The Art of Breathing

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season.

Today’s topic is breathing awareness. I realize this may sound odd since we are constantly breathing and never give it a second thought, but many people don’t comprehend how impacting it is. If we alter our breathing and make slight improvements our quality of life will experience a complete shift.

Now you may question this because we breath every day without thinking about it, its probably the simplest part of your day. What you don’t realize is that even though this is one of your easiest tasks, you are impatient with it and rush your breathing. Many people are so caught up in their day that they do not take full inhales and exhales, causing more stress and negative effects on the body, mind, and mood.

Don’t fret, a few simple steps will allow you to reverse this damage and live a less stressful life.

Awareness
First you need to be aware of your breathing: when an individual is stressed or panicked their body goes into fight-or-flight mode, which causes them to have an adrenaline rush and to take in short, rapid breaths, which is retained in the chest. To reduce this stress we need to take deeper, slower breaths, allowing us to take part in belly breathing. By taking the time to focus our breathing we allow our body to calm down and we also retain a consistent flow of energy throughout our day.

Emotional Impact
Many of us experience emotional roller coaster rides and allow the negative feelings to linger longer than they need to. By consciously breathing we can kick those feelings of depression, anger, and fear to the curb. Whenever you feel those emotions sneaking up on you…..just take some deep breaths. You know the ones where you expand your tummy. Don’t try to be cute and hold your stomach in. Society has make us feel that out stomach is suppose to be flat and firm at all time. This is so far from reality. It is only when you take those deep breaths that expands your stomach does the oxygen actually is able to go thru your entire body. When we take those shallow small breaths you are really only surviving. And over a period of time it eventually affects your posture and overall health.

As a side note, I have to mention those of you who are always wearing the body sculpture suits to help you have the hour glass shape is really not helping your health. With those suits you are unable to take the deep breaths that your body needs. And over a period of time you are actually affecting the flow of fluids in your lymphatic system and nodes.