The Gratefulness Breath

So you just got a little bit of good news. Or you saw the sun break through the rain clouds for a moment of bright light.  Or you saw someone who made you laugh.  

Take a deep breath to really feel that moment of happiness.  Start at the belly, exapand the ribs and fill your lungs all the way to the top of your chest - where your collarbone meets the arm.  Fill up with oxygen, fill up with thankfulness, and then exhale, let yourself relax into that feeling.  

Keep breathing it in, deeply and fully, until you're totally filled with this good thing.  

So some things are falling down, some things are really changing all around us, and new seeds are being planted for better ways.  And the same wonderful things that made us happy before are still there, abundantly.  Breathing them in will help us notice them more, appreciate them, till we see how full our lives are, how much we have.

Happy breathing!

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No Need to Hold Your Breath

Do you hold your breath when you feel stressed? Over the next couple days, notice if you do, and what's happening to cause it (a tough phone call, a certain project, etc.)   

Next, bring in the flow of the breath, keep your inhale and exhale moving as you deal with the issue.  This will help avoid the painful affects of holding patterns in your muscles and cells that occur when everything constricts due to stress, and shift your approach to one of more confidence and peace. Flow is the answer!

Also, notice how your posture is when dealing with a challenging moment. Most times we curl the shoulders in, hunch the back, protecting the insides (physically and emotionally), and hunker down to a small space, sort of hiding from the moment.

If you can bring awareness to your breath, AND straighten the back and pull the shoulder blades down towards your low back, you strike the pose of grace, strength, assurance, and the emotions follow suit. Eventually, the body will remember that you have a new protocol for dealing with challenges. Breath and grace, less fear.

Breath Class every Tuesday night! More info and newsletter sign-up at lotusbodywork.net

Breathe to Shift Your Mood

Great tip by Dr. Andrew Weil from his book Natural Health, Natural Medicine

"By simply putting your attention on breathing, without even doing anything to change it, you move in the direction of relaxation. There are many worse places to have your attention - on your thoughts for one, since thoughts are the source of much of our anxiety...Get in the habit of shifting your awareness to your breath whenever you find yourself dwelling on upsetting thoughts.
 

The single most effective relaxation technique I know is conscious regulation of breath.  I will teach you a yogic breathing exercise I give to most of my patients. It is utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires no equipment, and can be done anywhere.

Although you can do the exercise in any position, to learn it I suggest you do it seated with your back straight. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entire exercise.  You will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue; try pursing your lips slightly if this seems awkward.

First exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.  

Next close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.

Next hold your breath for a count of seven.

Then exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.

This is one breath.  Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths."

(It doesn't matter how many seconds this takes, just that you keep the ratio 4:7:8)

"This exercise is a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system...I would like you to do it at least twice a day.  You cannot do it too frequently.  Do not do more than four breaths at a time or the first month of practice. Later you can extend it to eight breaths."

Dr. Andrew Weil

the Relaxation Response

We've all heard of the fight or flight response.  We get stressed or scared and the heartbeat speeds up, blood pressure rises as arteries constrict, we breathe shallow, quick breaths, we start to sweat, adrenaline pumps, and we are ready to protect ourselves from danger. 

These days the "danger" is something like a meeting or a deadline.  The problem is that if we are continually stressed and eliciting this response, the body is working much harder than it needs to and we're burning energy like crazy, making us pretty tired at the end of the day.

The less famous counterpart to this is the relaxation response. If you're feeling calm and peaceful, you tend to breathe more deeply and slowly, the heart beat is slower, arteries open, blood pressure drops, and energy is burned at a slower pace, meaning we have more for the projects we want to get done when we're not burning it being nervous.

 You can elicit this response willfully by doing some deep breathing.  After 15 to 20 minutes of sitting quietly and focusing on the in and out of breath, studies have shown that the relaxation response takes effect and the body relaxes, more oxygen gets to the brain, and you can focus in a calm way. The more often you practice, the greater the effects.

