Think it through and breathe!
By Karen Crosby
My very first article was from the February 2015 issue and covered some yoga breathing techniques, as well as how the correct breathing is vital to our health and wellbeing.
As a yoga teacher and stress management consultant, I am always finding ways to teach people the importance of correct breathing.
As mentioned in that first article, we tend to habitually breathe too shallowly when we are living in this busy world, but this is not using the lungs properly and can lead to all kinds of medical problems.
Stress and a busy world tends to be the reason we don’t breathe properly, and long term effects can cause: -
Insomnia, dizziness, depression, anxiety, rapid heartbeat (palpitations), high blood pressure and panic attacks.
The physiological effects on the body of not breathing deeply enough means our skin is not receiving enough fresh oxygenated blood, the carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are affected (we do need some CO2), the cells cannot maintain the right balance of acidity needed to function properly, and the mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide is not correct.
If, after reading this article you stop even four or five times a day to slowly breathe in and out through your nostrils, you will see a difference to how you feel within a week!
This seems a sweeping statement, but really it is true. When we breathe deeply and use our lungs fully we become calm and relaxed by releasing our natural feel good chemicals into the bloodstream like serotonin (usually low or lacking with fibro sufferers), melatonin (chemical needed for sleep) and our natural pain killing endorphins to combat the many types of pain we face on a daily basis.
Breathing deeply and slowly boosts our immunity and keeps infections and illness at bay and a good supply of oxygen to the brain helps us to supress the effects of stress on the body by supressing stress hormones like adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine.
Here are some techniques to use when you find time throughout the day, or to be used as much as possible when you can: -
1. Ratio Breathing: - Sit with your back straight, lower spine supported, shoulders back and down and looking straight ahead so that the neck is above the spine and you are not hunched forward. Close your eyes, relax the shoulders and neck and let the face melt downward with the teeth unclenched. Breathe in slowly for a count of five in through the nostrils, and out for the count of five through the mouth, repeat 5 times. Then begin to lengthen the breath for longer counts, but do not strain the breath, just naturally filling and emptying the lungs. Do this breathing in and out through the nostrils now, slowly and build up to lengthening the out breath for a few counts longer than the in breath. Do this for as long as you have, take your time, and even 5 minutes will make a difference, longer is even better. We all have to take time to have a bath, shower, make a drink/lunch, so in the very least you can do it during these activities instead of sitting.
2. Mantra Breathing: - Sit as above, or lie down on the bed or floor, with or without a pillow/cushion and tuck the chin down towards the chest to keep length on the back of the neck (use a support if you are not a yoga practitioner). Arms out to the sides and palms face up, legs flopped out to sides, with feet relaxed outwards (this is savasana in yoga and is used for relaxation). Imagine a personal phrase or mantra that is suitable for your current day to use with your breath, for example: - “I breathe in peace and breathe out stress”, or “I breathe in healing, I breathe out pain”, or anything that works for you. Now say your first part on a deep in-breath, and your second part on a slow out-breath. Repeat at least 20 times or more if you can. This promotes positive thinking and combats stress.
3. Colour Breathing: - Get comfortable as above, imagine you are breathing in and surrounded by any colour of the rainbow, whatever colour comes to you on the day, and imagine each time you breathe in you are filling your body internally with this colour and that it is healing and calming. I love this one it is so relaxing and I can do it for a long time and end up falling asleep!
The next part I want to cover with you, which to me is very important, is that slow and full breathing helps a lot to cope with pain calmly and with balance. The reason for this is that (as I teach in my stress management workshops) most of the pain we experience is owing to our emotional reaction to the pain! This is scientifically true, and since I have learned that by keeping calm and breathing deeply takes away the fear and stress of pain, it does go a long way to that pain not affecting us as bad as it could! I actually went through a major operation years ago, and did not use my morphine drip afterwards because I used my yoga breathing techniques! Think what it can do for you using it every day during fibro pain!
Please give these techniques a try, see what works for you