people.)

Let me describe a simple exercise that has been used for thousands of years to help beginning meditators.

Frozen Rope Breathing Technique

The frozen rope is one of hundreds of breathing and concentration techniques that are used to quiet the mind and achieve tranquility. I prefer the frozen rope because it promotes the ability to concentrate, as well as to relax. People have long used breathing as a way to achieve inner control because it is both a voluntary and an involuntary process. If we choose, we can direct  the rhythm of our breathing and influence some of our inner processes, including our level of  relaxation and calm.

1. To begin the frozen rope, sit comfortably with your back straight; loosen any belts or clothing that would restrict your breathing.

2. Your goal is to make your exhalations slow and even. Start by closing your eyes, breathing in deeply through your nose; then exhale slowly and smoothly through your mouth. As you exhale, imagine that your breath is extending like a frozen rope of air. Concentrate on the slow, even flow of air and the picture of the frozen rope.

3. At the end of the exhalation, wait a couple of seconds before you inhale. Initially, this will seem hard, so don’t force it; later, as your breathing slows down, you will look forward to these very peaceful seconds, breathing neither in nor out but simply sitting quietly and concentrating on the frozen rope of air. When you inhale, allow your body to breathe as quickly and deeply as necessary to fill your lungs. Then begin the slow, even exhalation again.

After getting reasonably proficient at the “Frozen Rope” technique you can experiment with different ways to stay focused:

• continue with “frozen rope”
• count your breaths from 1-10 and repeat
• follow the breath – keep your attention on each inhalation and exhalation – focus on a mantra

The Benefits of a Sustained Practice

I started this article talking about increasing your chances for a “long, happy, healthy, productive life.” The reason I wrote that with confidence is that researchers have published hundreds of studies about the various benefits of slow, focused breathing. Here are some key payoffs that I hope will get your attention and motivate you to get started.

1. Reduce and Recover from Stress –

Slowing your breathing stimulates the vagus nerve and activates the relaxation response in the parasympathetic nervous system. Bessel van der Kolk, MD, author of the perennial best seller, “The Body Keeps the Score” recommends this technique to people who need to heal from trauma or recover from excessive stress. Regular practice has been shown to lower heart rate and blood pressure and increase lung capacity.

2. Happiness –

Now that neuroscientists have been able to map the brain, certain practices (gratitude, self-acceptance, compassion, etc.) have been found to be correlated with increased happiness. Most of the happiest people they have studied practice some form of this breathing. In addition to the long-term elevation of your happiness levels, these are the immediate impacts:

• very pleasant feelings of peace and tranquility
• streaming, pleasurable sensations from just being alive

“I sing the body electric” – Walt Whitman

• the feeling of self-efficacy and inner control knowing that with a few focused, slow breaths I can make myself happy

3. Financial Independence –

Wait? What? Some of you are wondering how is Marty going to connect financial freedom to tranquility. Financial independence is achieved when your accumulated assets generate enough money, through interest, dividends, rents, royalties, etc. to cover your monthly “nut” (expenses). While I’m not going to promise that this practice will make you more money (although see Daniel Goleman’s perspective in the next benefit), it definitely can lower your spending which gets you closer to independence.

How does it do this? Over time, sitting quietly, simply “being” increases your feelings of just being happy to be alive. It’s a regular reminder that you don’t need that much to be happy. At a minimum it helps you see clearly the difference between a luxury and a necessity.

4. Strengthening Your “Concentration” Muscle –

In this practice you are regularly noticing your mind wander and bringing your attention back to your breath. You gradually learn to stay focused longer and longer. Daniel Goleman, who gave us “Emotional Intelligence” also wrote a book in 2014, “Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence.” In it he demonstrates how focused attention practices translate into better leadership. Moment to moment, this skill allows you to be fully present to colleagues, direct reports, and customers, in addition to your friends and family.

5. Enhancing Your Cognitive Function –

During the day when does your brain get a “vacation”? Even if people take breaks (many don’t), they use them to check their phones or email. This practice actually stills and clears your mind. Studies have shown this increases alertness, reasoning ability and creativity. It also increases prefrontal cortex control, reducing the chance of your “limbic” brain taking over. (Remember “Stress makes you stupid” from the last article).

6. Retaining a Thick CORTEX Over Your Lifetime –

Many of the qualities we associate with “normal” aging are caused by our cortex gradually thinning. This includes memory issues, mental fatigue, “fogginess”, and eventual dementia. Studies of long-term practitioners have found that their cortexes stay thick their entire life, avoiding mental decline.

How to Best Leverage This Skill

• Begin your day – most practitioners enjoy becoming calm and centered before facing the day’s challenges.
• Preparing for a presentation, or difficult conversation/meeting
• A tranquility break when you notice you are stressed
• First step in “Calm Self-Critique (CSC) – I’ve written about the key life skill of CSC, i.e.

achieving self-acceptance and the ability to calmly learn from your mistakes and disappointments.

(Read Calm Self-Critique article at https://martyseldman.com/2023/04/12/the-skill-setthat-creates-peak-happiness-and-peak-performance/) This type of breathing is the first part of that process.

“Simple But Not Easy”

Sounds simple; Inhale, exhale slowly and evenly., keep your attention on your breath. In fact, this practice is “Simple But Not Easy.” Here are some of the challenges you will likely encounter:

• Not thinking – The very reason most of us need this practice is why it is so challenging. We are accustomed and attached to thinking and “doing.” Trying to simply breathe and “be” can initially make people feel bored, anxious and afraid of wasting time.
• Building the Concentration “Muscle” – Many people have observed that our average attention spans seem to be getting shorter. Most of you when you begin will notice your mind wandering in all directions. It takes daily practice to build up your ability to concentrate and stay focused.
• Lengthening Your Breathing – I mentioned earlier that throughout the day, unless we are exercising or upset, we usually breathe about 12-15 times a minute. Long-term practitioners, when engaged in their practice, will slow down to only 2-5 breaths a minute. If you are beginning then it can take a while to breathe slower and longer.

Hopefully I’ve motivated you to push through these challenges. Most experts in these techniques find that if people practice for 10 minutes a day they will start to feel the benefits within weeks.