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Hello everyone.

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As a graduate student[br]at Stanford University,

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and also now a psychologist[br]and research scientist,

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I've been continuously amazed[br]by the beauty of the campus,

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the sun that bathes the campus every day,

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and the amazing scholars that surround us.

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However, I've also been dismayed[br]by another fact:

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I often see that the students[br]are miserable, they're anxious;

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there's so much stress.

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My first year as a graduate student there,[br]there were three suicides on the campus.

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So in response to this,[br]my colleague, Carole Pertofsky,

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Head of Health Promotion, and I[br]started a Science of Happiness class

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with the hopes of increasing[br]well-being in some way.

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One day, one of the students[br]came up after class to Carole and said,

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"I have to drop out.

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This class goes against[br]everything I've ever learned."

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Carole asked, "What do you mean?"

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The student said, "My parents told me[br]I needed to be very successful.

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And when I asked them,[br]'How do I become very successful?'

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they said, 'You must work[br]very, very hard.'"

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When the student[br]went back to them and said,

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"How do I know[br]when I'm working hard enough?"

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her parents said, "When you're suffering."

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(Laughter)

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It can seem very shocking,

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and yet we've all bought into[br]this misconception to a certain degree.

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There's a misconception out there[br]that in order to be successful

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we have to sacrifice[br]or at least postpone our happiness.

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In particular, there's this idea

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that you cannot have success[br]without stress,

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and I think you'd probably agree with me[br]that that idea is out there.

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My field of research is the science

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of happiness, of well-being,[br]of fulfillment, and also of resilience.

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The more I dove into the literature,[br]the more I saw that we have it all wrong.

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While we certainly cannot control

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the amount of stress[br]that's coming our way,

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we can't control the pressure[br]that's coming our way,

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whether it's professional[br]or whether it's personal,

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we will all face life stressors.

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We all have, and we will[br]continue to do so.

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There's not much we can do about that.

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However, there's one thing we can control,[br]and that is the state of our mind.

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I've worked with arguably the most[br]stressed individuals in our society -

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veterans coming back from Iraq[br]and Afghanistan with trauma.

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These young men and women,[br]as you most probably have heard about,

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live in a constant state[br]of fight-or-flight.

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It's as if that stress response[br]hasn't been turned off.

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As a consequence, they cannot sleep.

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They have nightmares[br]if they actually do manage to get a wink.

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During the day they have flashbacks.

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They could be in their car[br]driving on the highway

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and have a flashback[br]of being back in combat.

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They have difficulties[br]in their relationships with other people,

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and they have a hard time[br]holding onto a job,

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let alone going to school.

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One thing that we're seeing[br]in the literature is

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that therapy and the pharmaceutical[br]interventions being offered to them

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in many cases do not work,

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and in many cases[br]are not acceptable to the veterans

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who don't like the side effects[br]or who don't like the treatments.

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So what we wanted to do[br]was do something completely new,

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and that's how we fit into[br]this TEDx theme of "What's New,"

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yet it's also very ancient.

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In fact, it's something you're doing[br]right now: breathing.

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Breathing is the only autonomic function[br]that you actually have a say over.

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It's harder to control[br]- for example, your heart rate -

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but your breathing[br]is something you can control

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at your own volition, if you like.

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When you inhale,[br]your heart rate increases,

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and when you exhale, it decreases.

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When you inhale, you feel energized,[br]and when you exhale, you relax.

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If you deepen your breath,[br]if you slow your breath,

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and in particular,[br]if you lengthen your exhales,

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your heart rate decreases,[br]your blood pressure decreases,

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and you're tapping into[br]your parasympathetic nervous system,

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the opposite of fight-or-flight:[br]the rest-and-digest nervous system,

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calming your whole system.

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Another really interesting fact[br]about the breath

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is how closely linked it is[br]with our emotions.

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You've probably noticed[br]on days you feel very anxious,

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your breath might be[br]very short and shallow;

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the same happens when you're very angry.

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If you look at someone who's very happy,

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like little kids running in the sprinkler,

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you can just see[br]how deeply they're breathing,

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you can practically see[br]their abdomen moving.

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Other examples are sobbing and laughing.

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Those are some very obvious ways

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in which our breath[br]is linked in to our emotions.

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A psychologist named Pierfilippo[br]ran a very interesting study.

