By Rosa Ghidella, Director, Haberfield Naturopathic Centre
New Energy - Do you find that each year is busier and more chaotic than the last? Are you typically running on empty, tired, unfocussed, and exhausted? Is your life typically one of stress, chaos and disorganization? Do you find that relaxation is beyond you?
We live in a world of constant flux, change, uncertainty and high stress. We strive to achieve more, have more and do more. We live in an environment of ongoing, never-ending information and sensory stimulation, an environment where our minds rarely switch off. While this is not news to any of us, what we often lack is an understanding of how to deal with constant stress of every day living.
We all want to achieve more, to somehow improve our health and our lives and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. However the problem is that we often look for the solution outside of ourselves, out in the world beyond. If only the job was less challenging, the boss was more human, the money was better, the bills fewer, the kids smarter.........
There is an endless array of excuses to keep us stuck in chaos.
Looking outside of ourselves for peace and harmony only affirms the sense of not being in control and reinforces the unease and ongoing stress of our lives. We will constantly try to compete with others to achieve more and have more. What we forget or don’t realise is that we are capable of being more.
In all of us, despite the external chaos, despite the ongoing stress of life, exists a centre of stillness – a centre where stress and chaos can be set aside for a sense of peace and wellbeing.
One way to access this stillness is through our breath.
Our breath is the source of life. Throughout history the breath has been associated with energy, peace and strength. We breathe daily, minute-by-minute, second by second, without any thought to it. It is a natural function of our bodies.
However, most of us breathe incorrectly. For most of us, our breathing is usually shallow and ineffective, breathing only into the upper part of our lungs, rather than deeply into our diaphragm. Shallow breathing itself can create a sense of anxiety and stress.
How we breathe can bring on or turn off specific emotional states. Just watch the peaceful rise and fall of a young child deep in sleep – that alone can bring on a sense of peace. By adapting the way we breathe, we can draw a rich supply of oxygen and nutrients into out blood that will help energize and revitalize us.
Deep breathing allows us to use our entire lungs, providing more oxygen to our bodies, and energizing and rejuvenating every organ and cell in our bodies. Breathing deeply steadies our nervous system, which leads to deeper relaxation and offers a tool to help us to deal better with stress.
“Just as a rope secures a boat so that it cannot drift downstream, so the awareness of our breathing keeps us rooted in the present, and maintains contact with the life presence” - The Bhagavad Gita
So many of us choose mind-numbing activities such as sitting for endless hours in front of a television set or sleeping in as a way of coping with stress. However, relaxation is more than just passive idleness. Deep relaxation requires letting go of our thoughts, living in the moment of silence. Deep breathing can help us achieve this state of stress-free living. Just a few minutes a day can be incredibly powerful.
Proper breathing techniques can help us to better handle the day-to-day stress of our lives.
Leslie Kenton in her book “10 Steps to a New You” says that breathing is more important than the food we eat. Kenton asserts that our breath can affect how we feel, both emotionally and physically, how our skin looks, the energy and vitality we have and even how clearly we think.
“Because breathing is the only one of your body’s functions that can be either completely involuntary or voluntary, it can form a bridge between your conscious or unconscious functions. This makes it possible to look at your breathing to find out how you are feeling and what is happening to your body. It also means you can use breathing to change your energy level or your mood”.
Studies now show that effective relaxation, through meditation and deep breathing exercises, can reduce anxiety and symptoms of stress, promote energy and vitality, improve relaxation, lower blood pressure, treat insomnia, slow your heartbeat down and change brainwave patterns.
Deep breathing can also massage the abdominal organs, therefore aiding digestion and improving waste elimination. Regular practice of deep breathing can significantly improve memory and concentration, improve perceptual ability and creativity levels. On a more serious note, deep relaxation is considered to reduce dependence on negative habits such as drugs, smoking and alcohol.
Regular, daily relaxation practice will make you aware of the enormous power your mind has to alleviate stress and suffering and to bring on a sense of well-being, power to change those things in your life that you want to change but somehow seem impossible to change. What’s astounding is that you can initiate this sense of calm at will just by changing your breathing pattern.
There are many easy simple breathing exercises, which you can easily do to help keep daily stress at bay.
The breathing meditation exercise listed below is just one option.
Try this exercise regularly, especially first thing in the morning. A daily routine of 15 minutes of deep breathing is ideal. Practice is vital. It is only with regular practice that the powerful effects will be fully appreciated.
Enjoy the exercise and watch yourself open up to a new sense of peace and calm and let all signs of stress disappear.
1. Find yourself a quiet place, where you will not be disturbed. Sit on the floor, cross-legged with a small cushion underneath you. If this is too difficult at first, sit in a comfortable chair with a straight back. |
2. Keep you back as straight as possible, but relax shoulders, neck and head. |
3. Rest your hands lightly in your lap. |
4. Close your eyes and take in 3 deep, slow breaths, breathing in and out through your nose. |
5. When you breathe, breathe into your whole chest and abdomen. Notice how your abdomen swells out with each in breath and sinks in again with every out breath. |
6. Simply focus on your breathing. Breathing in and out, in and out. |
7. With every breath focus on the air moving gently through your nostrils. Feel the softness of the breath brush through your nose and enter into your windpipe and down into your chest and abdomen. |
8. Concentrate on each breath. |
9. Let every thought go. Each time a new thought appears, just gently let it go and bring your attention back to your breath. |
10. Repeat this for 15 minutes. |
