And Breathe...

Recently I’ve become quite captivated by the subject of breathing… Most of us don’t give it a second thought apart from taking a few gulps to calm ones frayed nerves, or focusing on breath during a yoga practice. In my own life I’ve delved into ‘pranayama’ during my Kids Yoga studies in India, as well as observing breath within Meditation. But it was only when I read the brilliant book “Breath, The New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nestor, did I truly grasp the importance of breathing! I know it seems an obvious statement – without the breath we no longer exist, but its HOW we breathe that can completely turn our health around, and bring peace to an anxious and fearful mind. Mr Nestors’ key observation in his informative book is that we have become serial mouth breathers causing a multitude of health issues including sleep apnea, crooked teeth, facial deformities, gum disease, asthma, allergies, respiratory issues, and worsening symptoms of other illnesses… (scary stuff!) Relearning to habitually breathe through the nose, is the cornerstone to regaining our health.

For many of us already practicing controlled breathing, the focus tends to be on how deep we breath, but really it’s the quality of our exhale that makes all the difference – getting rid of as much of the air from our lungs that we can, so we can take more in. Slowing it down and breathing LESS is key. So what is the perfect breath? According to James the magic number is 5.5 – “breathe in for about 5.5 seconds, then exhale for 5.5 seconds. That’s 5.5 breaths per minute for a total of about 5.5 litres of air.” You can practice this for a few minutes, or a few hours, but just get practicing!

(See the link below for Dr Rangan Chaterjee's interview with James Nestor – it’s rather long at 90min but well worth a listen, with an abundance of helpful insights that have proven life changing for many.)

As I began placing my awareness on my own breathing patterns, I noticed how habitually I hold my breath, in fact it’s a miracle I’m still alive with the amount of time I spend hovering in that ‘dead zone’! I thought this might be the case whilst watching something riveting on telly, or concentrating on a difficult task, but the reality is there are many moments in my day that I am left devoid of that life giving exchange of CO2 and O2! The consequence of this bad habit, is fatigue, headaches, tension and general stress on the body and mind. Having done much work in mindfulness (awareness of our thoughts moment to moment) I was intrigued at how little attention I had given to my breathing, moment to moment. The importance of this became apparent to me when considering the use of daily affirmations (using positive statements to shift negative thoughts and beliefs that we may have accumulated over a life time) Unless our breathing mirrors the emotive frequency of the affirmations we are practicing, our attempts will be fruitless. So for example, let’s take the statement “I am calm and at peace”. If, like so many of us are, you are taking habitual shallow breaths in and out of the upper chest, rather than using the full diaphragm, the sympathetic nervous system is triggered, creating the chronic stress response state that most of us have unwittingly become accustomed to. It would be very difficult to bring the mind into a state of calm and peace when our body, through our breathing patterns, is being told otherwise. But if we slow down the breath, drawing it into the belly and use the whole of the diaphragm, now we have the perfect foundation to work with our affirmations – I am healthy, I am well, I am calm, I am at peace….and so on. Of course mindfulness of breath is not only crucial when working with inner mantras, but anchors us into the present moment, so that we can let go of worrying about the past or the future, help reduce stress and anxiety and even provide certain types of pain relief. In fact the physical, mental and emotional benefits are plentiful, but you don’t need science to confirm that, just try it for yourself, and see how much better you feel.

Todays challenge - In this moment choose what you would like to bring more of into your life, take a long slow deep breath in, and as you exhale, within your mind, repeat your affirmation. When you bring your mantra and breath into alignment, anything is possible.

Happy breathing!