A Healthy Spirit = A Healthy Body & Mind
TRY THIS SIMPLE, YET EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUE TO START!
Do 3 sets twice a day, 3 when you rise and 3 before you rest from your day
Do 3 sets twice a day, 3 when you rise and 3 before you rest from your day
The Big Regulation of Breathing
The breath:
Our breath is directly connected to our consciousness and immediately reflects our thoughts and feelings. When we are relaxed and calm, we breathe slowly, evenly and deeply into the bigger, bottom part of our lungs. This is called abdominal breathing or belly breathing. Our lungs are shaped like pears – small at the top and big at the bottom. When we breathe into the bottom of our lungs, we get much more oxygen from each breath because the lungs are bigger and there are more blood vessels in this large part of the lungs. We use our diaphragm muscle to take deep breaths. The diaphragm is between your chest and abdominal area, and it contracts and pulls down on the lungs to bring air in and relaxes and pushes up to expel air out of the lungs. When we are breathing in this way our tummy expands when we inhale and falls when we exhale. Our shoulders and upper chest do not move.
Why is your breath so important?
Our bodies consist of many different systems that all work together. Some of these systems we can easily control, like the muscles we use to move our arms and legs. Some we are unable to consciously control, like our endocrine system. Our respiratory system, our breathing, functions automatically, if we don’t pay attention to it, but if we focus our awareness on our breath, we can easily begin to change the way we are breathing.
Because we can easily control our breathing, and because our breathing is directly related to our thoughts and feelings, we are able to use our breath to help us regulate the state we are in. In other words, we can use our breath to control the Fight or Flight Response and get ourselves back into a relaxed, calm state.
Our breath is directly connected to our consciousness and immediately reflects our thoughts and feelings. When we are relaxed and calm, we breathe slowly, evenly and deeply into the bigger, bottom part of our lungs. This is called abdominal breathing or belly breathing. Our lungs are shaped like pears – small at the top and big at the bottom. When we breathe into the bottom of our lungs, we get much more oxygen from each breath because the lungs are bigger and there are more blood vessels in this large part of the lungs. We use our diaphragm muscle to take deep breaths. The diaphragm is between your chest and abdominal area, and it contracts and pulls down on the lungs to bring air in and relaxes and pushes up to expel air out of the lungs. When we are breathing in this way our tummy expands when we inhale and falls when we exhale. Our shoulders and upper chest do not move.
Why is your breath so important?
Our bodies consist of many different systems that all work together. Some of these systems we can easily control, like the muscles we use to move our arms and legs. Some we are unable to consciously control, like our endocrine system. Our respiratory system, our breathing, functions automatically, if we don’t pay attention to it, but if we focus our awareness on our breath, we can easily begin to change the way we are breathing.
Because we can easily control our breathing, and because our breathing is directly related to our thoughts and feelings, we are able to use our breath to help us regulate the state we are in. In other words, we can use our breath to control the Fight or Flight Response and get ourselves back into a relaxed, calm state.