How you Breathe matters...
Back from the holidays and feeling overwhelmed with the amount of things to catch up on? Getting back into the routine, back to school, juggling between work, family, staying fit and sane? I feel you! So read on if you want to have a few tips on how breathing really matters when it comes to coping with challenges and stress.
Breathing is highly underestimated. We breathe around 22000 TIMES per day. We do so without even giving it a second thought. Yet conscious breathing holds an incredible power! So how about spending a few minutes per day actively thinking about it?
Breathing with intention and consciousness has a positive impact on :
1️⃣ Your MOOD
2️⃣ Reducing your STRESS
3️⃣ Your YOUTHFULNESS
4️⃣ Your POSTURE
5️⃣ and last but not least your ENERGY of course!
The great news is that you can start breathing with awareness ANYTIME and ANYWHERE in ANY POSITION you are in!
There is so much to be said on breath that it is hard to sum it up in a few sentences. How about starting to bring awareness to your breath right now as you are reading this?
Are you breathing through your nose? Your mouth? or a mix? Are your breaths deep or shallow? Are you breathing from the belly or the chest?
The first step starts by OBSERVING YOUR BREATH.
Here's how you can improve the quality of your breath right HERE and NOW
1️⃣ INHALE AND EXHALE through your NOSE. This is what the nose is made for! The mouth is for speaking, eating and drinking. Simple, yet so many of us have forgotten the art of breathing though the nose! Sounds silly but you will see how many times you catch yourself breathing through the mouth...
2️⃣ SIT UP STRAIGHT. It is just basic physics. You will be able to inhale more oxygen and let out more CO2 when you are standing/sitting straight, rather than if you are slouching.
3️⃣ SLOW DOWN YOUR BREATHS.
4️⃣ INHALE AND EXHALE for equal length.
5️⃣ VISUALISE the air travelling from your nose to your lungs and entering each cell in your body making this thing called life possible! Take a minute to appreciate and be grateful for being present now, and being who you are.
REPEAT!