Just Breathe
As an Occupational Therapist, I teach breath work to my clients as a stress management tool. Breathing helps calm the Nervous System. It’s like hitting the reset button on the computer.
In my recent reading on the Vagus Nerve (Tenth Cranial Nerve), I discovered that we can’t easily take a deep breath when we are feeling threatened and unsafe. When we pause and consciously take a deeper breath from the abdomen up into the chest, our body sends a message to the brain that everything’s OK and it’s safe to switch from Fight-Flight mode into Rest-Digest mode. It helps move us towards a healthier state of being.
I believe most of us are walking around with a low level of our Sympathetic Nervous System on “alert mode”, ready for Fight-Flight mode. Our body is prepared for survival. This causes chemical responses and causes our heart rate to be higher, our digestive track to slow down and numerous other systems to not function properly. Over time, this leads to various health conditions and dis-ease processes. When we pause regularly to rest our body’s alert stage and activate the Parasympathetic Nervous System, we begin to live with greater ease (shifting away from dis-ease) and allow the body’s innate wisdom to move us towards greater health.
Many people learn to use breath to increase their vitality and wellness when they study Mindfulness or Yoga, QiGong or Tai Chi. My favorite breath-work practice was breathing in for a count of 4, holding for a count of 7 and exhaling for a count of 8. My new breath-work practice, based on the Fibonacci sequence of numbers found in nature, is to breathe in for 3 counts, Hold for 5 counts, and breathe out for 8 counts. You might want to experiment with that sequence and see what you notice!
Breathing is an important way to reduce our stress levels. It helps you think clearly. It also helps oxygenate the tissues, which appears to prevent the growth of cancer cells in some studies. We all need to breathe. Many of us breathe from the upper part of our chest instead of our diaphragm. Try this experiment to determine if you are breathing correctly. Lie down on a flat surface and place a box of tissues on your stomach. Now breathe normally. You should notice the box rising and falling with your breath cycle. If it is not doing this, pay attention to drawing the breath into your lower abdomen and filling this area before filling your upper chest. Practice this for a few minutes until it feels natural.
Slow breathing while smiling and moving your eyes activates different parts of the brain, promoting deep relaxation. Find a rectangle object in your line of vision. Look at the upper left corner. As your eyes move to the upper right corner, inhale for a count of 4. Hold your breath for a count of 4 as your eyes move to the lower right corner of the object. Exhale for a count of 4 as your eyes move to the lower left corner. Now hold your breath and smile while your eyes return to the upper left corner of the object. Repeat several times.
I wonder what would happen to our society’s overall health, if we each took time to pause and breathe deeply, every hour? I wonder if that would reset the body’s blood pressure or heart rate or digestive track over time and move us toward greater health? Would it cause us to slow down and think before we act? We all need to breathe each day. What if we intentionally made a point of conscious breathing for a few moments each day to improve our whole being health?
Reflection: Take a few moments and breathe mindfully right now. What is your natural cycle of breathing? How often do you consciously take a deep breath throughout the day? What do you notice?
