I learned to breathe in India. My yoga instructor taught me to take a deep breath, expanding my belly, and then pause and exhale slowly to the count of five. I repeated this four times and felt remarkably calmer and centered afterward.

My instructor called it Pranayama. Others call it controlled or abdominal breathing. It doesn't matter what you call it or what technique works best for you. Any controlled breathing will increase your energy, release stress, sharpen mental clarity, and improve your resilience.

According to the New York Times, science is beginning to provide evidence that the benefits of this ancient practice are physiological as well as psychological. Studies have found, for example, that breathing practices can help reduce symptoms associated with anxiety, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and attention deficit disorder.

A study in China found that eight weeks of intensive diaphragmatic breathing training improved cognition, emotion, and physiological responses. Even a 1-day breathing exercise relieved the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization induced by job burnout. "Breathing is massively practical," says Belisa Vranich, a psychologist and author of the book "Breathe.” “It’s a meditation for people who can’t meditate.”

How controlled breathing promotes wellbeing is still unclear. Some researchers are studying how controlled breathing changes our autonomic nervous system. When we practice controlled breathing, our brain may adjust the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, slowing our heart rate and digestion and promoting feelings of calm.

Controlled breathing may also affect our immune system. At the Medical University of South Carolina, researchers studied two groups of adults. One group did two sets of 10-minute breathing exercises while the other read a text of their choice for 20 minutes. They tested the volunteers' saliva at various times during the exercise. Individuals doing the breathing exercise had significantly lower levels of several chemicals associated with inflammation and stress.

Have you tried controlled breathing? If so, what impact has it had on your resilience?

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