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Learning
How to Breathe
by Anna Coy |
Learning How to Breathe Will Change Your Life. It
is the key to abundant energy, peace and wholeness. If
you are not breathing fully and deeply then you are
missing out on the fullness of life.
I got into breath work as an act of sheer desperation
and it dramatically changed my life. I was terribly sick
with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which I had been dealing
with on and off for nearly seventeen years. I also had
severe allergies, asthma, Candida and my nose was
completely clogged with polyps. I could not breathe at
all through my nose and then with asthma on top of that,
it was a fight just to get air into my body. I spent
thousands of dollars trying to get better and no one had
any answers for me.
I attended a TransformBreathing™ workshop and
learned I was barely breathing and barely living.
I had three private breathing sessions with a trained
facilitator, which opened my body to breathing deeper
than ever. I felt better immediately. I found a part of
myself that had been lying dormant for a very long time.
I knew then, that could get through the suffering and
take my life back.
After three weeks of practicing this technique on my
own, my tight jaw relaxed and the tension in that area
was gone. In three months my asthma disappeared and
after two years of practicing breath work my Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome was completely gone.
How is your breathing? Take this test. For a moment,
close your eyes and feel your body breathe. How do you
breathe? Is your breath shallow and tense, coming from
the chest instead of the belly? Do you feel like you
can't catch your breath? Where do you feel movement
happening when you breathe? What area of your torso
doesn't move when you breathe?
How you breathe determines the amount of energy you
have and how you enjoy life. You use energy emotionally,
mentally, and intuitively. Dealing with stress, anger,
depression, trauma, and illness require large amounts of
energy. When you experience these things your body
looses energy, your oxygen supply is depleted and you
wind up feeling low and unmotivated.
The average person inhales about 2,500 gallons of air
each day during 20,000 to 26,000 breaths, at the rate of
15 to18 inhales per minute. This rate, which is
considered "normal," is actually too fast.
This high rate is, in fact, hyperventilation and
perpetuates your loss of energy. By deepening and
expanding your breathing, you slow the rate of aging and
increase your energy.
Shallow breathing, from the chest, takes about 20
percent more energy than breathing from the diaphragm.
Since most of us are shallow, chest breathers, we
constantly "weigh down" the breathing
processes draining our energy. This makes the body
vulnerable to the negative effects of stress, and
underscores illness and disease. Shallow breathing wears
us out.
Imagine feeling energetic all day. How much more
could you accomplish? How much more quality time could
you have with family and friends if you had the energy?
How would it feel to really live without emotional fears
and a depleted energy reserve? What if it is as easy as
changing how you breathe?
Breathing is an involuntary process that can be
voluntarily controlled. In addition to the obvious
physical benefits, deep, focused breathing heals and
balances emotions and even promotes meditative states,
which help you relax and rise above the pressures of the
moment to achieve both calm and clarity.
The act of choosing to breathe effectively can
dramatically improve your vital life force and your
awareness of living in the present. The best way to
change the bodies programmed chemical responses and
emotional reactions is to use breathing as a tool for
staying relaxed.
Breathing can be like an exercise, providing many of
the same benefits without undue strain on muscles,
joints, and ligaments. How you breathe effects your lung
capacity, cardiovascular system, immune system,
circulation, digestion, and elimination. Effective
breathing allows you to take control over your own
health and state-of-mind. You will feel instantaneous
results.
Deep breathing stimulates and massages the internal
organs, tones the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. When
the lungs absorb an abundance of oxygen, the organs are
revitalized and cleansed. When you exhale, 70 percent of
your body's toxins are released, which explains why deep
breathing is a powerful and natural detoxifier!
What happens when the body is slowly deprived of
oxygen each day? Likely symptoms would include, fatigue,
anxiety, cold hands and feet, coffee or sugar addiction
(stimulants), obesity, irritability, poor concentration,
or memory loss and the list goes on. Quite simply, the
body breaks down from lack of oxygen. Deeper, fuller
breathing moves energy in and toxins out.
Take this easy action step to make fuller, deeper
breathing, a part of your life:
Lay down comfortably and put your hands on your lower
abdomen. Place one finger on your pubic bone and another
on your navel. Inhale and gently expand your lower
abdomen. Notice if your hands rise and fall during
inhalation and exhalation. If you practice this daily
for a few minutes, relaxing your body and breathing
toward your hands, you are on you way to deeper
diaphragmatic breathing and improved health. Life is
worth every breath.
Copyright © 2002 by Anna Coy. All Rights
Reserved.
Anna Coy is a Certified TransformBreathing™
Trainer in Los Angeles CA. She has created a step-by-step program teaching people how to gently expand
their bodies from the tailbone area up into their sinuses. It is called the
Whole-Body Breathing™ Series, and is a set of four voice guided breath
sessions on CD or Tape. Each guided session includes intention, visualization
and imagery. All are set to relaxing music also by Coy and every session
comes with a bonus track of meditation music. The series includes
Relax and Breathe, Breathe for Healing, Breathe a Loving Heart and
Breathe Your Spirit. For more information or to order the Whole-Body Breathing™
Series, visit www.heartofbreathing.com
or call 310-473-2225 (or 310-826-3993). Contributing information Dr. Caron Goode, Managing Director of the
International Breath Institute www.transformbreathing.com.
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