Take a moment, close your eyes and breathe.
How Are You Breathing?
Is your breath shallow, quick, short, do you get enough air, are you blowing out as you exhale? Where does it go in your body? Where does it not go? What does it feel like when you breathe? Does it stop between your inhale and exhale? Is it strong, bold, taking as much in as you deserve, it effortless and easy? Acute observation is how you determine your breathing patterns. You know how your body feels when you breathe and you can make simple corrections to create healthier patterns.
Your breathing affects every function in the body.
When we are babies born healthfully, we breathe correctly. Our bodies have innate knowledge of how to breathe but over a lifetime of being scared, gasping, holding our breath, sighing, shallow breathing, pausing between breaths, having the wind knocked out of us, and so on we form bad habits that constrict our breathing ability. We do all this as a response to cope with our thoughts, fears and beliefs.
Unfortunately we end up with myriad health problems, emotional instability, anxiety and excess stress. Then we wonder how it happened and can’t find the real answers, though we will see every doctor and therapist we can to help ourselves get back on track.
When a person experiences shallow quick breaths, the body cannot receive the necessary oxygen to perform even simple tasks. It cannot bring enough oxygen to the brain and cells for proper functioning.
There are four sections of your respiratory system and if your breathing is compromised in any one of these areas, you will experience illness.
You can easily change an old pattern by giving the body a new one. It will take a little time and patience as your muscles get used to the new way of breathing. The first time you practice Whole-Body Breathing™ you will have an immediate response. Your body will feel it and make the connection that deep breathing helps you feel relaxed. Then your body will naturally want to do it again and again.
What if breathing easier really can make a difference in how you are living your life?
Take a breath, how inflated can your lower abdomen get? Are you gently widening all the muscles so the diaphragm and lower lobes of the lungs can fully expand downward? This is where your health comes into play, as you breathe toward this area, the body is receiving oxygen, cleansing the blood, bringing vitality, aiding digestion, metabolism, and the endocrine system. Every cell in your body requires oxygen to function and when the cell does not get oxygen it is operating on toxins. How long do you think a car can operate on toxic fumes? Same with the human body it will break down system by system if it does not have it's most important fuel.
Symptoms to look for are:
- fatigue
- headaches
- shortness of breath
- taking catch up breaths
- lack of concentration
- poor digestion
- cold hands and feet
- depression
- sore neck and shoulders
- lack of enthusiasm about life and in extreme cases
- asthma and emphysema.
The list is long and all of this might be occurring due to poor breathing habits.
Oxygen deprivation makes the body switch over to anaerobic metabolism, producing tissue acidosis, which can be painful and perhaps more effective breathing is a key to finding help for muscle tension, arthritis and fibromyalgia.
When you begin to breathe properly your health improves, your attitude toward living improves and you have more energy to do the things you enjoy.