It has never occurred to most people that
something they do everyday, every night
– continuously – can be a source of
powerful stress relief.
I remember when my father’s friend was
doing an awards presentation. For
entertainment he said he was going to test
how observant we were. He then told us
not to look at our wrist watches and asked
questions about the color, the type of
watch is was, were the numbers roman
numerals or regular english numbers and so
on. No one was able to answer all the
questions.
Another, better known, story is about
christopher columbus. When columbus
arrived in the new world and landed on his
rowboat…the natives could not see his
ship out at sea! Their familiarity with
their environment and the ocean in
particular was such that they couldn’t
perceive the ship. An elder medicine man
who had the flexibility of perception had
to describe the ship to his fellow
tribesmen before they could see it.
This same familiarity applies to how we
perceive our breathing.
Our breathing is something that we have
become so familiar with that we are almost
completely unaware of its effects.
Consider this, our breath bridges our
conscious and unconscious i.E.
Unconsciously we are always breathing and
at any time we can consciously focus on
our breathing.
This is important to remember because all
our emotional states are reflected in our
breathing. If we are stressed our
breathing tends to be shallow and focused
in our upper lungs.
In fact jerky breathing itself will
actually increase anxiety and stress.
While when we are relaxed we tend to
breathe fully into our belly. Practicing
belly breathing (diaphragmatic breathing)
can be extremely beneficial.
Simply knowing this can make a big
difference like remembering to breath
deeply if you are stressed to feel better.
In other words, you had an unconscious
shallow/jerky breathing pattern when you
were stressed and by consciously taking
control you can choose a breathing pattern
that is better for your mind and body.
(which would be diaphragmatic breathing)
in yoga, breathing is considered to be so
important that before any task a yogi
first prepares his/her breathing. Proper
breath control is considered the key to
healthy living. In fact, learning to do
proper diaphragmatic breathing has been
shown to reduce stress and anxiety
permanently.
Diaphragmatic breathing
sit or stand with your back straight, put
your hand on your belly and breath in a
slow and deep pattern. Don’t try to
overfill the lungs or empty them - just
breath softly - expanding your belly on
the inhale and contracting on the exhale.
Keep your attention focused on your
breathing. You will find that your mind
will tend to drift. That is normal.
Simply return your attention to your
breath when you notice you got distracted.
Allow the relaxation from this breathing
pattern to spread through your body and
just enjoy yourself.
Practicing diaphragmatic breathing on a
regular basis will alleviate stress and
give you the ability to manage your stress
better. All because of some deep and slow
breathing.
Abbas
http://www.Instantstressm
anagement.Com
