Inspirational
Breathing
Did you know
that the word for inspiration in Latin is ‘Inspare’?
When we
breathe in, we inhale fresh oxygen, new ideas, new life into our bodies. When
we exhale, we are letting go of toxins of negativity and beliefs which are no
longer productive. Learning to control our breathing can help us in a number of
ways. You may notice that when you are in a stressful situation, your breathing
becomes faster and shallower.
I remember during labour with my first child. I forgot to breathe. I panicked. I held my breathe. Baby did appear, very rapidly, but I think I would have been more flowing and calmer had I learnt breathing control. With baby number two, I tried very hard to remember to breathe, but still panicked and wow, it really hurt. With baby number three, I had a false alarm and during the false alarm, I practiced hypno birthing relaxation techniques and breathed and managed to fall asleep and went into a deep relaxation. This helped me relax more when the real labour began.
Normally, we breathe using the upper part of our lungs. The problem is, this doesn’t
remove all of the old air from our lungs, only part of it. By breathing using
our diaphragms, we can train our lungs to remove much more of the old air
stored in them and replace it with fresh air. Not only does the fresh air provide our bodies with more oxygen, by slowing our breath down, it makes us feel more relaxed.
In any situation,
you have a choice in how you react. For example, imagine you are late for an important
meeting or to collect someone and you are stuck in traffic. You can choose to
be stressed or you can choose to be calm.
Should you decide to approach the situation in a calm manner, you can
alter your breathing. By imitating a
deeply relaxed state, you will find your mind will follow and feel more
relaxed. Try breathing more deeply, filling up your entire lungs with oxygen.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and into your belly and exhale through
your nose.
It makes sense that a calm
mind is a much better state to problem solve. Once you are calm, you
will be able to think of more imaginative ways to resolve problems. It’s much easier to find
solutions when you are in a calm state than a stressed one, when you go into
panic mode.
Have a go at practicing the
yogic breath detailed at the bottom of the blog. It may feel a little strange
at first, but once you become accustomed to it, you’ll feel so much better.
While you’re practicing, try and imagine you are breathing in positive thoughts
and energy and breathing out any negative thoughts and redundant beliefs.
Breath is Life. According to Yoga philosophy, our life is
measured in the number of breaths we take.
You may hear
of breathing excercises being called ‘Pranayama’. Searching on Wikepedia, I
found that Prāṇāyām (Sanskrit: प्राणायाम prāṇāyām) is a Sanskrit word meaning
"extension of the prāṇ or breath" or, "extension of the life
force". The word is composed of two Sanskrit words, Prāṇ, life force, or
vital energy, particularly, the breath, and "ayām", to extend or draw
out. (Not 'restrain, or control' as is often translated from 'yam' instead of
'ayāma').
The
reported benefits of Yoga Breathing include:
- ·
Increased
vitality and alertness
- ·
Stress
management
- ·
Improved
sleep
- ·
Greater
confidence and positive thinking
- ·
Improved
concentration and memory.
The full
yogic breath can be carried out using the following technique:
Full Yogic Breath time
1. Close those eyes.
2. Place your hands on your
stomach, slightly interlacing the fingers so that the fingertips come to the
second knuckle of the opposite hand. Your navel should feel cradled.
3. Begin to breathe deeply into
the navel, into the belly (see photo)
4. Practice breathing with a
controlled, slow breath so that you feel the fingers slide apart on the inhale
and back together on the exhale. As much as you try to expand on the intake,
see how much you can expel on the out breath. You may find that you can have those fingertips slide together farther
than they started. Whether they do or do not, the most important thing here is
to work on controlling the breath. Smooth in, smooth out. Notice where you tend
to rush or lose control.
5. Breathe like this 15-20 times
as deeply as you can without discomfort or force.
6. Slide the hands up to your
ribcage. A good estimation is to have your little fingers hang over the edge of
your ribs with thumbs right below the pectorals.
7. Continue breathing, except now
inhale into the belly, in to the ribs. Fill the belly first before expanding
the hands on the ribs. Visualise the breath filling in your body from the
bottom up. First the belly, then the ribs. Feel the ribs expand in all
directions-- not just forward, but sideways and into the back body.
8. As you exhale, retrace the
steps from the inhale. Exhale starting from the ribs, finshing off with the
belly. The navel drawing in should help fully expel your air. Don't force your
breath in either direction, in or out.
9. Repeat this another
15-20 times. Into the belly, into the ribs. Out from the ribs, out from the
belly
10. Separate the hands and place
them on your chest, resting the palms above the heart centre with fingertips
gently curled over the collar bones.
11. Continue breathing. Start
into the belly, into the ribs, into the chest. Filling up your torso with
breath from the bottom up, all the way
to your fingertips. Feel the breath rise along the spine, expanding the insides
in all directions. Exhale the way the breath came in. From the chest,
through the ribs, out of the belly.
12. This is a great time to
remind yourself to keep the spine as tall as possible. Just by following the
breath from the bottom to the top, from the top to the bottom, you're already
mindful of how the spine is stacked.
13. Repeat this 15-20 times.
Source of yogic breath instruction:
Daniel Scott
