By: Hettie Basil Lighttower
Have you heard the term, “Just breathe!”? What does that mean to you? Does it help you to relax when you hear that? Do you think about slowing down a tad and regrouping? Does it encourage a calming affect and assist you in taking a little bit of control over your emotions, whether they be fear or anxiety or worry?
Just breathing can do all of those things for you and more. It is amazing how much control we have over our nervous system, and we didn’t even know it. It is sad that we are not taught these things in school. There are a lot of things we should be taught in school at a very early age that could have been very helpful in controlling emotions, actions and health. But today let’s focus on our breath.
If you have ever been in a stressful situation and had that good friend by your side and she or he is saying, “just breathe! Take a breath!”, it was helpful, wasn’t it? Just to be reminded to breathe and then you do just that. And then you feel better. How does this help so much?
During times of stress, especially high stress, we have a tendency to tense our muscles up and sometimes they just harden and freeze in place it seems. But focusing on our breath and taking in a deep breath, alleviates so much of that tension. When the tension releases and our blood flow is less constricted, then we can think clearer and more responsibly. Have you heard the phrase “Drink Responsibly”? Well this is “Think Responsibly”!!
Taking a deep breath and even holding it in a bit longer than what we would normally do gets more oxygen into our body. This creates healing and provides life for our cells. All of our cells benefit from this. It is so important for us that there are therapy modalities called “oxygen bars” and hyperbaric chambers where we can receive treatment of oxygen!
Some folks who have lung disease and illness require to be connected to an oxygen tank because they have lost the ability to breath deep enough to collect enough oxygen for their cell repair. The good news is we can do this ourselves by literally focusing on our breath. Athletes do it. Yogis do it. Meditators do it. Martial Artists do it. They all have learned the importance of taking in more of a breath than our automated breathing mechanism does for us day to day.
If you take out the time to deliberately fill your lung to full capacity and hold it there for as long as you comfortably can, then repeat; you will start to experience more vitality, more clarity, more motivation and better health. JUST BREATHE.
Another form of breath work is called the breath of fire. This is when you take several rapid inhales-exhales for a minute and work your way up to two minutes and so on. This method clears your lungs like any good expectorant medication would. This method fills you full of oxygen in a hurry as if you have been to a hyperbaric chamber or an oxygen bar. As a matter of fact you can even experience a high if you do it so fast for so long. You could probably even pass out if you do it beyond the high.
So, breathe responsibly…. Haha. If you are blessed to live rurally and have lots of trees and plants around you, try doing this breath work there, outside. The oxygen levels are higher around the trees and plants as they automatically put off large amounts of oxygen naturally. Many health-conscious businesses now days offer breath classes. They are listed as breathwork. Everything I have just mentioned here are techniques they use. You can certainly do them at home. I will say it is very nice to this work with others and know you are all working together to improve your health and functionality. Many times in a yoga class the instructor will start off with focusing on breathwork. This prepares your body to center on the next thing you will be doing in yoga class.
I hope you try these things out and if you have access to check your blood oxygen levels and/or blood pressure at home, check them before and after your breathwork. You will be able to scientifically measure your results! Good luck out there and give your body the gift of deep breaths!
As always feel free to send in your notions and comments to [email protected]. I will include them in the next available column as per their arrival relative to the publication deadline of Tuesday by 12 p.m. of the same week. If you wish to be anonymous let me know. Kindness is contagious~*