Hi
A few years ago I was doing some training in a Kettlebell class with 10 or so other
trainers.
To some of our groups surprise the first 30 min was spent lying on the floor and breathing...that is it.
One trainer walked out saying it was a waste of time (I feel sorry for his clients).
I was blown away(pun intended!) by an exercise we did and how it made us
feel:
- Go outside and lie down (yes the neighbours will talk!)
- breathe in through the nose, taking 3 seconds
- hold for 3 seconds
- breathe out the nose (or mouth if prefer) taking 3 seconds
- repeat the above in and out but adding a second (4 in,
4 hold, 4 out)..then repeat adding a second etc up to 8 seconds (or as much as you can) and then reduce back.
- now....here is the tricky bit...all the time doing this you have to count how many sounds you hear. This is why you are outside.
This teaches you to be present, to control your breath and it quietens your mind as you can't concentrate on all this and have all
the usual thoughts flying about our head.
It also stimulates our parasympathetic nervous system which up-regulates our rest and digest, breed and feed systems..basically it heals us and helps us grow!
Yoga, karate, tai chi etc have had it right for years, everything starts and is controlled by breath. We should be breathing deeply into our tummies,
however the fact we are 'taught' to have a flat tummy (thanks again media!) means a lot of us breathe into our chest.
Chest breathing should be 'reserved' for high intensity exercise and real fight or flight situations
Breathing through the nose, in and out, as deeply as possible and using the diaphragm has huge benefits
to our bodies:
- improved pulmonary function
- imroved cardiorespiratory fitness
- balanced posture
- respiratory muscle length increased, especially diaphragm
- respiratory muscle strength
Next time you are stressed,
nervous, tense or just want to relax...focus on your breathing and you will notice the difference.
Calming ourselves can reduce negative stress and our response to it. Stress can derail many efforts to improve through diet and exercise as can drastically impact recovery.
Ever noticed how if you are in stressed state everything seems to go wrong, even if
totally unrelated to what stressed us out in the first place?
Being calm and present in a parasympathetic state, we could have the same things happen to us that stressed us out the day before...and it slides off us as we are much more in control.
Watch a baby or an animal sleeping...their tummies move in and out a huge amount...its because that
haven't had this process interrupted yet.
I find that any work out I do where I've really taken time to connect with my breathing is on a different level.
Emerging research also connects the breathe to reduction of injuries and even some disease...hopefully we will see more of this emerging.
If if
want to know more, looking into the work of the Postural Connection Institute (PRI) is a great place to start..
Breathe!
J
