Breathe into change

The Breath

Without it, simply we wouldn’t be here!
But it’s given so little importance to our everyday life! It is said the breaths can soften the most hardened of minds and body and if we took the time to simply turn to the breath, life would seem easier and more calm as it actually would be!

The quality of the breaths are directly related to our energy levels and our emotions.

Remember:
In anxiety and stress: Calm and slow the breaths
In depressions and lack of energy: Quicken and stimulate the breaths
To balance: Try Nadi Shodhana or simply deepen and balance your breaths.

Exercise

Especially at this time of year when the day are starting to get shorter and it’s a little cooler perhaps the year is upon us and we’re trying to maintain routines, and we’re feeling tired then simply, just breathe!

What would happen if for just this week, you set your alarm 2 minutes earlier than your normal wake up time and you actually did just 2 minutes of slow deep breaths?

This exercise can also be done on the way to work, in the car, on the train or bus, walking on a morning/evening walk, on the way to get your morning coffee, wherever you could take 2 minutes, sitting at the office whilst working and take some conscious breaths.

Set an alarm on your phone: and for 2 minutes can you simply be still and take conscientious slow deep breaths!

Try it!
…and we’d love to hear your feedback!
Do you feel more calm, centred, energised, easier to get on with the task at hand, more aware of being in the moment?

In class we practice moving with the breaths, we direct the breaths into particular areas of the body to open and we can place hands on the body to directly connect with the breaths.

But when you’re not in the studio, do you carry the benefits of the breaths with you through the days! Do you ever connect to your breaths during your daily life?

Try a week of slowing and deepening the breaths and notice the difference in your energy.

Quality of breaths: The breaths should be calm and steady even though we’re taking longer and slower breaths. Never give up quality for quantity! And yes there are many different techniques of breaths, but this is just about finding some balance, energy and stability as we go through our days, especially if we don’t have a regular breath practice!

Guidelines and Precaution NOTE:
As with any practice, be gentle not forcing the breaths. The body’s lungs, heart and nerves are generally strong and gain added strength with sensible practice, however if you overdo it and exhaust your body and internal organs, they become weak and possibly damaged. There should be no forced or violent respirations, if you get light headed or dizzy, tuck the chin deeper towards the notch of your throat as this is a sign that you are forcing and over-breathing.