THE BREATHING BELLY

BREATH

The first pose of yoga is simply a breath. Inhaling slowly through the nose, pausing, and then exhaling through the nose or mouth and again pausing to just notice how the body responds. Most classes begin just sitting, eyes closed and allowing your breath to be the focus, shutting out everything else to allow the sound of silence to overtake you. This is done to prepare you to listen to what the body needs, and where the tightness needs stretching.

SILENCE

When was the last time you sat in silence and let your brain rest? What are your thoughts on allowing yourself a daily time to be quiet without anything vying for your time and thoughts? An experiment I assign students is to sit quietly watching a flame or going for a walk-in nature with nothing in your ears so that it is just you, your breath, and your thoughts.

UNCONNECTED

Turn everything off, no music, no TV, turn your phone off, take the smartwatch off, and allow yourself to have a period each day that you are completely unconnected. Notice if it is hard for you, does your anxiety amp up because nothing is stimulating your brain. Boredom is the beginning of creativity. Let yourself get so bored that your mind kicks into creativity such as writing a story or building something. This is the reason a yoga class makes one feel so good afterward. The instructor guided you to quiet your mind, feel your breath and listen to what your mind/body wants to say. Listening to your body lowers anxiety and allows you to have a balance between brain and body.

FOCUSED BREATH

Consciously focusing on just the silent sound of your breath, allows you to breathe deeper. Breathing deeper aids in the secretion of waste by as much as 70%. Deeper breathing, consciously using the entire lung field regulates blood pressure, calms the nervous system, and increases oxygen to your blood and brain. The reason we are suffering from exhaustion, anxiety, and depression is our brains are always on and our breathing is far too fast and too shallow. Our breath is the engine running the whole system and when we short-change it, systems begin to fail.

DESIGN

The Greek word for breath is PNEUMA. Notice it is a prefix for pneumonia, pneumothorax, and such conditions in which the flow of breath is not adequate for the body and thus disease happens. I remind my students those lungs not adequately exercised with deep breathing become like stagnant water in a birdbath where disease can fester. A deep breath is how we enter and leave the world and if neglected in the time span between we will live less life than was intended. Take time today to sit quietly, closing your eyes and allowing yourself to breathe.

Yoga Mom Kimberly