Martial arts practitioners, yoga instructors and Lamaze coaches all know the value of deep, healthful breathing.
The reasons for this are simple: breathing is a life force, something we do from the day we are born until the day we die. This makes it powerful, powerful enough to affect our relationships, facilitate our health, and calm our emotions. But, its power can fall by the waste side if we aren't consciously aware of its capacity through conscious breathing.
Conscious breathing, by definition, is exactly how it sounds: it is a natural breathing technique in which you are fully aware of every breath you are taking. It involves merging the inhale and the exhale with your conscious awareness. There is control of the breath, which enables you to enjoy its continuous flow in and out. This conscious breath helps you move through emotions, fatigue, stress, and pain.
Conscious breathing is a natural breathing technique in which you're fully aware of every breath you are taking, merging your inhalation and exhalation with your conscious awareness.
Breath awareness forms a subclass of the more general awareness of bodily sensations. Because the breath always moves, the sensations of the bodily movements associated with breathing remain with us continually from birth to death.
Here's how you do it simply: Sit quietly or lie down and breathe in slowly for a count of seven, hold for a count of seven and then with the tip of your tongue resting on the inside of your top front teeth, breathe out for a much slower count of seven. Do this seven times at least once a day at first. It will take you from your busy thoughts into your body and will bring you peace, balance and harmony.
The more subtle sensations of the air moving through our nasal and oral passageways also stay with us. To powerfully anchor ourselves to the present, we need only abide in the sensations of each breath, one after another without a break. Since we always breathe, we have the potential to practice breath awareness at any and every waking moment.
This simple act, which can be done almost anywhere at any time, can lower your blood pressure, relieve stress and actually give you better health and more energy.
Most of us don't breathe correctly. For years, I never realized that there was anything wrong with the way I breathed - I inhaled, I exhaled, I was alive, what was there to think about?
But breathing brings oxygen to our blood vessels, and we breathe shallow, short breaths, we don't oxygenate our blood efficiently.
Toxins build up, we feel sluggish and sad, and nothing heals as well as it should. But breathing consciously - just breathing! - can improve your health and well-being in the most fundamental of ways!
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