BREATHE BETTER

BREATHE BETTER

Wow. What a profound statement. We breathe in and out an estimated 17,000-23,000 times a day without thought and breathing is a missing pillar of health? WTH?? Take a moment and focus on your breath right now. Don’t try to change it or manipulate it. Is it shallow? Deep? Rapid? Slow? Where do you feel it? You know what, even I just did that and I was practically holding my breath!

Therefore, when you are breathing dig deeper to the question, why am I holding my breath. Am I stressed right now? Yep, sure am! Now what?

Nestor goes on to say, “Like all Eastern medicines, breathing techniques are best suited to serve as preventative maintenance, a way to retain balance in the body so that milder problems don’t blossom into more serious health issues. Should we lose that balance from time to time, breathing can often bring it back.” So breathing helps me come back into balance? Think about Yoga Sutra 2.50, “As the movement patterns of each breath- inhalation, exhalation, lull – are observed as to duration, number, and area of focus, breath becomes spacious and subtle.”

Many yoga teachers including myself will cue you to observe your breath. Nestor states in the book and I have produced this beautiful imagery in my classes many times, “When a wave comes, it washes over you and runs up the beach. Then, the wave turns around, and recedes over you, going back to the ocean…. This is like the breath, which exhales, transitions, inhales, transitions, and then starts the process again.” Tune back into your breath for a few minutes. Rise and fall. Use the imagery of the wave.

What happened? How do you feel? Was there change in your breath? How you felt? Your emotions? Your focus? Amazing. One simple task. Breath. Just Breath.

If you missed my Somatic Escape: Breath Better class, you can purchase the recording here.