Victoria Grace: The Power of Breath
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I want you to think about the last time you were stressed or nervous. How did you come back from that moment? Maybe you let the wave of emotion flow through you. Or maybe you tried to calm yourself down by taking a big, deep breath.
I always thought when someone tells you to take a deep breath, that it was just a technique to get you to focus on something else. But, there is science behind that tip! Clinical studies show that slow, rhythmic breathing positively impacts the brain, calms the stress response, and benefits neurological function, cardiovascular and behavioral health. Victoria Grace, the founder of Muvik Labs, is no stranger to this research. In fact, she capitalizes on these statistics to help address the global mental health crisis, and help children in war torn areas.
Muvik Labs, founded in 2017, is a software company that specializes in AI driven digital therapy solutions. Their BreathConductor app is designed to help people naturally deal with stress. Created through Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research Music and Acoustics, BreathConductor, is a drug free solution to relieve anxiety in as little as three minutes a day. For users, it’s as simple as hoping onto the app, and through guided music and beautiful imagery you sync your breath to the rhythm and let your body do the rest. This app was designed so users could get the maximum benefit with the least amount of effort. But how does just breathing deeply actually relieve anxiety? To answer that question I’m going to get a little technical.
“This approach utilizes musical guidance to help you sync to a more relaxed state naturally. It’s like a body hack you can do anywhere, anytime to combat anxiety” - Victoria Grace
Deep breathing demonstrates the complicated relationship between your parasympathetic and your sympathetic nervous system. Your sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the flight/fight response. Your parasympathetic nervous system is basically the opposite, responsible for relaxing your body after stress, in addition to running life-sustaining functions like digestion and rest. When you breathe deeply, it activates your parasympathetic system to tell your sympathetic system that you’re safe and that you don’t need to activate that flight or fight response. So, just by changing your breathing patterns you can reduce that stress response. This is the “body hack” that Victoria mentions.
BreathConductor is a simple and effective way to “hack” into that complicated relationship between your nervous systems and train your body to relax naturally. The app’s musical choices and visual elements are optimized to communicate non-verbal cues for syncing the breath. In the app demo, you see a lotus flower opening and closing, accompanied by calming music to help you sync your inhales and exhales to the beat. It’s pretty intuitive.
What sets Muvik’s product apart from other digital therapeutics is its adaptive AI technology. BreathConductor creates tailored solutions to best address everyone’s individual responses to stress and anxiety. So, the more you use the app, the better your experience will be. The core areas that the app targets to help users improve are: anxiety management, increased concentration, stress resilience, enhancing listening skills and auditory perception.
At this point you might be thinking that this app sounds great, and you might even be thinking about ways it could be incorporated into your daily life. But what really sold me about Muvik Labs, beyond the tech, was how it’s being used in Palestine.
In 2022, Muvik Labs partnered with the Middle East Children’s institute (MECI) to conduct clinical trials aimed at addressing anxiety in children in regions with ongoing conflicts and exposure to trauma. The stress these children face every day has a direct impact on their education, and MECI was looking for a tool to help increase focus and decrease anxiety. But, the tool had to be on demand, delivered with ease, scalable, intuitive, and cost effective. Enter RespireAR.
Muvik Labs created a bespoke version of BreathConductor, entirely in Arabic, for these clinical trials. The videos were tailored to be shorter, and more engaging, to helpn the children access the benefits of deep breathing with almost no instruction. The clinical trials ended in 2022, and the results were overwhelmingly positive.
“I am the mother of a 2nd grade student. I am happy that my daughter participates in the breathing program implemented at her school because she is more relaxed and happy, and even her behavior is changing for the better when she is back at home.”
“The students participating in the breathing program became more calm, committed, active and energetic during school time. This also affected their academic level.”
Muvik Labs and MECI’s clinical trials are ongoing to assess RespireAR’s effectiveness with adolescents. I think tool could be excellent for teachers all over the world to help teenagers deal with the stress of well, being a teenager. Imagine the benefits of implementing this program here in the US. Maybe it could create a more positive and safe environment for our children to learn. I think it’s worth a try!
If you’re looking for ways to support Victoria and Muvik, follow their pilot here. Also, check out the BreathConductor demo here! The product isn’t on the app store yet, but check out their website for more updates.
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