Breath Work

Yes, we all breathe but how do we breathe is the question. Often our lives are filled with chaos and stress from the fast-paced, achievement-based world we live in, but does it have to be that way. Ancient traditions from yoga, martial arts, tai chi, qi gong, meditation and more all praise the value of conscious breath work. Yet, many of us continue to go through our lives breathing in an unconscious way that is guided by our autonomic nervous system. “What is wrong with that” you may ask, “breathing is natural and my body is doing just fine, thank you very much”. Well, is it really?

Recent scientific research in Neuroimmunology, meditation and breathing indicates that many of us have restricted shallow breath. We are generally not conscious of it but the results of such restriction can show up in the form of asthma, mood disorders, digestion issues, and immune system disorders, to name just a few.

Andrew Weil, Deepak Chopra, Candace Pert, and many others speak at length about the high value of breathing in a controlled and conscious way. Most often, we utilize only small portions of our lung capacity (the upper 25%) and leave the remaining lower section of our lungs underutilized. Our lives are often filled with stress and chaos, and that puts our system into a state of continual Fight-Flight. We breathe in accordance with that state and deplete our bodies and our minds of resources that are necessary.

The problem is that our bodies are not designed to be in a continual state for frantic attention. The stress hormones surge through our system and redirect nutrients to systems in our body that are necessary for Fight-Flight. The redirection of nutrients and body resources tends to deplete other systems that are necessary for regular daily function and ongoing healing. In the long term, these depleted systems show up in our bodies as mood dysfunction, immune system dysfunction, digestion issues, and impaired judgement to name a few.

So, what can we do?

Start to breath in a conscious and informed way. There are many good books on the subject of meditative breathing, relax response breathing, and conscious breathing. A quick Google search will provide a number of authors of books, CDs, and DVDs who can help with the details.

One simple breath technique that I often use when I am meditating is very helpful for reducing agitation, high emotion, and impulsive thought and it goes like this:

Slowly breathe in to the lower part of your abdomen (lower lungs) Continue by consciously filling the middle and then the upper part of the lungs Hold for a short time and then release your breath through your nose in a slow controlled way.

Now, this is not a competition so if you feel yourself gasping for air or feeling dizzy then you are trying too hard. The idea is to breathe consciously and to increase your capacity but it is not a competition and you are not looking to enter the Olympic breathing team. If you can take 10 conscious and complete breaths then you are on your way so start slowly and build from there.

Research indicates that conscious and full breath can increase oxygen levels in the blood, enhance hormone production, improve brain chemistry, enhance immune response, increase pain tolerance, and assist the healing process.

About Admin-Blog-SJT

Paul is a Family Counsellor, Psychotherapist and Reiki Master with a Masters Degree in Counselling Psychology who has been working with clients in Peterborough Ontario and surrounding area since the late 1990s. Over the years he has been involved in family & individual counselling and has received training in diverse and esoteric practices such as Hypnosis, Shamanic Journeying, Remote Viewing, Reiki, Philosophy, Integral Theory, and Spirituality, to name a few.
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