 

There's a book - the Relaxation Response by Herbert Benson

A Refreshing 2 minute Break

Many studies show that taking short breaks increases your efficiency. Keep that heavy, drowsy, achy feeling at bay by getting more breath, water and stretching. It may decrease headaches and anxiety as well.

Give yourself a 2 minute break every 30 minutes, you will help your body and mind out a lot. Setting a timer helps tremendously. You can download one here: Interval Timer

REFRESHING 2 MINUTE BREAK

1. Drink a glass of water . 30 sec. Get 8-10 glasses a day. At least half a glass per hour.
Have water available at your desk.  Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen. (BYImassage.com) See sample stretches here

2. Breathe Deeply – 30 seconds - 3 to 5 deep, slow breaths.  Breathe into belly, then rib area, then chest. Be relaxed and easy, enjoying the brain food.

3. Stretch/Stand - 45 seconds Pay attention to aches, numbness, tired muscles. Do stretches that target these areas throughout the day. Stretch and rest BEFORE they start bothering you. This helps to avoid Repetitive Stress Injuries like Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. Pick 3-5 of your favorite stretches, and add them to your breathing (inhale, exhale  duringneck stretch., inhale, exhale, during shoulder stretch, etc.) 

4. Close eyes or look at distant object - 10 seconds. If closing your eyes, hold your hand over your eyes to block the light.  This gives your eyes and brain a rest from the quickly flashing computer screen, and cleanses your eyes since we blink less when looking at the computer.

TRY IT! Enjoy a productive, energy-filled day!

More Oxygen Gives you More Energy

Without oxygen we die in a few minutes. It is the most essential vital nutrient for our body. It is like good food. Oxygen aids digestion, skin function, brain function, lightens the workload for the heart, helps the immune system work better and is critical in the production of ATP, the basic energy production for cells.

If it is one of the main needs in producing energy, guess what you'll have more of when you get more oxygen into your body? Something that really helps us have days of productivity and positive outlooks - ENERGY. People just don't seem to have enough of it these days, and things like energy drinks have become a hot commodity. These energy drinks have negative effects and can really jack up your system though, loading the blood with caffeine and sugar. This has been shown to increase the heart rate and blood pressure, causing insomnia, dehydration, over-stimulation of the nervous system, and a big crash afterwards while your blood sugar tries to catch up.

Learning how to breathe deeply, and get more oxygen to your system gives your body more building blocks of energy while soothing the nervous system, lowering heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and helping you sleep. It is a wonderful tool to use if you are starting to feel sluggish, irritable, sleepy or nervous, to give your whole system a toning boost.

Getting more oxygen is as simple as deciding to learn how to breathe more fully and regularly throughout the day, and writing down a time to do it. In my weekly class on BREATH: A Class to Relieve Stress and Relax on Tuesday evenings in Santa Rosa, starting Jan. 27th at 5:30pm, (www.squidoo.com/breathingtips) we will practice breathing techniques for energy and stress management and also design a plan to fit your breath work into your life in a way that will work for you.

Here is a simple exercise to start your new habit:

Sit on the edge of a chair or couch with a straight, relaxed back. Slowly breathe in through the nose, allowing at least 3 seconds for your in-breath. Breath out through the nose or mouth, whichever feels better for you, allowing at least 4 seconds for the out-breath. The longer you sit and focus on your breathing in a session, the longer the inhale and exhale will become. Allow them to naturally expand to longer and longer periods. No need to force it, your body will find its rhythm and its comfort zone. Notice the lengths of the inhale and exhale and realize that it is just right for that moment, whether your breaths seem short, medium or long. The exhale will naturally be a little bit longer than the inhale.

Bring your attention to the belly, and place your hands on it for a moment. Breathe in, and with softness and little effort, allow the belly to puff out with the air coming in. As you breathe out, allow the belly to naturally fall back into place. Feeling this movement with your hands helps to bring awareness to this process.

