Welcome to ENE and the Sound Breath Toolkit (SBTK) Practices
- Joshua Leeds
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
SBTK helps you calm your nervous system through simple practices of breath, supported by sound and movement. I created SBTK practices for life in challenging times.
Smart breath techniques emanate from India and China thousands of years ago. Back then, the respiratory system was recognized not only as a provider of air, but as a tool to bring balance to other parts of the body. Similar to the gut, the respiration system reminds us that our magnificent bodies provide spare tires for emergencies.
The Sound Breath Toolkit includes my new book, Sound & Breath for Autonomic Balance, online videos demonstrating SBTK Exercises, and beautifully restful music. Also, a private online FB Group is dedicated to practice and community support.
SBTK demonstrates a breathing technique we call extended nasal exhalation, ENE, and it won’t cost you an extra minute of your daily life. You just add this smart breath to your existing routines. I like to call this vagal floss – It's something we can practice everyday to help us stay in balance.
ENE is about breathing out of the nose for twice as long as the inhale. This tonifies the vagal nerve that activates the parasympathetic nervous system into a counterreaction with the sympathetic nervous system.
Why Pay Attention to the Nervous System?
Because there is an epidemic of anxiety sweeping cultures around the world and a good deal of that anxiety starts with the autonomic nervous system. There is no divorcing SBTK from its sociological roots. My motivation in designing SBTK was to create practices that assist people in turbulent times. SBTK is not a day spa substitute, rather an ongoing dynamic component for dealing with unsettling uncertainty.
As social fabric frays around the world, tools that help people deal with uncomfortable situations make a big difference. Primal circumstances, mostly outside of our control, create fears about money, food, housing, etc.
General anxiety often involves chronic over-activation of the SNS's fight-or-flight behaviors. SBTK breathing techniques, supported by sound and movement, are simple practices that can balance tired fight-or-flight reactivities with the rest-and-restore functions of the parasympathetic nervous system. Dysregulation of these autonomic companion aspects contributes to diminishing physio- and psychological health.
Antidotes for Turbulent Times
SBTK is not a method, rather a practice. Once you start using these easy smart breathing techniques, your life may change – becoming simpler and healthier. It doesn’t happen in a day, rather over a consistent year or more. You are literally retraining your respiratory system and that may take some time. Be patient with yourself; it took many years to create what turns out to be problematic breathing habits.
SBTK can be thought of as a physiological therapy translating into a psychological change about how you handle your stress. It has taken a lifetime to build your survival breathing patterns, and unfortunately, dumping all your runaway stress into the sympathetic NS basket is not sustainable.
SBTK is an offering of antidotes for turbulent times. While the three main aspects of smart breath are nasal breathing, humming, and gentle movement, other methods are also evolving because of nervous system dysregulation, a result of people being very deeply chagrined by an uncertain changing world.
This evening, I came across a 2023 Korean study entitled, “Sound stimulation using the individual’s heart rate to improve the stability and homeostasis of the autonomic nervous system.”
Be it heart rate variability techniques or simple SBTK humming and finger tapping, solutions for fear and anxiety are surfacing because the need dictates solutions.
Dysregulation can be defined as a loss of control within a system. Autonomic dysregulation is growing.
How Does Sound Fit Into SBTK?
Sound plays an important supporting role in extended nasal exhalation. Breath is really the primary SBTK player. However, among other benefits, sound – through closed lips with nasal breathing – creates a humming shelf for the longer exhalations. We actually use less breath when we hum than if we open our lips and simply breath out through the mouth. Sound also vibrates the throat (vagal nerve), and causes the production of additional nitric oxide molecules in the sinuses.
In our professional sonic world, it is good for soundworkers to play supporting roles. This keeps us non-egoic while reminding us of the power of teamwork. Sound with breathwork are two peas in a pod, so to speak. Voice and breath arise from the same source. One could say that sound is breath transformed by vibration.
About Joshua Leeds
Joshua Leeds is an author, producer, and educator. The common thread in his professionl focus is the use of sound for nervous system modulation.
Be it 4-leggeds or 2-, he applies principles of tone, tempo, and pattern to provide therapeutic tools for comfort and balance.
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