Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s breathing technique (the Sudarshan Kriya)

If our thoughts and minds are not the best gateway to tap into resilience, what is? Our bodies.

Daniel Wegner, a psychology professor at Harvard University, has shown in several studies that the intention to control a particular thought often breaks down under stress or mental overload and actually ends up triggering the unwanted thought, undermining our best intentions.

Sleeping with Your Smartphone,

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has spent much of his life teaching yoga-based breathing practices around the world through his organization the Art of Living Foundation.

The researchers invited a different group of participants to breathe in the patterns that corresponded to the various emotions from the first study. Then they asked the participants how they felt. Lo and behold, the participants started to feel the emotions that corresponded to the breathing patterns!

Scientists hypothesize that this negativity bias is evolutionarily adaptive. By remembering dangerous encounters with predators, for example, our ancestors were more likely to steer clear of them. However, nowadays this tendency is no longer necessary and often gets in our way.

Just as your mind influences the breath, you can influence the state of your mind through the breath as well.”

Our brains tend to focus on negative thoughts more than positive ones.