Breathing from the belly like this allows the diaphragm to do its work, creating space by pushing down into the abdomen to make room for the lungs to expand. (more on the diaphragm later!)

As you breathe in, say to yourself, "in". As you breathe out, say to yourself "out". It is a slow, gentle rhythm you will start to feel. It is like rocking in a boat. You can give into it, let it take you to a place of rest. You give your mind a break, all it has to do is think "in" and "out". Of coarse other thoughts come in too, but you are giving it an easy job, you are allowing it to do less.

The more minutes you can give to this practice, the greater the benefits will be of oxygen in the blood and the relaxation of your body. The more often you practice, the easier it will be for your body to remember this new way of breathing and being.

Good job! Devoting one minute to this will still be a gift to your body. Enjoy this simple way to give yourself more energy and more peace!

How Breathing Well Changed My Life

I'm really excited about offering this series on Breathing because relieving stress and anxiety has been such a lovely journey in my own life.

Part lecture and part practice, you'll learn all about the function of breathing and then physically practice breathing all together. The results are wonderful!

 Right out of college I started an intense job at Shelter Services for Women, an agency that dealt with the problem of domestic violence. For most of my time there I spoke at Health classes in high schools about healthy relationships and abusive relationships. I gave groups at Juvenile Hall and probationary schools, and I loved being with these kids, they taught me so much about life; they had already been through so much. Almost immediately after taking this job, however, I started having stress reactions. I would have have cramps and sweat with pain and be left exhausted. The doctors couldn't figure it out.

After a couple of years I discovered yoga, and was amazed at how much breathing deeply for an hour relieved my symptoms. I became a devoted class member, and a more relaxed person. My husband noticed the change, and never let me skip class! One night I met a massage therapist at the intermission of a play. Her job sounded so good to me - working in a quiet space with one person at a time, lighting a candle, meditating, and I signed up for my certification that week.  I knew my job was hurting me, and starting a career that was focused on relieving stress, and would be peaceful itself, was perfect.

A year or two later I  discovered a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk who teaches the joys of meditation in very simple terms.  (The book was Peace is Every Step.) I went to his retreat and learned that BREATHING, of all things, is the key to meditation, to peacefulness, to life. Breathing in, and breathing out, with awareness, changes the coarse of your thinking, and changes the way your body reacts to situations in life. It taught me to release the stress and pain I didn't need in the out-breath, to receive nourishment and replenishment in the in-breath.

Learning breathing and stretching and massage led to learning about eating and moving and thinking differently, and I changed at a deep level, in small steps.

 It's funny that at 32 I feel much healthier than I did at 21 but it is the truth. Where once I was low in energy, sickly, tired, I am now the person that rarely gets sick, that enjoys a good long hike with my husband, and knows how to handle stress.

The old stress reaction still comes up for me from time to time, and I can recognize it now and listen to it. If I feel it rising up, I know what to do. Be kinder to myself. Slow down, breathe, meditate, all the things I have learned are such a healthy tonic to my body and soul. It sounds like a lot of work, but it's not. Here is MY routine, just for you to see and perhaps you can create one for yourself.

Upon rising in the morning, I grab my journal and write 1-3 pages of whatever comes out, without thinking too much. Let my mind unravel, expell thoughts that might just keep going all day unless I get them out. Next, I unroll my yoga mat and stretch for about 10 minutes. My favorites are hamstring stretches and bridges, they're great for the low back. Next, 10 minutes of sitting meditation and deep breathing. At this point my mind is a little more relaxed, my body awake from stretching, for the sacred minutes of meditating. If I have more time I do more, if less time, I skip an element. But if I am able to do all three at a time, I have started a good day. The good day has more to do with my body and mind glowing rather than the things that happen. Which is a good way to live. With a 30 min. routine 3 times a week like this, you'll definitely see changes.

I'd love to see you at my breath class! Spread the word to anyone who would like to reduce their stress and enjoy life more.