Damn, now the nurses have stopped smiling
I wasn't coming back for my colonoscopy. I summoned my superpower.
Colonoscopy Day is never fun.
Well, actually it’s the preparation the day before that’s a living hell, with the constant drinking of a chalky laxative.
I was determined to soldier through the experience and even though it was a challenging morning for me physically, I was up for the challenge.
Luckily, my mindfulness and intentional breathing superpowers got me through.
That morning, it was only a 15 minute ride to the hospital, but we did not make it uninterrupted. Inside of my body was in knots. My wife had to pull the car over as I retched dry-heaves on the side of the road.
Again, trying to mindfully focus my thoughts, even using some relaxing imagery, I continued my intentional breathing and was able to re-gather myself.
The hospital where I had the procedure done is an extremely warm and comfortable hospital. Only a few years old, the building is a very modern and welcoming structure and the people that work inside were so kind and considerate.
Most of that, though, was of little significance to me that morning.
When we got to the hospital everyone was so nice and accommodating. The nurses were smiling and joking with me. The hospital personnel were being very intentional to try to keep the mood light and relaxed and help me stay calm.
I tried to be jovial like them, but my body wasn’t cooperating. When they took my vital signs, my blood pressure was 20 points higher than the required level to have the procedure done.
The nurses stopped smiling.
One of them came over to me and gingerly told me that I needed to try to relax to reduce my blood pressure or I would have to come back another day. She didn’t seem optimistic.
The nurse looked me in the eye, and told me she was going to give me 10 minutes to see if I could calm down and bring my blood pressure to a healthier level.
She gave me a forced smile and left my bedside. She closed the curtain around me. It was a busy morning at the hospital and there was lots of coffee chatter and other noise right on the other side of the curtain.
It was not going to be easy to try to calm my nervous system.
I closed my eyes and thought of my relaxing place – the beach. I was intentional about taking a couple of minutes to do my sensory connection with my idyllic beach scene.
With my eyes closed, I did my deep belly breathing, and I began to remember first the smells of the beach, then the sights of the beach, and even the feel of the textured sand and the coolness of the water all went through my mind.
I began a breathing exercise (4-7-8 breathing) that extends the exhale to twice as long as the inhale to help lower my heart rate.
As I imagined myself at the beach, the hospital noises around me seemed to quiet. As I imagined hearing the sound of seagulls and feeling the touch of the granular sand between my fingers, I could feel my whole body relaxing.
When the nurse returned a short time later, she put the blood pressure cuff on my arm and once again took my vital signs. Her smile began to form as she looked at me approvingly and said whatever I did worked and then exclaimed “let’s do this.”
I was outwardly relieved and inwardly quite proud of myself. My mindfulness and meditative techniques were able to lower my blood pressure more than 20 points in 10 minutes.
Intentional breathing (slow, deliberate breathing down to your diaphragm) is an awesome tool to calm your nervous system. Most of the time when you get emotional, your breathing becomes shallow. By slowing your breathing pattern and feeling your breath go all the way down to your belly, you will relax quickly.
There are different intentional breathing patterns that you may want to consider to help you quickly calm down, including lowering your heart rate and blood pressure.
4-7-8 Breathing
To survive my colonoscopy, I used a successful breathing pattern that works well for me called 4-7-8 breathing.
This strategy is to deeply inhale for four (4) seconds, hold your breath for seven (7) seconds, and then slowly exhale for eight (8) seconds. You can do this four times to quickly calm you down.
It’s the extended exhale that is most effective in lowering your heart rate and blood pressure.
You can even do 4-7-8 breathing on a daily basis to help reduce anxiety and stress, as well.
There’s also Countdown Breathing. Box Breathing and Color Breathing techniques that may be effective for you.
Countdown Breathing
This strategy will have you focus on your breathing process while counting up and down.
As you take a slow, deliberate inhale, slowly count to four or five. Then hesitate for one second and then slowly exhale, while this time counting down from four or five back to one. Do this four or five times to calm you down.
Box Breathing
This breathing strategy adds visualization to your breathing.
Picture drawing a square on a piece of paper. In your mind, as you draw the first side of your square, slowly inhale to the count of five.
Then as you imagine drawing the second side of the square, slowly exhale, again to the count of five.
Imagine drawing the third side of the square and slowly inhale again to the count of five.
Then finally, as you imagine drawing the final side and complete your square, slowly exhale again for five seconds.
In this strategy, you can imagine drawing longer lines on your breath exhales (counting to 7 or 8), and then you can change your imagery to a rectangle, rather than a square. (The length of the sides of your imagined box will be different due to your extended exhales).
Color Breathing
You can add more of a sensory experience to your intentional breathing.
Think of a color that’s calming to you and think of another color that may make you feel uneasy or slightly stressed.
As you begin a steady and consistent deep breathing pattern (in and out to the count of four or five), picture your colors as you inhale and exhale.
Picture your calming color as you slowly inhale down to your diaphragm.
Picture the color that makes you feel uneasy as you slowly exhale.
Feel your body’s energy shifting as you inhale and exhale your colors.
There are many intentional breathing strategies that you may want to master. Intentional breathing will activate your parasympathetic (the calming part of your) nervous system and shift you to healthier and clearer-thinking brain states.