Voo Breathwork

What it is

You make a low "voo" sound on the out-breath and let it run to the end. The pitch is low enough that you feel it in your chest and abdomen rather than in your head.

Voo is the deepest of the three voiced-exhale practices in the library. Humming vibrates the face and throat; the Haaaa breath opens the chest; Voo goes lower and further down.

What it is doing in your nervous system

Three things are stacked here.

The exhale is the reliable one. A sustained voiced exhale is long by necessity, and a long exhale increases vagal influence on the heart and shifts the balance away from sympathetic dominance. This is well-supported physiology and it accounts for most of the effect.

The vibration is the second. A low-pitched sound produces vibration that carries into the chest and abdomen. In somatic experiencing, this is the explicit purpose: to bring sensation into the viscera, which is where a lot of people report anxiety living and where a lot of people feel very little. The formal evidence for this specific claim is thin. The clinical observation behind it — that people who feel nothing in the belly often feel something after a few Voos — is consistent enough to be worth taking seriously.

The third is completion. Anxiety tends to hold the breath high and short. A sound that must be finished gives the exhale a definite end, and the in-breath that follows tends to arrive on its own rather than being taken. That shift, from taking a breath to receiving one, is small and it is often the moment something changes.

When to use it

• When anxiety sits in the gut or the belly rather than the chest
• When your breathing has gone high, fast and shallow
• After a difficult conversation, in the car or with the door closed
• When you feel wound tight and want something more physical than counting
• As an evening practice to bring energy downward
• When quiet breathwork has not touched it

When it is not the right practice

Needs privacy — it makes a noise and it feels odd the first few times, which is worth knowing in advance. Go gently if you have an acute respiratory infection or asthma that is currently unsettled, and stop if you feel lightheaded, which usually means you are forcing past the natural end of the breath. If deep belly sensation is distressing rather than neutral, work with a therapist rather than pushing.

Where it sits in Soma Circuit

Levels 2 and 3 of the Overwhelmed module, following grounding and either progressive muscle relaxation or the pillow squeeze. Bundled audio, 4 minutes 23 seconds.