BREATH

As you are reading this article, are you breathing? It might sound like a silly question but it's not. I want you to notice your breath at this moment. Are you inhaling, exhaling or holding your breath? Really observe.

As you are reading this article, are you breathing?

Many of us either hold our breaths or take such shallow breaths that we can't differentiate between our inhales and exhales. Unfortunately that connects us to our fight or flight response, our sympathetic nervous system. It's like we're always "on", even when we're resting, watching TV or hanging out with friends.

If you are breathing, most likely your shallow breaths are only reaching your chest, and not going anywhere deeper than that. Our chest breathing is connected to ancient times, when we lived in the wild and really needed to connect with our fight or flight response. When we realized a lion was about to chase us, we would take the deepest breath we could, holding the oxygen up and into our chests so we had enough air to bolt and keep running.

What must be noticed here is that the breath first filled into the belly and then we accessed our secondary breathing location, the chest. We are still living in this fight or flight mode and not accessing the deeper belly breath and it's impacting us tremendously, in a negative way.

We are still living in this fight or flight mode and not accessing the deeper belly breath and it's impacting us tremendously, in a negative way.

As a Personal Trainer, I've worked with so many people, and observed so many more not accessing the deepest breath they can, and even worse, straining all of their neck muscles in their backwards breathing, meaning sucking it all in on the inhale, and causing themselves so much discomfort. It's no wonder why so many people are stressed and suffer a lot of pain in their neck and shoulders. Imagine all day, every day, breathing with tension or taking shallow breaths that relate to hyperventilating more than deep breathing, and doing this for years, and decades.

Imagine all day, every day, breathing with tension or taking shallow breaths that relate to hyperventilating more than deep breathing, and doing this for years, and decades.

The beauty that I've seen in focusing on breathing with my clients is how it doesn't just impact their performance in exercising, but impacts their life, which is really most profound result. It doesn't come easy to most, and old habits are hard to change, but as we make progress and really focus on such an essential aspect of our lives, the work begins to show and people end up feeling amazing.

So why is deep breathing so important to focus on and what's the best way to breathe?

So why is deep breathing so important to focus on and what's the best way to breathe? It's important because breathing is essential to life and deeper breathing is essential to feeling better. If we go a little deeper with our breath, it's because it impacts not just the internal musculature. It allows us to go beyond that fight or flight response and access our parasympathetic nervous system, that rest and digest system. It puts us in control of this amazing tool rather than not being aware of it at all.

The best way to breath generally would depend on your activities but if you know you have access to a full belly breath, then that's the best way to find freedom in your breathing.

To find out how much access you have, I want you to lay face up on a mat on the ground or sit upright in a chair or on the couch. Put one hand on your belly and the other hand on your chest, and with mouth closed, breathe in through your nose. Observe where the breath travels to. Does the chest rise? Does the belly rise? Do both rise? Does one rise before the other?

As you exhale, you can do it with mouth open or closed and think of letting all the air you have inside you go. Just let it all go. And repeat the observation. What moves?

The goal is to get your belly to rise, and the chest isn't necessary but can be secondary. Aim to inhale as deeply as possible and exhale as deeply as possible...

The goal is to get your belly to rise, and the chest isn't necessary but can be secondary. Aim to inhale as deeply as possible and exhale as deeply as possible making each part of the cycle of breath (inhaling and exhaling) more necessary, i.e: the deeper the exhale, the more oxygen your body wants to inhale. If we take shallow exhales, of course we will only need shallow inhales. This deep breathing changes all of that. Try this for 10 breaths, at least.

If you practice this daily for the next week, I'm sure it will help you improve your breathing, help you access parts of your body you didn't know you had access to and help you in your daily life.

Don't be hard on yourself if you're breathing awkwardly, or it's tense, or you access so many neck muscles that you have no idea how to get into your belly. It will take practice and time and it will be so worth it when you can breathe deeply and apply it to so many other aspects of your life. Improve your breath, improve your life. Who doesn't want that?

Improve your breath, improve your life. Who doesn't want that?

Please help me spread the #ThoughtfulThursday idea by commenting, sharing your thoughts and sending this article to those who would benefit from it.

My hope is that these ideas help you in the way you desire them to. 

Thank you,

Tamara

Fitness, Wellness and Nutrition Coach, Personal Trainer, Instructor

EdM, MA Psychological Counseling, NASM Personal Trainer, AFAA Group Fitness, Precision Nutrition Level 1

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