Hello!
I hope you've all had a fun Summer! Mine has included a hot few days on the east coast (pretending it was the Mediterranean!), a hairy moment driving over the hills when the 'I'm-hail-masquerading-as-a-waterfall-monster' freaky weather hit and a gathering of all the mini and not-so-mini cousins of the next generation in our family with a hilarious attempt at hide & seek! The clearing out of corners, relentless weeding and buying school uniform were I guess less memorable but necessary clearing of the path of the next life-bit. (Eh, dandelions?! Sooooo not finished yet.....)
I've been thinking and learning about breath a lot since I started working as a therapist, it intrigues me so I'll share something of that today. I've often noticed when doing massages that there's a point where a client will unconsciously take a lovely, longer, deeper, slower breath and let it out with all the satisfaction of putting down a heavy load of shopping. I always know there's a beautiful level of relaxation happening from that moment. Which means the body, mind and soul are letting go of all the trying, the tensions, all the have to's, should be doing's and if only's they've been storing up. Making way then for more clarity, less pain from tight, stiff muscles, more joy of just being for a while. More awareness of the body, of now, of just the gloriousness of being alive with all the things we sense and feel.
There's more to it than that though. When we're in a constant state of too-busy, too-stressed, too-much, we tend to breathe less fully. This is an amazing feature of the human body we're in - it means if we're about to be attacked by a bear in the woods, our faster breathing helps us fight (if you're a bit bold that day) or run away (mostly what I'd do). Blood rushes to our legs and arms to get us moving fast, our digestion slows and the body stops focusing on growth and repair (which is quite important at a cellular and every other level). Our shallow breathing tends to be in the tops of our lungs, rather than deeper down towards the belly.
When we let go of all that tension, we relax and tend to breathe more deeply again. The blood returns more naturally flowing to the rest of our body including the crucial areas needing growth and repair. Your digestion works more comfortably, your body gets nourished with a plentiful supply of delicious oxygen, more nutrients are pumped everywhere and you feel like you again. Everyone's set point for this is their own, there's truly nothing to be gained from comparing what level of 'stress' you work well with, with anyone else's (and not all stress is a bad thing, it moves us to get things done!).
Every cell benefits when you breathe more deeply and every muscle relaxes as you knowingly send this message to your body that all is well, no threats need tackled, you can go about your day with clarity, purpose, good humour and whatever else lights you up!
I like humour. Ever think about how much tension we release with a good laugh and what happens to our breath when we giggle?! More on that in a mo......
Since our breath is one body system which will happily work away while we do living or we can focus on and deliberately direct, we can make conscious use of this. It's the first thing we do when we're born and the last thing we do when we pass on, pretty special really! Want some tips?
Here, try this:
1. Before you read any more of this, notice your breathing. Are you breathing slowly or faster than you were aware of? Are you breathing deep into your lungs or shallow breathing into just your upper lungs? Are you breath-holding unconsciously?
2. Try this. Breathe in for the count of 4, then out for the count of 4. Never mind how fast the 4 is ‘supposed to be’, just do it so it feels nice in your body. Relaxed about it. 2 more breaths like that please. You can go a little slower and deeper if you want but don’t force anything.
Forcing ain’t relaxing into it.
3. Now, repeating that but this time for the ‘1,2’ be aware of breathing deep into the lower part of your lungs and for the ‘3,4’ filling up towards your shoulders (your lungs are quite big). It’s a bit like blowing up a balloon, one end always fills up before the rest. Then just let it all out again, as you like – and if you make a big farting noise like a deflating balloon, I will merely roll my eyes.
4. Try 10 breaths like this. Yes, I mean now. It will take around a minute, not that either of us is timing this, right? Relaxed, I said. You’re so worth it. (Please don't do it so much you feel light headed, work with your body, you have nothing to prove!)
My whole body feels a little tingly after 10 of these. A little optimistic smile starts to crinkle the corners of my eyes.
If you do this once an hour, or even just 5 times a day, or dammit even once a day, you’ll let your body begin to get used to this deeper, slower, fuller breathing and in time it might become more unconsciously natural, with all the health benefits happening all by themselves. Nice. And free. Your little cells will be cheering and doing Mexican waves.
Do you want to take it further?!
Breathing deeper into your lower lungs relaxes the diaphragm, allowing more oxygen in with every breath and what relaxes it even more is laughing!
Your diaphragm is like a roof on the room of your abdomen where all these amazing organs of yours live. Spleen, Liver, Kidneys, Intestines, Bladder and all the rest.
You know that sensation of feeling upset or a bit angry about something but you ‘kept a lid on things’? Your diaphragm’s the lid. Feel that sensation in your stomach now, if you remember something like maybe someone said something that they had no business saying but you held in what you wanted to retort (or, like me usually, you thought of the perfectly cutting one-liner 3 hours later, doh!) And it never got out.
How’s your breathing now?
My jaw’s clenched, my eyebrows are furrowing and yep, my stomach is clenching exactly where my diaphragm is. My organs are being affected by this tension. I’m not digesting this comfortably.
So take 3 of these deep breaths now. You might need 5 or 10, or you can come back to this later or you can spend 5 minutes on it now. Until your diaphragm relaxes. You will feel it.
I bet, in that time, something else shifted. Either a little or a lot. Even a fraction. Your remembered that you’ve got this sussed and actually it doesn’t matter so much. You laughed at your own seriousness because….. ugh, I do get a bit over-serious at times, I can also get over it. You went all surprised ‘cos it’s not like you value that person’s opinion aaaaaaanyway – seriously, with those shoes?!! Or maybe you even got a subtle but all-pervasive sense of knowing about something that’s going to take you forward in a way you hadn’t thought of before and it’s lighting you up.
Tension is a guide there’s something to let go of. Let yourself, for one minute, fully breathe into it and watch it shift. Try again, if you need to. Or next time. Listen to your body.
And if it still needs help releasing tension? Who you gonna call?! A decent therapist, that’s who!
Whether me or someone else, because you're worth it.
Swish!