Breathe with Me
It’s an interesting thing, breath…
Voluntary or involuntary? In through the nose and out through the mouth? Soft belly breaths or deep breaths? “Just breath”?
There are so many ways to look at breath. Though I have been practicing and studying breath since my first trials on my yoga mat, through my graduate work and always with clients, lately I am teaching and experiencing it with greater intrigue. Much of this is due to recently reading Breath. The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor. Have you read it? If not, let me summarize. Our breath is important and HOW we breathe can provide benefits for our immediate and future health. “Healthies”, young, old, those with respiratory conditions such as asthma and sleep apnea, autoimmune issues and folks with scoliosis can all benefit from incorporating a few minutes of breathing practice each day. Will it cure whatever ails you? Mmm, I can’t guarantee that. Will it contribute to your overall health and wellness? Most definitely.
I have long been interested in whole body wellness. In fact, the very reason I switched from biochemistry to biopsychology in my undergraduate work at UCSB was because “biopsych” had so much more real life application. For example, how the brain influenced our behavior and vice versa. What I didn’t realize at the time, but have come to after years of teaching movement, is that we have a tremendous amount of opportunity in the “proper care and feeding” of our bodies to contribute to our whole body heath. Elements such as food, exercise, sleep, relationships, self care, job satisfaction, laughter, touch, etc, etc. are all contributing factors. Breath seems to be another area (right at the tip of our nose!) that we can hone as a tool for wellness.
Since reading Breath I have been practicing many of the breathing techniques, some of which are familiar to me from my yoga practice, and others, like box breathing used by Navy Seals, which are new to me. Not only do I feel the benefits of taking time to exercise my breath, but I am also inspired to share the techniques. It is clear to me that mindful breathing is something that ANYONE can do to add quality to daily life by stress reduction, increased respiratory strength and support to the immune system.
