Can You Breathe Your Way To Willpower? ‘The Willpower Instinct’ by Kelly McGonigal

The Willpower Instinct
Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk

At this time of recent resolutions and tests on our, often, fragile willpower an excellent book from health psychologist and lecturer Dr Kelly McGonigal, makes fascinating reading. The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More Of It, is based on her 10 part course at Stanford University – ‘The Science of Willpower.’ In this scientific approach to willpower, McGonigal surveys the latest research from neuroscience and psychology, alongside some excellent strategies which are understandable, achievable and not too arduous to put into practice. She looks at the effects of stress, the value of exercise, the importance of quality sleep, how willpower is contagious, that it is like a muscle – it tires but can be strengthened, and she also highlights the vital part that mindfulness thinking and meditation can play in enhancing self-control. Today I’m going to pick out just one part of the book and look at the importance of meditative breathing.

We hear a lot about the value of breathing for relaxation, stress control and anxiety states but it is rarer to see it mentioned in direct relation to willpower. In The Willpower Instinct, McGonigal demonstrates the value of meditative breathing and slow breathing to help with impulses, self-control and willpower. Research shows that it is helpful because it directly affects the pre-frontal cortex of our brains. If you struggle with willpower, in any setting, here are two breathing exercises to try.

Firstly, 5 minutes daily mindfulness meditation which only concentrates on your breathing. This is not about emptying the mind, visualising, thinking positively or actively relaxing, but solely focuses on your breath: on inhaling and exhaling. As you do this, keep bringing your mind back to your breath whenever it wanders – and it will wander, which is absolutely fine, just increase your awareness and bring yourself back to the breath. In the early stages you can focus yourself by mentally saying ‘inhale’ and ‘exhale’ with each breath. Do this daily and try to increase the time up to 10 or even 15 minutes. Daily, consistent practice is shown to be valuable.

Secondly, slow your breathing down to 4-6 beats per minute whenever you are feeling an urge or impulse which is testing your willpower. This is also an excellent exercise for any kind of stress or anxiety related condition and can be practised at any time. The act of slowing down, focusing and distracting the mind holds great benefits, alongside the physiological effects of focused breathing.

These are just two of the exercises within the book which McGonigal explains can help with willpower. It is written in an easy conversational style and if you have any interest at all in why we do things, and why we can’t stopping doing some things, then the intriguing and revelatory experiments will have you captivated. If this is a new area for you, you will probably be amazed at what you discover. It’s well worth looking at the entire book to understand the issue of willpower more deeply and get the full range of tools on offer. In the meantime, though, if you get a chance, try some breathing exercises and see if they help. See if breathing your way to willpower works.

Let me know if you’ve come across The Willpower Instinct and found it helpful or unhelpful. Have you found breathing useful when controlling difficult mental and physical states? I really welcome your comments.

You might also enjoy watching this YouTube Authors@Google Talks where you’ll learn more about the book and see Kelly McGonigal in action.