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To look at this phenomenon,[br]he invited participants into the lab,

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and he asked them to evoke[br]certain emotions within themselves;

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emotions like happiness,[br]sadness, and so forth.

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He looked at how deeply they breathed,

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he looked at the length of their breath

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to determine whether there was[br]a certain pattern of breathing

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that corresponded to the emotion.

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Lo and behold, he found[br]that there was a very unique footprint

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to each one of the emotions[br]in terms of breathing pattern.

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The more interesting part of the study,[br]however, was the second part,

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in which he invited completely[br]different people into the lab,

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and he only gave them the instruction[br]to do the breathing

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that corresponded to the emotion.

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The breathing patterns he had noticed[br]in the first part of the study,

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he instructed the participants to do,

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and after that, he asked them,[br]"How do you feel?"

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You can probably imagine what he found.

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He found that they started[br]to feel the emotions

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that corresponded[br]to the breathing pattern.

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This is actually revolutionary.

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We've all had intense emotions,

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and we all know how very challenging it is[br]to talk ourselves out of those emotions.

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You can say, "Relax, relax,"[br]or "Don't be so mad; calm down."

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It's very challenging[br]when the emotion is intense.

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It's even worse when someone else[br]comes up to you

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and they think they're being helpful[br]by telling you to calm down.

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(Laughter)

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We invited veterans into the lab,

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and half of them participated[br]in a week-long breathing program

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called Sudarshan Kriya,[br]or SKY Meditation for short.

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This week-long program -[br]they came in a couple of hours a day,

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and they learned a series[br]of breathing techniques,

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and by the end of that week,

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their anxiety levels had dropped[br]to subclinical levels.

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They were able to sleep again.

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After the week was over we wanted to see,[br]"How long does this effect last?"

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so we, again, tested them a month later.

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We found that the benefits had lasted,[br]they were still sleeping.

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They were still feeling better.

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Again, we tested them one year later,

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and the benefits also had lasted,[br]suggesting permanent improvement.

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In fact, there's a documentary film[br]that was made about the study

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called "Free the Mind"

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where you can follow the lives[br]of two of the veterans,

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and the transformations[br]that happen in their lives.

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One of them said,[br]"Thank you for giving me my life back."

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He's now gone on to become an instructor[br]and is teaching other veterans.

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The fact that we can use the breath[br]to impact the state of our mind

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means we have a tool at all times,[br]no matter what we're facing;

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to calm ourselves down,[br]we just need to tap into it.

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Some of you may have stressful commutes.

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You may not like being in the car,

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it raises that anxiety[br]or sometimes anger for people.

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Jake was on probably[br]one of the most stressful commutes

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that you can ever imagine.

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He was the Marine Corps officer[br]in charge of the last vehicle

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on a convoy in Afghanistan.

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All the other cars[br]had passed safely ahead of him.

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Yet his vehicle, unfortunately,[br]drove over an IED -

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an Improvised Explosive Device.

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There was a very large bang.

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When the dust had settled,[br]he looked down,

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and he saw that his legs[br]were fractured below the knee.

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In that moment, he remembered[br]a breathing technique

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that he had learned in a book called[br]"On Combat" by Lieutenant Colonel Grossman

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for young officers.

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It shared a breathing technique

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whereby you breathe in[br]for a count of four,

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hold for a count of four,[br]out for a count of four,

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hold for a count of four,[br]like a square breath.

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In that moment, he remembered it,[br]and he started to breathe in this way.

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Thanks to that,[br]he had the presence of mind

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to check in on his men,[br]make sure they were all OK.

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He had the presence of mind[br]to give orders to call for help.

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He had the presence of mind

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to tourniquet his own legs,[br]to prop them up,

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and only then,[br]when he had done his duty,

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when he had taken care[br]of everything, he lay back,

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and that's when he passed out.

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Later, he found out that had he not had[br]that presence of mind,

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he would have fallen into a coma,[br]or he would have bled to death.

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Jake attended my wedding, he's a friend.

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He's wearing prosthetics,[br]and it hurts him a lot to stand.

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Yet, at my wedding I saw him dance.

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If Jake can have the presence of mind,[br]thanks to the breath,

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so can we.

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It's one of the greatest[br]secrets out there,

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and I really hope[br]you take it home with you,

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because I really think[br]it's an idea worth sharing.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)