Take a deep breath in and hold it…hold it…hoooold iit…….. how long do you think you could hold it before you collapse? At best a couple of minutes, right? But in those same few moments i’m sure you could quite easily live without food, water, a house, friends, and even money. But even 5 minutes without breathing, without air, means you completely loose your life. So if your breath is so important, why don’t we spend more time focusing on it?
In yoga ‘Prana’ is considered the life force within us that lives within the breath. If even for a moment you are holding your breath, you cease to exist.
So many of us hold our breath when we are stressed, or have shallow breathing in day to day life, when we are nervous, anxious or even concentrating. You may even do it without knowing. The problem is that it causes further tension and stress in the body, and reduces oxygen to the brain, contributing to anxiety making us tired and foggy in the mind.
So today, I urge you all to bring your attention to your breath. Spend just a few moment noticing how you breathe, how long are your breaths, how deep are they, and how often do you hold your breath each day? You can do this at any time, at work, on the train, in the car, even while making dinner.
It’s about bringing awareness to your breath.
If you want to take it further you can practice the following breathing exercise each morning to help deepen your breath, regain focus and calm the mind.
Exercise: Sit up tall in a comfortable position, preferably somewhere quiet and alone. Close the eyes and just bring awareness to your natural breathing pattern. After a few minutes take a deep breath in counting to 4 and exhale to the count of 4 (Repeat 3 times). Then bring your count up to 5, inhaling to the count of 5 and exhaling to the count of 5 (Repeat 3 times). Then bring your count up to 6 inhaling to the count of 6 and exhaling to 6 (Repeat 3 times). Continue to 7 or even to 8 if you can and then return to your natural breathing pattern.
Happy breathing!
