Ok, if you’re not breathing you’re likely
to be dead!
but that type of breathing is involuntary
i.e. your body does it automatically
without any thought
Why do we breathe?
When you breathe in, oxygen is
transported to all the cells in your body
When you breathe out, carbon dioxide
is expelled from all the cells along with
some water
Without these two reactions, the cells
wouldn’t be able to function and or
they would become toxic and die
(this is a very simple explanation)
Yesterday at yoga I introduced a
little breathing at the end, this time I’m
talking about controlled breathing
where you are focused on your inhale
and exhale
So, 3 reasons why you need to ‘breathe’
Relaxation / Stress Management
If you are feeling stressed the best thing
you can do is slow down your breathing
which will also bring your heart rate
and your thoughts down too
Lie on the floor on your back (or stay
seated), close your eyes if you can and
begin to breathe in and out through
your nose
place your fingertips on your diaphragm
and aim to breathe from there and not
from your shoulders
breath in for a count of 5 and out for a
count of 5, after a minute or two
increase this to 8 and higher as you
progress
Exercise
So many people hold their breath when
exercising and then get dizzy or feel weak
and need to sit down or go out for air
the main culprits are…
holding an exercise for a length of time
like the plank
Lifting a heavy weight like squatting
with a barbell
Getting out of breath while doing some
cardio
Your muscles need the oxygen to keep
working!
For plank – try the relaxation breathing
but maybe aim for a count of 3 to start
Lifting weights – breath in on the easy
part and out on the exertion, for a squat
this would be in on the way down and out
on the way up
Cardio – if your breathing is very ragged
ease off for a minute or two, get your
breath under control and start again and
try to keep the breath in the diaphragm
and slower throughout
Digestive System
All of your body functions will benefit
from focused and deep breathing as the
oxygen is increased and stress reduced
the parasympathetic nervous system is
activated by slow deep breaths allowing
the body to digest food properly and can
help with IBS, bloating and constipation
I have to admit, I used to find it a bit
boring thinking about breathing, I think
cause my mind travels so fast it seemed
impossible
but I’ve been playing around with it more
and more recently and it is amazing how
something so simple can have such an
effect
I’d love to hear from you if this is part of
your daily life or if you give it a try after
reading this – get in touch x
Carolyne
p.s. if anyone knows how to teach it to a dog
that would be even better (constant panting!)
