Clarification on Valsalva Maneuver vs Bracing.

I've been seeing a lot of discussion lately about the valsalva maneuver and I've seen comments ranging from "If you do the VM you'll pop all the blood vessels in your brain and die" to "If you don't do VM the bar will snap your spine in half."

I know the true answer is probably somewhere in the middle. I've always thought I did the VM but now I'm not so sure. When I squat I take a deep breath at the top, brace my core making sure I feel my core expand all the way around, go down holding my breath, then on the way back up when I'm right around 1/4 depth I exhale a little until lockout, keeping my core tight. So what am I doing? Is this VM, bracing, modified VM?