Breathing
I always say - we are born breathing and we die when we stop breathing. So it kind of means that everything we do in-between requires breathing!!!
We cannot actually live or do anything well without breathing.
Our body is designed to breathe in and out through the nose.
Correct nasal breathing moves your organs; cells; lymphatic; circulation; blood - EVERYTHING and makes everything you do (in and out) more efficient. You cannot live without breathing!!! Every cell in your body requires oxygen to transport it in! So it makes sense to make it a priority, dontya think?!!!
Remember all the body is systematic and runs on systems. Your body only knows 2 types of breathing patterns. Parasympathetic breathing (in through the nose) which activates the system of “all is well in my body” therefore less stress = less cortisol production = less inflammation. We want to breathe through the nose to keep this system as the GENERAL state of the body. This is the most vital foundation to create.
The other system - sympathetic (in through the mouth) is the stress system which means the body thinks it’s in stress. So if you are a mouth breather, you are causing an unnecessary stressed state for your body which it just does not need with all the workload it already has. Stress is normal, but we want to keep, or save this sympathetic state for when we genuinely need the body to fight for us ie if we are being chased by a bear, or need to run fast to the finish line. We DON'T want this to be our general state of the body. Chronic stress is what is dangerous.
I cannot stress enough the importance of breathing correctly. It’s the pump!!
Here’s one of my favourite breathing patterns, with a video to demo: https://youtu.be/2csNZyqsv9A
Using your pulse as your counter, start breathing pattern of:2 counts in, hold for 2, out for 2, hold for 23 counts in, hold for 3, out for 3, hold for 34 counts in, hold for 4, out for 2, hold for 4Keep going up as you feel comfortable then count down again until back to 2.A reminder that using your breathing and a sense (in this instance it’s touch) is a brilliant way to calm your autonomic nervous system - which is your breathing and heart rate!!Happy breathing!All reactions:11
