The Power of One Deep Breathe.
Ever wonder why yogis are always putting so much emphasis on the breath?
Every day we take over 20,000 breaths. The breath is our most vital and significant tool for navigating life. It keeps us moving from one place to the next, it nourishes our organs and tissues, and it helps us to create more space within the physical body promoting better posture and healthy connective tissues. When we breathe deeply into the belly, the breath pushes down the diaphragm and massages the organs encouraging better function and promoting more efficient digestion.
The power of one deep breathe extends far beyond the physical benefits. The breath also directly impacts and correlates with our emotional state. One deep breath can shift the outcome of any situation. If you are feeling stressed, triggered, or frustrated, taking a moment to pause and come back to the breath can bring you back to the present moment and in-turn back to yourself. How often have you looked back at a situation after having time to process it and thought “I could have handled that better” or “I don’t know what I was thinking.” Many times, we are stuck in a state of fight or flight just trying to survive the day and complete as many things as we can as quickly as we can. When this is the case, we end up sleepwalking through life. The breath wakes us up to the present moment, so we live from a place of integrity and authenticity.
We have become a society of shallow breathers. Check in with yourself right now. How is the quality of your breath? Are you breathing deep into your belly? Or is your breath only filling the upper part of your chest cavity? It is no wonder that stress is the leading cause of illness worldwide.
According to Ayurveda, all illness originates from poor digestion, but I would take that one step further and suggest all illness begins with dysregulated breathing patterns. Without enough oxygen in the blood, the necessary combustion process for digestion and food assimilation cannot happen. Thus, we may experience poor digestion, lack of nutritional absorption, stagnation in the form of constipation, or lack of vitality. Health is experienced when all systems in the body are optimally working in harmony with one another. Therefore, if the respiratory system is not being used to its full capacity, the other systems in the body will struggle to function as well.
The breath is everything! I encourage you to begin a daily breathing practice. The more we practice intentionally breathing to our fully capacity the easier it will be to come back to the breath when life gets a little overwhelming or when you notice your breath becoming shallow.
Try this mindful belly breathing practice to shift your nervous system into a state of rest and digest:
Set a timer for 10 minute
Lay on your back in a comfortable position, bring your hands to your belly and breathe deeply into the space beneath your hands.
Close your eyes. As the belly rises and falls follow the breath in and out of your body with your internal gaze.